Crap goes the credit card

Argh... I've gotten my credit card account frozen due to "unusual credit activity", and, conveniently, I can't unfreeze it until I can call a 1-800 number. From the U.S., obviously. Great.

The unusual activity may have been the act of using it in Morocco, but more likely it was due to the situation I got myself in during my day of wandering yesterday.

Day 0.5 while I wandered the medina with a few conference mates I met on the flight from Casablanca, I saw some hand stitched quilted blankets that I loved. So, my first full day after a few hours of wandering and practicing my bargaining skills, I decided to give it a go. I went to a shop where I'd seen some the previous day and asked to see a range of colors and tried to begin the process of bargaining. The guy charmed me into considering buying several instead of just one, and as I thought they might be enjoyed by others as well I eventually agreed. 30 minutes of negotiation over, we settled on a price... then realized that he didn't have a way to charge my credit card, and I definitely didn't have that cash on me. While it may seem obvious that credit cards aren't guaranteed, I'd had better luck at other places and thought they might be able to accommodate.

Anyway, the sales guy, panicked at the thought of losing the big sale he'd worked on, offered to walk with me down the plaza to an ATM. I agreed, a little embarrassed at the situation. Which was only then made worse when I realized that I was carrying only my credit card -- and not my check card -- around. Cash rates for a credit card are abysmal, but again, I was a little uncomfortable already and the guy was accommodating.

Next problem: putting my card in the ATM I realized that I'd never used it for cash before, and my regular PIN wasn't going to work. I tried to guess what the number was twice, then gave up. The sales guy wasn't having it though, so we went to one more ATM, where my next possible number also failed.

Final plan, which probably is NOT what the State department would recommend: the sales guy and I took a cab back to my hotel where my other card waited, then tried to get cash from the hotel exchange desk (once again, they're out of dirham!), and finally to an ATM. Check card gives me cash; guy gives me blankets.

And, after our bonding experience, he also gives me his number, email address, a request to join him at the disco that night (he tried to make me promise before giving me said blankets, but I demurred), and finally asked for us to take the picture you see here.

Not sure all that was worth getting my credit card canceled, but perhaps there are life lessons to be found in any case. :-) Beyond always carry your debit card.

I give you good price: bargaining in Morocco

I bought many, many items today. Way more than I originally budgeted for, though it will work out overall. I think I got decent prices in the end (or at least, far, far below their initial offer), but still probably ended up buying some things I wasn't excited about in the end because it was the closest to what I wanted and I was trapped.

This included some interesting cactus fiber carpets, which it turns out you can hold flames to without them burning or scortching... sure to be helpful. Still, for the carpets, after a 30 minute presentation showing me dozens of carpets without being willing to discuss price, his opening offer was a ridiculous 6500 dirham (nearly $1000USD)!!! After I thanked him and tried to leave him twice, he finally settled at my maximum price of 600 dirham (~$90) for two. Hand woven with embroidery and seemed decent quality, so hopefully okay price. I'm comforted by the fact that he didn't seem thrilled with the final deal, not to mention it was less than 10% of the original offer.

I also got some beautiful embroidered small table runners and leather slippers, though one pair of the latter smell a little too fresh from the tannery -- definitely not what you want. I am set for Christmas presents I think. Every single item was handmade in Morocco start to finish and is unique, so I'm happy. :-)

Maybe I'll become a coin collector :-)

Cool only to me (probably), but feel free to read on. :-)

Seven years ago, the governments of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and some other ones gave up their national currency to form the euro, one unified currency set, which by the way continues to kick the US dollar's butt. Until today, I always thought that the bills and coins were identical throughout the region. Just now though, while avoiding work to productively examine the edge inscriptions on the two two-euro coins in my pocket (one said "2 EURO", and the other a much harsher "EINIGKEIT UND RECHT UND FREIHEIT"; surprisingly the translation is quite friendly), I noticed that there are actually notable differences. Avoiding work already, I decided to investigate more.



It's interesting to see which countries really put effort into it. (Hint: Not Ireland. And Pope Benedict XVI must be feeling a *teeny* bit inadaquate about now...) Obviously, all coin types are accepted throughout the euro-using region (there's an actual name for that -- the "Eurozone"), and they gave up national expression when it came to bills, where having a single standard is maybe a little more important.

One more way to draw in the coin collectors, I guess (and speaking of that, I've passed a few coin collector shops in Saarbrucken alone -- I guess there's a crowd still mourning the loss of the Deutsche Mark). Not that Americans can speak.

Currency check

Today, the US dollar hit a 20-month low against the euro. 1 euro now equals $1.37 US, 11% more than at the beginning of the year. As if things here weren't too expensive anyway, this tidbit definitely helps to explain the dull ache in my wallet these days.

But, could be worse... the pound has now risen to $1.94, a FOURTEEN-YEAR high!!! (In April it was $1.78) Good thing I'm not heading to London anytime soon. :-)

The secret of exchanging money

A small deal to some, but after all of my months of travel, I finally did find a way to exchange US money without losing half of it in the process! The not-so-secret secret: exchange at a bank.

Of course, for a scenario like my four month stint in Prague, there's no way I would have been able to bring over that much US cash, so my high-fee approach might still be unavoidable. For shorter trips though, I'd heard suggestions ranging from

• Exchange US-> foreign while in the US: lower demand means the exchange rate will be better
  Absolutely not! Or, possibly for high demand currency like euros (but then that might go against the motivation anyway), but not for currency like Czech koronas. Low demand means even lower supply, and the rates were the absolute worst.
• Exchange US->foreign at a standard currency exchange booth at your destination.
  Sometimes this is okay, but watch for unflattering exchange rates and extra fees.
  
• Exchange US->foreign by simply using foreign ATMs.
  It is possible that the rate is better than standard exchange booths, but don't forget about bank fees, especially from your US bank. Note: Bank of America loves to f*** you on all foreign transactions -- atm withdrawals, check card usage, credit card usage, etc.
• Withdraw $$ in US and exchange at destination bank. Note: probability of teller speaking English is low; bring translations.
  

Instead, I withdrew $300 in the US (ha, like that will be enough), converted $100 to euros in the Frankfurt airport to start with, and just returned from the bank to convert another $100 as I'm, yes, already running low.

$100 US at airport yesterday --> 67 euro and change
$100 US at bank today --> 75 euro and change.

Where did my first $100/67 euro go? 6 euro taxi, 15e dinner, 20e dine card deposit, 10e on university dine card (4,80 gone on first lunch), 10,5e on week-long bus pass, and just a few left (plus my new 75e :-))

Much of that is ~one-time expenses -- hopefully sailing will be smoother here on out!

Where the money goes

This is horrifyingly amazing. I'm looking at my finances for the last 3 1/2 months, and found a few surprises:

$56.18 in ATM fees -- charges for withdrawing money in Prague, Germany, France, UK
$12.52 in "Internation Transaction" credit card service charges - 3% fee
$38.51 in fees charged for using my check/debit card in stores
-------
$107.21 spent on nothing.

I'd considered getting a Czech bank account while I was here, but it seemed like too much of a hassle. I mainly only use my debit card on groceries and a few larger items -- the fact that stores here charge an extra fee for using credit cards really starts to add up. I use my credit card for large travel items (paying for hotels killed me here, and of course I won't get reimbursed for that part). When I withdraw money from an ATM, I'm (now) aware that it charges ~$7 in fees each withdrawal, so I try to take out as much money as the machine will let me, at least in Prague.

Thought I was doing this intelligently..... ouch. The scary thing is this could have been much worse. There must be a better way to do this!