Foreign Currency --Buying before you Travel

.............Where to get foreign currency at a reasonable price for each country you are visiting before you leave Hawaii is a challenge ..... .....particularly for travelers on the neighbor islands. Sharron Pabila from the big island did some research which can help us all. Thanks from all of us. See TRAVEL NUMBERS for more sources.

Dear Mele,

Thank you for all your help. As you know by now, we did receive the passes just fine. Preparing early is necessary as it leaves you time for last minute family emergencies. The ideas and help I had from you and Rick's books helped me to have it all together. It's hard to believe that we are leaving shortly.

Here is the info. you wanted on the money exchanges. I called the toll free number for Capitol Foreign Exchange   1 888 842-0880   which you had in your newsletter. They offer currency and Thomas Cook Travelers checks. There is a $10. fee for the total transactions. There is also a. UPS fee for delivery to Hawaii. You send them a check for the amount of the order and shipping or put it on your charge card. Then they send you the Order UPS and you sign and return some papers. They have six types of currency - Yen, Canadian $, D Marks, S. Franks and??

I tried the local banks next. Bank of Hawaii will deliver to outer islands as will First Hawaiian Bank and City Bank. The currency must be ordered the beginning of the week as they will not send it out on Fridays. They will call their main vault to see if it is available. First Hawaiian did not charge me a fee, and BOH fee is $7.50 for non customers and $3. for customers for transactions under $600. At FHB I paid when I ordered and went back to pick it up. At BOH currency was ordered and paid at the rate for the day it arrived at my local branch. BOH usually has a bigger variety of currency, but not always. I personally found it much easier to deal with the local banks than a company on the east coast. However, the company did sound efficient.

In dealing with the local banks be prepared to tell the tellers twice that you are buying and not selling! Smaller branches do not have a great demand for European currency I guess. Well, its off to the air port. Thanks again for your help. Sharron Pabila of Big Island—Hawaii 5/97