Money! Getting Euros, watching the exchange rate, and more

Obviously you're going to need Euros for your trip to France. You can get Euros at your bank in the States, but in many cases you have to ask for them ahead of time so the bank can order them for you. I personally don't believe this is ever necessary; you can easily get Euros right away when you arrive in France. There are always ATMs all over the airport. If you're dead-set on getting Euros in the States just to be safe, I'd advise you to only get 100 or so, maybe just for the taxi from the airport and/or a snack or whatever before you hit the ATM. No need to travel with a huge wad of Euros on you.

ATMs

While in Paris, I recommend simply using ATMs whenever you need cash. Never, ever use money-changing places if you can help it! In my experience, they always charge a rate which is much higher than what you'll pay through a normal ATM at any bank. With ATMs, you'll be charged a small fee for the international transaction, but in my experience it will always be lower than what a money-changing place will charge you. If you need to ask someone where there's an ATM, they probably won't know the term "ATM" even if they speak English pretty well. The French term is le distributeur de billets, generally shortened to just le distributeur.

Credit cards

As for credit cards, you can almost always pay with your credit card in restaurants, stores, et cetera; basically all the same places you'd expect to be able to use your card in the States. (Note: if paying by card in a restaurant, you won't be able to leave the tip with your card. See my page about Tipping for more info.) Fyi, the French term for a credit card is a carte bancaire.

It's a good idea to inform your bank and credit card companies that you'll be traveling in France (and any other countries you're visiting) before your trip. Otherwise there's a possibility you'll arrive, try to pay for something, and find that your cards aren't working. The banks sometimes deactivate cards when they see that they're suddenly being used in another country, for obvious security reasons. Even if this happens to you, it's very easy to fix; just call the 1-800 number on the back of the card, explain your situation, and they'll usually be able to reactive your card immediately. However, making a call to the States while abroad can be complicated for its own reasons, so you're much better off just notifying your bank and credit companies before traveling.

The exchange rate

The USD to Euro exchange rate changes all the time; in my time here (i.e. since early 2005) I've seen the Euro as high as US$1.60 and as low as US$1.19. I make my living as a freelancer working exclusively for American clients, so I'm paid in US dollars while living my life in Euros. So the exchange rate is something I have to watch very closely, as it really affects my day to day financial situation. I check www.xe.com almost every day to see where the exchange is. If you're a PC user, Windows Vista offers several different exchange rate widgets, so you might want to consider putting one of those on your desktop and keeping an eye on it for a few weeks before traveling to France. However you monitor the exchange rate, it's a good idea to check it within a few days before your trip to get a pretty good idea of what the rate will be while you're spending money in Europe. While the rate changes all the time, it usually doesn't change more than a penny or two a day, and often stays within a one- or two-cent range for weeks at a time, so if you're spending a week or two in France you can be reasonably assured the rate won't change drastically within that time.

Happy consuming!