[telebabe]

Hi all
we are about to leave or trip #1 - have all the US Dollar bills (new and crisp etc) with us ($100, $50 and $20).
Question now is:
do we pay for everyhting like dinners, hotel, souvenirs, train tickets etc. in US $, or do we need to exchange the US $ into Rubbels?

IF we have to exchange - we is typically a good place to do it?
Airport, hotel or banks?

Thanks
S

[schroeder]

We stayed at the Radisson and there was a 24 hour place to change $$ into Rubbles. Sometimes she was not there but it was never a probelm. While in Moscow we used our CC for everything or charged all of our meals to our room. While in region we used Rubbles and still put or meals on our room bill. We were able to pay for our room with the CC but the shopping we did in region needed Rubbles.

Remenber to call your CC company and tell them you are traveling overears and do not want any limitions on your CC- they will ask how long you will be gone for- I would suggest to make the time a little longer- anything can happen.

Happy travels
Anna

[Mazzie]

The hotel we stayed in had an exchange booth. It was not open all the time but the restaurant took credit cards.

When our translator picked us up at the airport she asked if we needed to exchange any money as there was a bank we were passing that had the best exchange rate. You might want to ask the person picking you up at the airport in Moscow.

Unfortunately we already did some exchange at JFK since we did not know if we would need any Rubles right off the plane. I would think that most international airports in the US would exchange also if you really want to be prepared.

[bratgirl]

We stayed at the Radisson and exchange money there. We also exchanged enough to have rubles for our region. There was nowhere ther that took USD or credit cards - so we were glad to have goptten rubles in Moscow

[kryslm]

We also exchanged money at our hotel. Since we could exchange money easily on a daily basis, we just exchanged $100 or $200 at a time--mostly for meals, souvenirs, etc.

Mike

[Vicki H]

Most of the hotels in Moscow have a place off the lobby to exchange money.
I would definately recommend doing this before going to the region. Our region did not have this option in the hotel.

Vicki

[mikeintexas]

I have a question about using credit cards... we were told the phone lines may be down and that we should be prepared to pay for everything in case (dollars or rubles). Was this an issue for anyone???

Mike

[Vicki H]

We didn't run into this problem at all in Moscow. In Stavropol we had to pay for everything in Rubles. Not because the phone lines were down, just because this is how a lot of the regions are.

What you may be able to do , depending on where you are staying in Moscow. You can pay for the room in advance with your credit card. We called the Radisson's main number, they can book any Radisson anywhere in the world. You can ask if you can pay in advance, they may be able to help you. I am sure the Marriott may have a main number as well.


Vicki

[DaniJ]

good thread....
*bump!*

[kryslm]

I agree with Vicki... Seems like it's better to use cash (rubles) for your transactions. The only thing we used a credit card for, was our hotel in Moscow. It just seemed easier, less worrisome to use rubles.

Mike