Weekly-ish access to tools, techniques, and shop tales from the worlds of DIY
A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.
Back when Nomadico was getting started two years ago, I noted from a recent trip that Argentina’s market “blue rate” for cash on the street was 204 to $1 and the official rate was just a tad more than half that. Now your premium for bringing hard currency cash is not so large. The blue rate is around 1,070 and the bank rate (which now floats freely) is a realistic 882. You won’t get penalized so much for using a credit card.
Speaking of currency fluctuations, where are the great bargains this summer if you’re traveling with dollars or euros? At the high end on the expense scale, Japan and Sweden are looking more attractive than usual. The countries that were already a deal and have gotten even cheaper include Egypt, South Africa, Turkey, Malaysia, and Laos. See the full rundown here.
I don’t think this was a widespread problem, but Airbnb removed any doubt by prohibiting any indoor security cameras in listed units as of April 30, regardless of their location, purpose, or prior disclosure. A host who violates the new policy could face consequences including listing or account removal on the platform.
Wallethub put out survey results recently with some surprising results. Apparently 82% of Americans don’t know that using a credit card gets them the best exchange rate when traveling abroad and nearly 1 in 3 didn’t know whether their card charges a foreign transaction fee or not. Before you head abroad, check on this for every card because 63% charge one and it’s not always obvious. I’ve gotten burned not realizing an airline or hotel card levied a foreign transaction fee—which seems ridiculous for international companies—so now I never use those outside the USA. See the results here.
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