4/17/09
My banks have essentially raped me in Paris. Here is the latest example:
I need to get from Paris to Rotterdam in Holland. I checked online and the price for a bus, the cheapest fare was 35 Euros. Well, having run into problems before, I usually carry a little bit of emergency cash. In this case $80 in US currency.
I figured this would get me the ticket but I had to convert it to Euros and since my cards aren’t working, I had to find a Eurolines agency to buy the ticket. Here is the rape:
exchange rate of $1.43 per Euro
Commission of 6.45 Euro
$80= 48.12 Euro
Ticket to Rotterdam at agency (since I can’t book online) with commission = too much for me
Instead I bought a ticket to Amsterdam for 46 Euros and that leaves me enough to get to the station on the Metro and eat bread for dinner again.
Paris is a whore with slot machine like ‘souvenir coins’ for sale in her churches.
I may have to hitchhike from Amsterdam to Rotterdam unless my funds clear before I get there.
Vago Damitio is the Vagabond in Chief. He is also a writer, blogger, traveler, adventurer and teacher. He has spent his life mastering how to have incredible adventures on minuscule budgets. Someday he hopes to have the option of using gigantic budgets for miniscule adventures.
