European Vacation: What Should I Do?

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 1,122
coinmaniac1 Valued Member United States 150 Posts	Posted 07/25/2012 11:44 pm Ok Vacation time! and I have a couple questions. I'll be in the Dutch airport for a couple hours and for most of the time, in Ukraine. Is there anything I should do numismatic-wise-whether bringing back something specific or going to a specific shop? Should I cash in my Euro coins and Swiss Franc coins (about $50 USD total), or should I keep them for the chance of appreciation? Any and all opinions welcome. You guys have been spot-on so far. THANKS! Report this Post to the Staff

sel_69l Bedrock of the Community Australia 21794 Posts	Posted 07/26/2012 02:59 am In 1971 I toured around Europe in a camping bodied car, for 6 weeks with an English buddy. Almost completely eliminated accommodation and camping site costs. I made a point of the tour around Europe being completely unplanned. Just drove from Manchester to Newhaven, crossed the Channel by ferry to Hoek Van Holland, then asked my friend: 'Do we drive turn left and drive around Europe clockwise, or turn right and drive around Europe anticlockwise?' That was the total extent of itinerary planning. We chose left. A bit gauche, I suppose! We made a point of NOT visiting any of the tourist places - you could read all about those in a book if you wanted to. Took about 2000 colour slides of all sorts of unusual things that you don't read about. After each roll of film was exposed, it was sent directly to the processing laboratory then onto my parents home in Australia. I never saw any of the pictures until I arrived home 18 months later. What THEY saw without any explanation before I arrived back home was a complete mystery to them! I tried to talk my father into lending me $7,000 to buy a 300 SEL 6.3 Mercedes, they were about $22,000 in Australia at the time. I perceived that he did not want his 25 year old son driving at 200 plus km/hr over the autobahns! He would have had a laugh in his grave when I acquired a 450 SEL 6.9 thirty years later! The camping bodied car we DID use was bought new in 1970. One part of the trip was rapid. We drove the 1,600 kilometers from Copenhagen to Nurnburg over the autobahn system in a little over 10 hours. Averaged 98 MILES per hour. Those were the days when your are young and stupid. Now I am OLD and stupid! Edited by sel_69l 07/26/2012 04:01 am Report this Post to the Staff
sel_69l Bedrock of the Community Australia 21794 Posts	Posted 07/26/2012 04:53 am Numismatic wise, be an opportunist. Actually, most people see you coming if you are a tourist. Same thing happened when I was in the 'States. Be a bit cynical, and keep your numismatic wits about you. You will most likely be offered numismatic items at way over the market price, but not always. I always travel with a mixture U.S. cash, debit card and traveller's checks totalling twice the amount of my estimated budget. Do not take any valuables from home with you, that is asking for worry and trouble. Spend as much of your leftover coinage as you can before you leave the country of it's circulation, even if it only on cheap items for kids. To this purpose, I would suggest candy, post cards or similar. You live in vain hope if you are looking for left over coins to appreciate in value. The things you buy will be more appreciated back home than the circulating coins. Euros are fine for a reserve currency, but why bother? - the USD will be accepted anyway. In the Ukraine, they may require you to convert, but do not convert any more currency than you need to, it may be impossible to re convert any of it back into USD; they need the foreign exchange. I suspect that coin collecting as a hobby in the Ukraine is much harder to persue. You may have to do some looking and asking around with the locals to find a dealer (if they exist). Perhaps you may take some of your culls from your collection for trading purposes, or even a couple of circulated sets of states quarters. Almost certain someone in the Ukraine will appreciate them. Report this Post to the Staff
augsburger Pillar of the Community Germany 1074 Posts	Posted 07/26/2012 06:19 am Ukraine is a great country, I was only in Kiev and L'viv but loved it there. There are some coins, I think the highest coin is quite hard to find normally but might crop up if you are interested in getting a set of the coins from there. You could try getting coins in the airport, I used a US airport to get State Quarters, changing my normal quarters from when I lived there 10 years previously. Report this Post to the Staff
molydeii Pillar of the Community Turkey 870 Posts	Posted 07/26/2012 06:49 am I believe it'll be a little bit hard to cash Swiss Franc coins in the Netherlands or in Ukraine, at least perhaps change offices can take them but at least %50 of their face value, if they do at all. For Euro coins, I've seen the Netherlands has almost the highest variety of different countries' eurocoins I've ever seen in Europe (I've even had some difficulty obtaining Dutch euros from circulation in Amsterdam!!) but I've found an abundant of Belgium, French and Germany euros, even a commemorative or two in three days in Amsterdam. Dutch people are amazingly friendly and they mostly do speak excellent English, so you can try your chance asking different euros from an airport store or a coffee house. Tell them you are a collector and chances are they will mostly help. About Ukraine, well the World Cup 2012 definitely made it a very lively place. I had been to rural Ukraine, not to the big cities, and it was pretty pleasant. So good luck with your holiday and have fun. Report this Post to the Staff
coinmaniac1 Valued Member United States 150 Posts	Posted 07/26/2012 4:17 pm Thanks for your time! Keep the opinions coming. Report this Post to the Staff
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