Exchange Money At Airport?

[travellife]

I will be flying to Bali for a short trip. I need to convert some Baht to US dollars (for about $300 dollars)

I went to the local Carreful shopping area in Lad Phrao and there was a Kasikorn bank and SCB bank. Both were out of US dollars. SCB's sell rate is currently 32.74 when I went there.

So I thought that I would just withdrawal some Thai baht and take it to the airport to convert it (since they will have $US dollars). Is the conversion at the airport from Thai baht to USD that bad?

If the airport converted it at 34, that is a 3.7% premium on top of what SCB would sell it for. But I would think it wouldn't be that high there. Any idea?

Other options are:

1) Take the MRT/BTS to a place that has US dollars (which is probably around Sukumwit). I don't think I will save enough to spend time doing this.

2) Take an ATM card and hope it works in Bali. I prefer to take cash as a backup since Bali is notorious for ruining ATM transactions (and there is a fee for each transaction).

Thanks

[bud7]

I recently exchanged money at the airport at the TMB booth and got the exact same rate of change as I had noticed at TMB downtown.

I will be flying to Bali for a short trip. I need to convert some Baht to US dollars (for about $300 dollars)

I went to the local Carreful shopping area in Lad Phrao and there was a Kasikorn bank and SCB bank. Both were out of US dollars. SCB's sell rate is currently 32.74 when I went there.

So I thought that I would just withdrawal some Thai baht and take it to the airport to convert it (since they will have $US dollars). Is the conversion at the airport from Thai baht to USD that bad?

If the airport converted it at 34, that is a 3.7% premium on top of what SCB would sell it for. But I would think it wouldn't be that high there. Any idea?

Other options are:

1) Take the MRT/BTS to a place that has US dollars (which is probably around Sukumwit). I don't think I will save enough to spend time doing this.

2) Take an ATM card and hope it works in Bali. I prefer to take cash as a backup since Bali is notorious for ruining ATM transactions (and there is a fee for each transaction).

Thanks

[travellife]

<br>I recently exchanged money at the airport at the TMB booth and got the <u>exact same</u> rate of change as I had noticed at TMB downtown.<br><br>

<div><br></div><div>I did exchange money at the airport and it was the same rate as the banks in town.  So there is no need to exchange money before going to the airport.  You can arrive at the airport, check in your baggage, and go eat before going through immigration.  And than exchange all your Thai baht into your own currency.  You can convert your money after going through immigration, but not sure if the rate will be the same (probably not much different).  </div><div><br></div><div>I initially thought that the airport rate would be drastically different but the Bangkok Airport seems to be an exception.  </div>