The most cash I've ever carriedThere's nothing like carrying large amounts of cash to make yourself feel simultaneously like a lottery winner and an obvious target.
A friend went to buy a car for ten grand, panicked and stuffed it down his pants for safety. It was all a bit smelly by the time he got there and he had to search around for some of it...
Tell us the story behind the most cash you've ever carried.
(
chthonic, Thu 22 Jun 2006, 10:39)
« Go Back
The most cash I ever had on me wasabout 15 years ago when I went back packing across Europe. I'd earned about £400 picking grapes in the south of France, travelled through northern Italy and got a ferry trip from Venice to Izmir, in Turkey. It was a Turkish ship so it made sense at the time to change what money I had left (about £250) into Turkish Lira, making me an instant millionaire.
So I board the ferry, secure in the knowledge that my cash was safely stowed in my money belt. Bit of a surprise was that the cash wasn't accepted on board - I had to buy ship's Deutchmarks from the purser's office at a pretty poor exchange rate, and what I received was just pieces of paper with "5 DM", etc. stamped on them.
Second surprise came when I arrived at passport control in Izmir and found there was a £5 visa charge... that had to be paid in Sterling or other hard currency. I've been on a Turkish boat for 3 days with only Turkish cash, I've just landed in Turkey and at no point has anyone accepted their own bloody cash for anything!
I started to sweat a little when I found that the only beaurau de change in the port had already closed and was trying to arrange an escort to a bank when one of the customs guys took pity and changed the money into Sterling for me (not sure when he got the £5 note from though). The exchange rate that time wasn't too punitive and I was just happy to be allowed into the country.
Didn't make up for the mad Dutch bloke I sat next to on the boat though.
(
S tr app y, Sat 24 Jun 2006, 1:30,
Reply)
« Go Back