Oh the feeling of being in the airport of a country you've never been to...It never gets old. You look around and everything is different. The signs might not be in the language your used to. The people around you might not be speaking it either. And you have to figure out how to use either an ATM or a money exchange machine because there's no guarantee that places will take your currency.
I took this marvelously low quality photo in the airport at the beginning of my first trip to Italy. I've always felt a pull to Europe, and it was gratifying to finally hold euros in my hand. I felt like "this is it. I've made it." And the whole time I was there I was already wondering how I could back.
Personally, I like to just wait until I get abroad and then take out money using my debit card from an ATM, but I've been lucky. It would be smart to pre-exchange some money in your home country in case something prevents you from getting local currency right away. I like taking out manageable amounts of money from an ATM at a time because you get the exchange rate as it is in that moment.
When I went to Italy, the exchange rate between euros and U.S. dollars were fairly close. I generally just kept in mind that I was spending just a little bit more while using euros. Know the exchange rate before you go so you don't get scammed.
In the U.S., it's easy to accumulate a bunch of change that you can't find a use for. I never had that problem in Italy, because the prices were always convenient numbers. (For example, there was no 5.99. It would just be 6.) I felt like I was wasting less money, and that the physical coins actually had some value alongside the paper money. I must recommend using spare change on gelato!
Do you get excited holding different currency for the first time? Where have you been that had the biggest difference in exchange rate from your home country?
Adventure on!
Leah Miller
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