[Akula]

Thought that this might be an interesting topic for the Forum given how much travel we all do. I for one really like the look, feel, smell etc. of the currencies I’ve used during my travels and so wanted to start a thread about it.

Right now I must have at least 10+ different currencies in my bag or wallet on account of all the travel I've done recently. Some of the cooler currency coins/notes I have are from Iceland and the Czech Republic and of course Russia. I also have some older stuff from way back when including Irish pounds, Italian Lira and German Marks (!).

Things are always changing on the currency front and that makes it pretty interesting I think. For example, I noticed today that the 5 Euro note now has Cyrillic on it (from Bulgaria’s membership? Or a precursor to Ukraine’s eventual entry? Maybe even on there now to placate the large number of Russian speakers currently residing in the EU as well?). None of the other Euro notes seem to have this so perhaps it’s a work in progress and eventually the other notes will also have Cyrillic? I'm sure other currencies change all the time and we just don't notice it.

Here’s the 'new' €5 note FYI:



I also recently took some USDs out of my Russian account and they were the old notes and when I got back home noticed that the US has all sorts of new more difficult to counterfit notes that they've issued (the $20, $50 and $100 notes in particular).

Anyway, I just think that the various different currencies are all pretty cool and so thought we could all post the ones we have in our pockets and use on a daily basis in our various domiciles and/or ones that we think are particularly interesting. Here are a few I like:

Icelandic Coins:





Love the squid!!

(IIRC all the Icelandic coins had some sort of ocean/sea creature motif)

Russian Ruble 5000 note (baller note (biggest one they issue, but value dropping rapidly!)):



Other currencies/coins I love are the Canadian two dollar "Twoonie", the US $2 bill (now long since out of circulation, but you still see them from time to time) and even the Russian 10 Ruble coin (they are just a nice size and not too heavy). I will say that I find the UK and Canadian coins a bit on the heavy side and whenever I'm walking around in those countries I feel kinda like I have a pound or so of coins in my pocket!

Also in this thread I thought we could cover getting swindled abroad with various currency exchange hustles. Or even discuss how you’re getting crushed right now in a particular currency or killing it due to a new favorable exchange rate. For me that would be Rubles which I still have some in an account in Russia which has dropped almost 15% in the past few months .

Re ‘hustles’ I’ve personally been involved 2x with gypsy cab drivers trying to ‘exchange’ large counterfit bills for my smaller notes when exiting the taxi – one in Argentina years ago and then a few months ago in Egypt. Some of these guys are real scoundrels so look out!!

Anyway, tell us your stories and post your favorite currencies and/or interesting things about them in this thread!