Part of our initial instruction for the cruise had been to bring US dollars since those would be acceptable everywhere, or, at least, easily convertible into local currency. So, off we went and supplied ourselves with the money we wanted to have available in US dollar travelers cheques.

Already in Bucharest we had discovered that our travelers cheques were not a convenient way to carry cash. No one was willing to give us cash for them, much less to accept them as cash. Luckily, we were able to get money by using an ATM. Not only ... (more)