Foreign Exchange Help ( Thai Baht )

[jgarner447]

Hi guys , well im going to thailand next thursday, this is my first trip out of australia and i still havent got my money sorted, i have about $2000 AU saved for spending and activities , please tell me whats the best way to handle my money over there , i really am clueless , should i exchange some at my bank? i also hear if i use ATM's over there that the conversion from AU to thai is expensive, i hope someone can help me with this :)
Thanks Jase

[lemonlimebitter]

Hey Jase,

I assume you'll be arriving at a larger international airport? If you do, then there should be plenty of money exchange stalls before you even leave the airport. I would always recommend changing a few dollars before your leave in case there isn't any and you need to catch a taxi/get food, water etc. before getting to your accommodation. I always seem to get caught out with that whenever I go travelling.
(Tip: If you have any one you know who has recently been to Thailand, they may have some Bhat left over that you can exchange.)

If you decide to take all the money in cash, make sure you distribute the money in separate places (suitcase, wallet, on your person, etc.) in the unlikely case that something goes missing you will lose all your money.
Don't keep all your eggs in one basket, as they say.

Haggling is quite common over there, so try and use that to your advantage, because most of the time, people will try and bump up prices because you will look like a tourist.

Anyway, have the best of fun mate! Seeing as it's your first trip out of Auz, I hope you don't have too many 1st time travel nerves :)

[jgarner447]

Thanks mate for the good info , i called my bank today and they have set me up a bank account were i wont get fees for withdrawing a foreign currency , the only fees ill get are the thai atm fees and ill changing over $300 before i leave so it should be enough to keep me going for a couple of days :) the nerves have definitely started to kick in, im traveling alone but i have a thai friend in phuket so hopefully wont run in to too many problems :)

[jgarner447]

Ok so im back from thailand, i ended up using my atm card, and got 32 baht to $1 AU + 150 baht atm fee. so over all was pretty good