Just a little advice for those staying a long time in Spain. My daughter, who is in Valencia for the semester, had her ATM check card gobbled up on Thursday. We are having to send another one. She has a VISA, but is now scared IT is going to be devoured. BEFORE she left, we should have had 2 different check cards issued, so she would have had a spare. It is now going to cost $ to send the new one to her. Any thoughts on the best way to send: UPS or FEDX????

I've had good service with Fedex to Spain (believe Fedex service is now available thru US Post Office also)at a reasonable price. Have seen UPS presence in Spain but haven't used them yet.
Also have used ATM's at banks around the world and never had any problem (although I used ATM's at banks when they were open, just in case!)

You're absolutely right. In fact, send her at least two new ATM cards. Use different PIN numbers on them. That will eliminate the problem.

We always take two for each of three different accounts when we go there. That gives us options instead of having us caught short.

Though... We have never had a card eaten by a machine. Sounds to me like it was at a place other than a major bank. I would suggest she use them at the bank ATMs, because they are maintained better. From what I heard, the maintenance men just don't get around to the remote ones as often as they should... Can't prove it though, haven't seen one near one..... LOL

Another point.... she can use the ATMs to do a transfer to a local bank.... and therefore use their card as well. Not a bad option.

Wolf

Good suggestion about the actual bank ATM's. I am talking to her tomorrow and will 'suggest' that, along with trying to make transactions in the DAYlight hours!

Another point to consider. When the exchange rate is high, it's time to have her transfer money into a Spanish bank. We bought $2,500 when the rate was 204. It has now fallen to about 185. By mid spring, the exchange rate will possibly fall to as far as 120. That means that we will realize a 40% gain on the buy.

We got 508,000 ptas, and we would have only gotten 300,000 had we waited. That's a lot of buying power.

Wolf

I'm planning a trip in May when the exchange rate will probably be lower. How exactly can I convert funds now to get more out of it? I don't have a spanish bank account or anything. Would it be worth it to open one? Any responses would be helpful...

Leche

The ATMs eat the card when you enter a wrong number 2 times (for safety) so make sure you know the exact PIN for each card so you won't have that problem.
Best regards,
Nuria

Believe it or not, my daughter's spanish madre knew someone at the bank, and he was able to retreive her card!! I am still going to send her another one with a different # but the same pin. Another question: any recs on what would be the cheapest way to travel to Italy and Greece---Eurail or Individual train tickets?????? probably for a 10 day period

If your daughter wants to travel all the way to Italy/Greece, I would suggest a Eurail ticket. If she were just staying in Spain I would say point to point tickets may be ok, but the long hauls outside of the country can add up. When I was studying in Granada, the Eurail pass was the best thing we did, we were able to travel from Granada to Madrid, France, down to Florence, Rome, up to Switzerland, and back, and still had a day or 2 left which we used in Spain for weekend trips. Eurail has youth passes, and flexipasses which are a little cheaper too than the one or two month passes.

Check with Council Travel at: http://www.counciltravel.com they have some info, Rick Steves also has info on his page, try: http://www.ricksteves.com/rail

I hope she has a great time!

If you're doing long-haul train travel, I recommend the Eurail pass as well. We did Europe from Estonia to Spain in '95 and spent $500 on travel TOTAL. At the time, the leg from Paris to Madrid was almost 40% of that, so we definitely saved money. We bought the unlimited one-month travel (30 days) pass. There are additional benefits like ferries, etc. that will benefit you in going to Greece (and Finland, Sweden...have to save that for another trip).