When travelling internationally, and waiting at the airport on the way home, people often discover they have leftover foreign currency that they won’t be able to spend when they get back home. It’s usually not a lot of money. Not enough to bother doing a proper currency exchange. So what do you do with it? Here are five tips for what you can do with that extra foreign money.
1. Look out for a TravelersBox
The TravelersBox (currently in some European and Asian countries, with Canada next on the map), allows you to deposit money into the kiosk, then you can choose to have that money deposited into your PayPal account, buy gift cards, or donate to one of the charities it supports.
2. Play the slot machines
If you happen to be in an airport with slot machines (hello Las Vegas), they’re actually a great way to get rid of unwanted coins, because you’ll probably lose anyway. The only problem is if you win, you’ll end up with even more currency to change, but at least then the currency exchange fees will be worth it.
Photography by Jerome | wikimedia.org
3. Donate to a charity
If you’re in the giving mood, keep an eye out for charity donation bins. The ones seen below are from the Red Cross, and are actually arcade games, where the money you pay to play goes to the charity, but there are also plenty of charities that have normal bins scattered throughout airports.
4. Spend your money
Go buy a pack of gum, some candy, a magazine, or whatever you feel like, just to spend your soon to be useless cash. Everyone needs snacks for the trip home, and your airline will probably charge you for them when you’re on the plane anyway.
5. Save it as a souvenir
Keep it in your pocket. Saving your leftover currency can be a great souvenir. Include it in a keepsake box with other bits and pieces from your trip, like a ticket stub, train ticket, etc, or start a currency jar, where you put all of your foreign currency. This is great for when visitors come over and they can have a look at the different currency you’ve collected from your travels.
Photography by Philip Brewer (CC BY 2.0)
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