Reasons to be thankful we are in the UK - Changing Money

My daughter is currently on a gap year - travelling round Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Africa - and every so often I get one of those calls which remind me on the gaps in her education - and it me I am holding account for those not her school, university or other educational establishment!

Today at 7 a.m. the call came from Bangkok - as she was wandering her way up and down a line of foreign money changers and banks trying to work out whether a higher or lower rate was better for her, what 1-5, 10 - 20 and 50+ meant against the different rates and a range of other queries.

She needed US dollars - to pay for her visa into Cambodia - and if necessary the additional private administration fee charged by a number of the border officials to augment their income, and it struck me how alien day to day corruption is in our lives in the UK - and indeed how simply comparing exchange rates is!

Rather than having to work out that when buying overseas money as a consumer with a calculator, and running down a long line of banks and shops in the same way you compare odds from racecourse bookies we can simply compare travel money rates online with options of getting currency delivered to your door or collecting it in person.

My life may not me as exciting as hers is at the moment, but at least its simpler!