I'm not planning just one European trip, but three. A few days after my youngest daughter and I fly to Holland, my middle daughter goes on a 3-week travel-study trip of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and London. To pay for it, she spent the last two years taking notes during classes for handicapped students.
(The third trip is by my wife and I to Germany in June for our 25th wedding anniversary. Just about all theses flights are on points; in Germany, we stay with relatives.)
Four countries: three currencies. After her grandfather gave her $100 towards the trip, my daughter decided she would get me to order CHF50 (Swiss francs) and GBP30 (British pounds) from the bank. (I had gotten her Euros earlier for Germany and Austria.)
I normally bank with a credit union, but they handle barely any currencies. So, I maintain an acct with the Royal Bank of Canada primarily to access foreign currencies.
I called today to order the francs and pounds. The call center employee asked me to hold, and then came back to tell me that there were no more Swiss francs, only French francs. She could, however, give me the equivalent in Euros -- it would be e110, she told me.
I was astounded. I related to her that French francs have been replaced with Euros, and that the Swiss still use their francs. As well, I told her that CHF50 was equivalent to roughly e30, not e110.
(Perhaps I should have taken up her offer of dirt-cheap Euros!)
My computer was rebooting at the time, so I couldn't check the Royal Bank's Web page for currency exchange until after hanging up. Sure enough: for French francs, it said "See Euros"; for Swiss francs, it had the exchange rate.
I called back and a different call center employee also could not find Swiss francs. Then he asked me if I knew the currency code. When he entered CHF, he found it, and placed the order.
Good thing I didn't need to order a really obscure currency!
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