Hi there,
I am planning to go to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand for a two week trip. All these three countries have a different currency and I’m trying to figure out what would be the best way to handle excahnging money for spending.
Most of the time I will be in Malaysia so I might just exchange some money before hand and as I will be landing in Singapore I might get some money before hand as well.

Any ideas on what would be the best idea to handle exchanging money? ATMs or taking dollars (my home currency is euros and my boyfriends, who will be traveling with me, is pounds)?

Cheers, Henni

Any thoughts (bf here)?

Main worry is if we take a load of Ringgits, Singapore Dollars, and Bahts, we’ll end up having to carry around way too much currency, have way too much of one and have to convert back, or something.

have a look at the Fairfax anywhere card
I use one for work – the exchange rates are very good

guys: having spent a lot of time there I’d suggest using cards (debit preferably) as much as possible. We use a Nationwide account that has no fees – but I suspect it’s not as attractive as it once was. Still not as bad as some of the big players.

If you want to bring cash then major currencies are good (not Scottish Sterling though!). Dont bother changing sterling into dollars etc. You’ll just get stung twice.

The modern version of travellers cheques is something like a prepaid mastercard (eg FX) but that attracts fees.

Pound is better so take some then check the rate at the local money changer or from the bank. Check if your bank or their banks will charge you extra for ATM withdrawal.

No, you will not carry a lot because it will not last long as things are not as cheap as you thought if you do not know where to buy them.

Obviously, the most expensive of the three is Singapore, then Malaysia then Thailand but I am not sure about Bangkok.

🙂