Thank you sarahnew are you going any where nice this year ?

Hi again,

yes we are off to sunny beach bulgaria on the 29 may, we are a little apprehensive as we have never been to bulgaria before. But having been to salou for the last 3 years felt like we needed to be a bit adventurous hope we dont regret it

im sure you will have a great time, my friend has a house in bulgaria and she was telling us that it was really cheep out there ,
they go every year

hope you have a great time not long till your going lucky you july cant come soon enough 4 me lol

Yea only 20 days to go now so its getting exciting, hope you have a brillant holiday in july, i'l let ye all know how sunny beach went and maybe you can try it next year

hi sarahnew we went to book bulgaria on two seperate occasions and was put off for different reasons. let us know when you get back eh?

hi beermat,

yea will do, only 17 days to go

can someone that is over in salou tell me what is the exchange rate over there at the moment.
As i was thinking when i head over to salou next month if it would be better for me to bring most of my spending money in sterling and change it when i am over there as the euro rate here is rather low it is 1.06 at the moment and i dont think it will get any better befor next month.

sharonc

sharonc i was wondering this myself we are going in july i was going to just put my spends in the bank and use my bank card when im over there? i have never been away before so have no clue

also can some one give me advice on buying the portaventura tickets i can get a 14day pass for the 5 of us for £200 only thing is im pregnant so wont be able 2 go on any thing and by 2 younger kids are only 4 and 5 and very small for there age so dont think there will be much for them is buying these tickets a waste of money or worth it?

tomnkat it depends what bank you are with as some banks charges you money if you are abroad . So it might not be worth putting your money in your bank but someone on here will tell you what banks do and dont. But i know my bank does charge you something if you use it abroad thats why i wont be putting mine into my bank. hope this is of some help to you

from sharonc
scotland

I can't tell you the other way round, what I'm pretty sure is that last times I've been in UK March 2009 and Oct 2008 taking money from an ATM the Royal Bank of Scotland charged me 5 pound for each time I was taking money out from ATM so I try to find a safe ATm and take as much as I can...

now I have some pounds left here, probably next time I need to go I'll post here to exchange some euro/pound with someone from this forum with no extra fees

thanks Sharon i must find out if my bank charge

i would just be scared having all my money on me incase i lost it or some thing we have never been on hols so this is a big thing for us lol bosswells day out hehe

words of caution........wouldnt completely rely on your card to get cash all of holiday.....if anything goes wrong you are up the swaney without a paddle........went to salou with family one year.....they only took a small amount of cash meaning to draw what they needed as was needed with their card...the second day of holidays it let them have £200 first time......but second time three days later ATM refused and card was blocked.....despite many long phone calls home they couldnt get any money untill the day before they came home....they were self catering with a young baby for 2 weeks......they told them this but made no difference......they would have been in right mess if rest of family hadnt been there to help out.....all there holiday spends were in bank and their wages had gone in on top just after they arrive in salou......bank was saying fraud squad had blocked it as suspected it wasnt them using it.....and it took all that time to sort it out......the reason they were given was that it had been used in a different country earlier in the year....it was an earlier holiday they had gone on......and had been using card no problems inbetween........best to always tell bank where you are going and when.....

ps tomcat....edit your post and remove your bank names.....never post even these details in public forum....it would surprise you just how it can be used....especially as like you you post regularly ....they glean and use what ever they can....and we do give odd details here about ourselves as we feel we are amongst friends we have talked to for a long while.....but this forum is in the public domain and can be read by anyone......

TWEETIE PIE Thanks for that im not sure now how we are going to do this like i said i have never been away before we are also going for 2weeks with 3kids self catering so would be up the swany if any thing happened the spends out there im so nervous

hi tomcat......take what you need for about 3 days in euros...or as much as you feel safe with.... and the rest in sterling travellers cheques....plenty of places to cash travellers cheques in salou.....you usually only get a good rate here if you get over £500 some say £600....by the time you pay card charges for regularly drawing cash abroad you are no worse off with travellers cheques.....if you get sterling ones you wont loose out if you need cash them when you get back home.....and you cant guarantee what rate to the pound you get if you draw euros from ATM....probably the same rate as changing your sterling travellers cheques for euros..

and if lose or have travellers cheques stolen.....your cash is still safe and can be re-issued via a spanish bank quite quickly.....just follow rules and use safty deposit boxes ...

I went salou with my kids for years and thats what I did.....certain banks dont charge for your travellers cheques if you have certain accounts....ask bank if yours is one

have a lovely holiday and dont worry....things will be fine....brilliant place to take kids.....go the aqua park ...dolphin shows and a reptile zoo there as well as great water park all for the one price....better than the port adventura water park

Hi TWEETIE PIE thank you so much for your replys today, very much aprechiated as we havent a clue, the kids are getting excited im more intrested in going to see the dolphin shows than portaventura park so will deffo go to aqua park

cheers again

hi tomcat.... Aquapolis the water park is called...cheap by bus from salou....sometimes free bus with ticket bought off reps....a good cheap day out for you all is get bus to cambrils.....where all the fishing boats come in... and if timed right will see all the women sorting fish for the markets.....lots of little boats tied up too....then catch the boat back to salou...will see cambrils and salou from out at sea....can get a drink and they play nice relaxing music....then into salou mcdonalds for tea and an icecream....kids wont want rocking to sleep by time they get home......dont use the wally trolly (train that goes round salou on the road) if you want to get somewhere.....as is much more expensive .... and its not called the wally trolly for nothing....they take ages to get anywhere...use the buses....save the wally trolly for trip all round salou....kids will love it.....it takes ages as it goes the long way round every where .....where ever you got on you would land up back there in the end and if I remember right it costs the same nomatter where you get on or off .....good way to get your bearings and an idea where things are

we went to Bulgaria almost 2 years ago now and loved it and it was extremely cheap , tho ive heard that they are using euros now so not so much for your money

we are going to La Pineda in 2 weeks and cant wait , we are staying half board , 2 adults one child and are taking £800 i think thats plenty

I want to remember everybody that VISA and credit cards are commonly and very used here which means that you can use it almost everywhere (shops, restaurants, supermarkets...) so it's not necessary to carry a lot of cash, and you don't get charged for paying in euro they just apply exchange rate on the moment of the payment thats all.

I checked exchange rates on my bank Exchanging 500 pounds to euro today will cost me arround 14 euro on difference between real rate and bank rate exchange.

good luck