In our experience, if you are planning to go to smaller Provincial Park campgrounds, you will likely need cash to pay for your site, usually between 15 and 25 per day for your unit. Many are still self registration, you fill in the form, tuck your money into the envelope, and put it in the box. The attendants really appreciate not having to stop in at your site and ask why you haven't paid.
Larger Provincial Parks with a Gate Attendant will likely take your credit cards.
Most private campgrounds will take a Credit Card, they often use them as a method to hold your reservation when you call over the phone.
Daily, for smaller purchases, fares, or quick stops cash is more convenient, but grocery stores and department stores in cities will take your cards. As you get to the more remote places in your travels, cash is often preferred. Proprietors have to pay a fee to the card people to accept your card, and the paper trail costs both you and the companies.
Mike and Carole
2000 Ford F350 SC PSD "Newman"
1994 Snowbird 8'10" "Rosietoo"
2005 16.6 Double Eagle
Mitch, nearly all credit cards will add 2-3% to the normal SELLING rate that they have. However, 'normal selling rate' needs explaining though as there are all kinds of rates that are used.
When you see a rate in the paper for a foreign currency and it does not specify 'buying' or 'selling' then that is the rate that the bank will use to buy or sell that currency to itself by way of internal entries. Let's say that rate between US and Canadian is at par or $1US = $1C. and you're in Canada. If that bank sells you Canadian it will be at a rate of say, $1.02 if you bought travellers cheques and say $1.025 if cash, ( cash is a bit more as the costs of storing and transporting are higher) When the vacation is over & you take those same Canadian dollars back to the bank, if the rate has stayed the same , then that bank will buy them from you at 98c or 97.5c if it's cash. Just like any other business they buy low & sell high.
BTW it is always better to exchange your funds in Canada, the volumes here are much higher than in the US & the rates are better.
Provincial parks ... not in this area. Don't take cheques either now. Signs are posted indicating they take cash only for your overnight fees now.
So we're going to assume that all the provincial parks in B.C. will be the same, although it may vary as the campgrounds are operated/maintained by private for-profit companies now. And if you don't pay the right amount at self-registration, they'll come to your site and ask for the money you owe. However, if you overpay, my experience has been they also bring you the change.
Spending US dollars in Canada can result in a negative exchange rate now. With the dollar being at basically parity now, add in the few percentage points that most retailers wash into the mix, and your now in the negatives.
I spotted "USD Exchange -5%" at a highway rest stop a few weeks back. Yes, that's MINUS five percent.
As others have said, get a few hundred in cash and use your credit card for big expenses. Talk to your CC company as many now charge a conversion fee which can amount to a percent or more depending on your banks policies, so take note.
Debit is almost everywhere now but again, talk to your bank about the fees involved. Canadians use it routinely because most banks include unlimited debit transactions for free, but your US bank (especially using it in Canada) may surcharge you significantly, a rotten thing to find out after the fact.
If you are travelling to Canada then a good credit card to consider is the BankOne Visa with a 1% cash rebate, no annual fee and most importantly has no bank fee for foreign transactions and even absorbs the 1% fee charged by Visa. You can check out the details atttp://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624a1.asp
and
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624b1.asp
apply online or call BankOne.
The above BankOne card will result in a 3% or more savings!
William Korn
Bethany Beach, Delaware
williamkorn@msn.com
What is the best way to convert your USD into Canadian Dollars? Once we cross into Canada, which financial institutions offer this service? Do Canadian banks do this kind of exchanging currency regularly? Or should we rely on ATMs instead? I'm assuming that there would be a certain fee or charged attached to using ATMs in Canada to withdraw cash with an American debit card, is this correct?
Another question I have is with regard to using credit cards in Canada. Chase says we will incur a 3% charge on transactions abroad, which I'm assuming also includes Canada for them. Is there anyway to get around this or is it the same case with all American credit cards?
Lincoln4 wrote: $100 Per person, per day? Wow, I better re-think our summer trip to Alaska!
I have no idea what you would spend a $100.00 per day per person cash on,I very seldom ever have more then $40.00 in my pocket.If you need some cash stop at the Walmart when shopping.
On a trip through Canada/Alaska/Canada last year the only Canadian money that we used was for laundry and washing the towed vehicle. We got the coins, "Loonies", as we needed them from whatever campground we were in. All other expenses were paid by Visa debit card with Visa figuring the exchange rate without any added fees.
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ttp://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624a1.asp
