Istanbul - Turkish Lira

10.10.2011 18:33, Jesper Lauridsen kirjoitti:
On 09 Oct 2011 21:16:02 -0700, Doug Anderson
wrote:
What you are really wrong about is the idea that it makes general
sense to plan to use dollars, euros or pounds in most countries
where
those are not the local currency.

Has he actually made that claim? Seems to me he's only saying it can be
done, not that it's a good idea.

It cannot be done.

Jesper Lauridsen writes:

On 09 Oct 2011 21:16:02 -0700, Doug Anderson
wrote:
What you are really wrong about is the idea that it makes general
sense to plan to use dollars, euros or pounds in most countries
where
those are not the local currency.

Has he actually made that claim? Seems to me he's only saying it can
be done, not that it's a good idea.

Examine his post in context. He's asserting it can be done in a
universal way (outside the US) in response to a question about how to
plan for spending on a trip to Istanbul.

If he follows his own advice, he must have money enough not to care
about only patronizing tourist oriented businesses and paying a
substantial amount extra.

Or, he hasn't traveled much.

Doug Anderson wrote:

Jesper Lauridsen writes:

On 09 Oct 2011 21:16:02 -0700, Doug Anderson
wrote:
What you are really wrong about is the idea that it makes general
sense to plan to use dollars, euros or pounds in most countries
where
those are not the local currency.

Has he actually made that claim? Seems to me he's only saying it can
be done, not that it's a good idea.

Examine his post in context. He's asserting it can be done in a
universal way (outside the US) in response to a question about how to
plan for spending on a trip to Istanbul.

If he follows his own advice, he must have money enough not to care
about only patronizing tourist oriented businesses and paying a
substantial amount extra.

Or, he hasn't traveled much.

He claims it's possible in the UK too. It's all a bit nuts.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

10.10.2011 18:30, Jesper Lauridsen kirjoitti:
On Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:31:56 +0300, Markku
wrote:
Nonsense. For instance in Finland it is euros and in Sweden it is kronas.
I've seen people buy beer with dollars in a Danish convenience store.
I've bought a meal with Euros in Turkey. It's no big deal.

It is no deal. Most shops in Denmark accept only Danish money. Naturally
so. We don't have to adjust the fact anyhow by your observations.
Foreigners and Danes alike can use their plastic. Foreign purchases are
paid by kronas and currency conversion takes place to balance an account
or an invoice. So it is. It is about pointless to keep going this way.
No arguments.

10.10.2011 19:37, Wolfgang Schwanke kirjoitti:
Jesper wrote in
l-september.org:

On 09 Oct 2011 09:52:12 -0700, Doug Anderson
wrote:
There is really nothing to add to the "conversation." You made a
claim that isn't true. Various people have pointed out various ways
it isn't true.

While others have posted their experiences with successfully spending
foreign currencies.

Nobody denies that it's sometimes possible to pay with foreign money.
William's claim was that almost all shopkeepers worldwide except in the
US will accept US dollar, Euros and Pounds.

I have been in such a position at least once in recent years. I cannot
blame anyone but me. A couple of years ago I was arriving in the Tampere
airport from London. I had forgotten my credit card home. I had merely
some English money and an ATM card. I had a plan to withdraw some euros
in order to pay my car out from the parking area. I was unfamiliar with
the airport and its facilities. I was surprised to learn that there is
no ATM machine in the airport. Well, in the end a clerk offered his hand
and in return of a sum of pounds he will lift the bar when I am calling
him at the gate.

Once I was leaving the garage at the Mall of Ruoholahti, Helsinki. At
the gate I pushed the ticket to the reader and it spat it out. I tossed
the ticket to a dustbin full of tickets. But no, the gate didn't open. I
must have placed the ticket upside down and the reader didn't stamp it.
In a slight panic I picked a few tickets from top of the dustbin. No-one
of them was mine. Drivers behind were not too happy about me I reckon.
I reversed and then drove back and I was obliged to make this most
embarrassing call at ticket sales to the monitoring room and explain my
blunder. A bloke there just advised to drive back to the gate and use
it's intercom so that they can let me through.

On 10/10/2011 05:48 PM, Markku Grönroos wrote:
10.10.2011 18:30, Jesper Lauridsen kirjoitti:
On Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:31:56 +0300, Markku
wrote:
Nonsense. For instance in Finland it is euros and in Sweden it is
kronas.
I've seen people buy beer with dollars in a Danish convenience store.
I've bought a meal with Euros in Turkey. It's no big deal.

It is no deal. Most shops in Denmark accept only Danish money.

That's true. My wife tried to buy some shoes. Not only did they not take
Euros (I mean, this was like 30 km from the border) but they didn't take
plastic either. She had to go to a cash machine and get a fistful of
kronor using the same debit card that the store wouldn't accept.

Naturally
so. We don't have to adjust the fact anyhow by your observations.
Foreigners and Danes alike can use their plastic. Foreign purchases are
paid by kronas and currency conversion takes place to balance an account
or an invoice. So it is. It is about pointless to keep going this way.
No arguments.

On Oct 10, 4:30*pm, Jesper Lauridsen
wrote:
On Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:31:56 +0300, wrote:
Nonsense. For instance in Finland it is euros and in Sweden it is
kronas.

I've seen people buy beer with dollars in a Danish convenience store.
I've bought a meal with Euros in Turkey. It's no big deal.

Try Bosnia.
Marks, Euros, Dollars. Sterling, Dinars, Kunas - all work fine!

On Sun, 09 Oct 2011 01:58:12 +0200, Tom P wrote in post :
:

As you say, it basically depends on whether the store has a system for
handling multiple currencies. Highway stations in Switzerland take Euros
without any problems, the cash registers handle both currencies and
convert the prices automatically.

Any mountain restaurant in Switzerland took at least Schillings, D-Marks,
Lire and French Francs before the Euro. Those that didn't advertise they
accepted other currencies would usually do so if asked, they'd use the
day's newspaper to get an exchange rate and use that. The Euro has only
made things simpler for them.

--
Tim C.
I used to do rock climbing as a youth, but I was much bolder back then.

When I first cashed in travellers' checks for TL back in 2002, the
exchange rate was 1,600,000 TL per dollar. And the largest bill was
20,000,000. Cashing in a few hundred dollars into TL at the Istanbul
otogar (the big bus station - a huge ring of ticket offices with buses
in the back) resulted in a big wad of paper.

The first hotel in Canakale (I was seeing Troy the next day) was a
whopping 16,000,000 TL - and it was ensuite! That is the cheapest
hotel I have ever stayed at.

At a rest stop on the way from Istanbul to the Dardanelles ferry, the
gas pump had a price in the dial... and three zeroes written on the
side.

Since then, the inflation rate in Turkey has subsided considerably.
And they chopped off six zeroes and issued new Turkish lire, YTL (Yeni
Turk Lira). When I visited in 2007 the prices still seemed low but
perhaps not quite as low. And it was easier to figure out the
home-price for things without all those zeroes. On this trip, I did
not bring traveller's checks. I just brought my bank card and visited
the autobank machines in Istanbul.

It was an incredible two weeks of history immersion using Strolling
Through Istanbul. Most days, on my long walk back to the Ambassador
Hotel, I'd picked up some incredible baklava at side street patisserie
and some milk from a street kiosk grocer.

--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

Ken Blake wrote:
Whether there is a charge for using a foreign ATM machine depends on
what bank you use. With my Capitol One account, I pay no fee.

Maybe where you live there are such banks. Banks that charge zero fees
for foreign ATM use do not exist where I live. It's cheaper and more
convenient to take cash.

--
K.

Lang may your lum reek.