How much currency to bring?

[OneSixtyToOne]

8 hours ago, dcl999 said:

We have been traveling for years in Europe. The only time we couldn’t use a card without having a pin was at a gas station. Most places you just have to tap your card. The other option is they give you a slip to sign. Much of Scandinavia is virtually cashless (including many toilets).

I don’t understand why education is free in Scandinavia but you have to pay for the toilets.

[SailorPaulH]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I don’t understand why education is free in Scandinavia but you have to pay for the toilets.

Education is free in Scandinavia in the same way alcohol is free at lunch and dinner on Viking cruises.

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I don’t understand why education is free in Scandinavia but you have to pay for the toilets.

 

Old customs die hard.   Once upon a time, in days of yore, when some of us were children, one tipped the attendant in the restroom or cloakroom (especially at fancy hotels, theaters and concert halls). I remember toilets in the department stores and airport with coin slots on the stall doors. Users needed a coin to unlock the stall. In some places, the coin was returned at the end of the transaction.  One paid for what one used.

 

There is no such thing as a free lunch.  Education is not free; it is paid for by the citizens out of the very high taxes paid.  Everyone chips in to ensure that all children, future taxpayers, have access to education. Same way it is done in the US.

 

[CatalinaUK]

4 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I don’t understand why education is free in Scandinavia but you have to pay for the toilets.

It has to do with making it harder for habitual drug users and homeless to "set up" in public toilets. My SIL is married to a Swede and told me paid toilets were used as a deterrent.

[Kountess]

On 3/31/2024 at 5:14 PM, pavementends said:

Getting foreign currency from AAA is so...last century.

I don't really care that I'm still in the last century, but I found getting foreign currency from AAA to be a great solution for itineraries with multiple currencies.  For Viking Homelands, for example, I wanted a small amount of each currency just to cover tips for guides and drivers and did not want to have to find an ATM at each port.  I prefer to tip in local currency whenever possible.  On other itineraries, however, I always use ATMs.