Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
Do travelers cheques still exist, or when did they go obsolete? I don't think I've seen them used in like 35 years, but I remember them being quite common in the 80's. Id guess with the growth of credit cards, easy ATM access that they've long ago died off.
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Lol! I dunno, I never used them but a long...long time ago.
Gather round! Its story time, I was 23 and going to Cuba after a Tax Season for vacation and of course I get there and we're waiting for the Bus to take us to our resort so I grab a few beers because, of course, my resort is the very last one and...of course its late at night, only 1 guy working and theres this young couple in front of me that I have to wait behind.
I say 'young couple' but they were probably a couple years older than me, but clearly not very seasoned travelers. Anyways, whatever and these were the days where you could easily exchange your currency at the Hotel, Cuba has changed a lot since then.
So this young couple rock up to the Hotel Desk to check in, I'm behind them, its late at night, I'm tired, I want to get my currency, hit the bar and then the room.
They need to exchange currency and...what do they have? The Concierge nearly passed out laughing.
Its all Traveler's Cheques. And....American Express Travelers cheques no less.
The Concierge explains...you have to go to the Central Bank in Havana to cash those and they're going to give you 50-cents on the dollar for them.
Anyways...who gave these people this advice? Was he over 80? They stood aside, I checked in, converted my currency, got my room key and asked the Concierge how much it cost to get to Havana and then loaned that to them, they said they'd pay me back when they got their money.
That was the first, but not last time that couple ended up borrowing money from me, but, to their credit, when we got back to Calgary they did pay me back!