Foreign Currency for Travel Gifts

My friend, Linda, loves to travel. Her goal is to travel to all seven continents before she retires.

Linda was leaving on her birthday this year to Australia. I was racking my brain on what special gift I could give when it hit me–Australian money!

I contacted our close girlfriends, who are more like sisters, and they wanted to participate in this gift giving idea too.

Foreign Currency for International Travel

Foreign money for a person’s vacation is the ideal gift for someone leaving on an international trip.

A person can never have too much money for vacation!

Customer Service at my bank helped me through the process of foreign currency exchange so there was nothing to it.

They explained the exchange rate, ordered the money, and within three days, I had Linda’s Australian dollars.

I wasn’t expecting Australian money to be so beautiful and colorful! 

They were pink, blue and red. Not green like American bills.

For that thoughtful twist, I purchased a stuffed animal Kangaroo and rolled up the money and hid it in the pouch with the baby Joey. (You could also display the money like I have it shown in the photo above.)

She was thrilled to find the hidden surprise!

It just so happened, my retired boss and his wife were going to Russia. So for Janet’s birthday, I purchased Russian rubles.

Never in my life had I exchanged foreign currency and within a couple of weeks experienced it twice!

I learned something new about the exchange rate of different countries. You get a lot more bang for the buck when exchanging for the rubles.

Foreign currency would also make a great gift for someone about to go on an international honeymoon or business trip or someone who plans on visiting an international country after retirement.

I do know the next time I exchange foreign currency, it will be for my travels!

I haven’t been everywhere but it’s on my list.  – Susan Santag