If you have never traveled to another country you have not enjoyed the pleasure of watching the exchange agents take your hard-earned cash and turn it into less cash. They have an absolutely magical power for doing this. Thomas Cook are especially adept at converting my money into less value than I thought I should have. I don't know quite how they manage it.
Say you have R1000 and you go to the Thomas Cook booth and convert that to Euros. You receive a pathetic sub-market exchange of maybe 75 Eur. It depends on the rate of the day of course.
Now, suppose you save 5 Eur on your trip and want to convert it back to Rand. You receive a bloody 60 Rand even though the exchange rate is listed on the Internet above that. You're like, WTF???
Okay, I know these blokes have to get their cut in but they take so much.
My boss told me the next time I travel to just use the credit card and the bank will figure it out. They still get their money but all you see is some numbers in a foreign currency and then your bill. You feel better for it.
That's how we have to deal with it. Just bury the bloody numbers in some foreign transaction and never look at them again. But you're still out a few Rand.
I don't want to talk about it any more.
