All Dollars Are Not Created Equal
When it comes to travel money, there’s a general assumption that good old US greenbacks will work almost anywhere in the world, even beyond the reach of ATMs.
I’ve written before about the prevalence of local-only ATMs in Indonesia and the Philippines. And, after a few hairy moments of being down to our last ten dollars on remote islands, we don’t travel anywhere without a stash of both local currency and dollars in the backpack.
But all dollars are not created equal. Here’s some things to be aware of when taking dollars around the world.
1: Don’t Fold Them
Yes, really. The more remote the place, the more pristine your currency should be. Small town money changers can get very nervous about notes that aren’t shiny and new: we had a hairy moment on Palawan, in the Philippines, where the money changer refused a $100 bill that had been folded once.
Ripped or marked notes? Fuhgeddaboutit.
2: All Serial Numbers Are Not Created Equal
Among other, erm, eccentricities found in the state of Myanmar is a pathological aversion to dollar bills beginning with the serial code CB. No one, and I do mean no one, will touch these notes.
There are no foreigner-enabled ATMs in Myanmar, so make sure your bills are pristine, do not start with the code CB, and that you’re carrying more dollars than you think you will spend.
3: Take a Mix of Bills
Most money changers offer different rates based on the size of the bill: the larger the note, the better the rate. It’s good, however, if you find yourself stranded somewhere where the only rate available is low, to be able to change only $50, or even $20, to get you to your next stage.
In countries where dollars are freely exchangeable, usually those where the local currency is weak, breaking a low denomination note can get you change in local currency (generally at a bad rate). This is really handy when you’re about to leave the country and don’t want to be stranded with Monopoly money.
Single dollar bills can prove surprisingly useful for services such as transport.
4: Don’t Assume a Bank can Change Your Dollars
A lot of Westerners assume that any bank will have currency exchange facilities. Only to discover, on rocking up at a small town rural bank, that its function is very different from that of a high street bank in the West.
Outside the most touristed areas of Indonesia, for example, the only currency that holds any power is the local currency, rupiah. When travelling into the wilds of anywhere, be sure you’ve got much more local currency than you think you’ll need. Otherwise you might find yourself headed back to civilisation faster than you’d hoped.
Great tips! The pristine thing is hilarious isn’t it. Colin made the mistake of going on a hike on a hot day with his wallet in the back pocket- he sweated so much the dye from the wallet ran and stained the USD he’d just gotten out from the bank. We had the hardest time using them!!!
One tip we’ve found invaluable is to make sure you always have a few emergency USD hidden away. We ran out of money in Laos and were on our way to the ATM when a two day blackout hit! No atms would work of course. Luckily we had a few USD tucked away to exchange.
They are useful to hide, particularly in countries with non-convertible currencies — Thai baht I also found very handy… I’d never have thought of blackouts taking out the ATM system. Only in Laos, I guess…
Very good post! I think most travelers would be shocked at how often, and for bizarre reasons, USD gets rejected. Better start collecting Chinese Yuan – its the future!
I’d never thought of it that way. But of course it is. What I find strange, as a child of the Cold War, is meeting so many Chinese tourists: it’s like the first time we found wealthy Russians coming to Europe. It seems like an inversion of the natural order of things. But of course it’s the future…
Great job on this. Excellent points/tips. I think there are also issues if there are any ink markings on the bill (eg, magic marker).
Yes, they hate that in most places. Thanks for mentioning it.
I’ve had that happen too, when my less than perfect U.S. dollars were looked at suspectingly. Interesting though, about the serial numbers!
Yep. It happens even in places where the local notes have the consistency and roughly the value of toilet paper…
One of the problems with traveling in Myanmar was also that you can’t bring in more than $2000 cash. Since we were going to be there for 28 days, we were worried that a significant proportion of our dollars would be rejected. I’d read on the LP Thorn Tree that one guy had had $600 rejected. Since ATMs don’t exist there and credit cards aren’t an option, this was worrying– especially since we live in China and getting fresh new bills is not an easy thing! I was able to get mostly hundreds after several trips to my local exchange guy, but almost no small money that wasn’t horribly mangled.
Although hundreds are best for changing, you also need a sizeable supply of smaller bills for buying things that can only be paid for in dollars rather than in kyat- train or plain tickets, entrance fees, hotels. I tried to pay for a $36 pair of train tickets with a $50 and was turned away and told to get exact change. I ended up having to run around to black market money exchangers in the area trying to get change.
I also had one $50 bill that had been lightly folded a few times (like in a wallet) and constantly rejected as a form of payment… until I asked a guesthouse owner if she could break it into ones and fives for me, rather than using it as payment. You see, to her a folded $50 bill was worth more on the black market than its equivalent in small but perfectly formed bills. And the thing about Burmese folk is that they have a need for US$–things like utilities and petrol must be paid in dollars not in kyat.
In the end, I only went through $1300 in a month, including several flights, and none of my bills were ‘permanently’ rejected (i.e. I just kept trying and eventually someone took them!). It actually turned out to be one of the easiest, most pleasant trips I’d had in ages.
I wrote about it here, in case you might be interested- http://www.ephemeraanddetritus.com/2010/07/19/on-the-road-to-mandalay-eventually/
I didn’t know about the $2000 cash limit. Do they search you? I’d been given the full prep talk by people who’d visited, before we were, err, refused a visa, but they hadn’t mentioned the two grand threshold. Thanks for contributing that.
When we went to Zimbabwe and Zambia, we were told that we needed to bring post 2005 bills but once we got there, nobody actually checked! I totally agree with you about not folding bills – that is critical in many of these places. Great post on this topic!
Wow! Zimbabwe’s a pretty brave place to go… It makes sense that date, like serial numbers, could be an issue in anxious nations like Zimbabwe, where folk are unlikely to travel themselves.
I had a lot of bills rejected in Vietnam, especially any that had any tears. When I presented my ticket to tour a Khmer Temple in Nha Trang, the ticket clerk took my ticket and put a tiny (5mm) tear in the corner. This represented that the ticket was now “used” and no longer valid. I wonder if that carries over to dolalrs, “That bill is torn, it is now expired.”…?
Yep, a torn dollar bill is definitely expired in Vietnam. Though they’re relatively kind about folds, I found — didn’t have a problem changing any dollars there.
Very useful information, particulalrly about not folding bank notes.
Learnt, as ever, by painful experience.