T-3

Alright, T-3 and counting....da da da..........

So about exchanging currency at the bank...yeah...not going to happen. I went to the bank yesterday for 2 reasons. First, because I'd been collecting small change for several years now and decided to finally cash that in. I spent probably nearly an hour counting it all! I had so many coins, and figure this...an extra 105 bucks for me!!! Woo hooo! Saving up those pennies is definitely worth it! So I went to cash those in at the bank and secondly, to ask about exchanging currency and the rate they use.

I called the downtown branch a few weeks ago to find out if they have a service fee and if they have foreign currency on hand. Well the person I talked to apparently is a LIAR! He said there were no fees, and that they could exchange the currency right then and there. So I went to the downtown US Bank in Milwaukee and asked to do that exchange. The lady there was like "well actually, that person must have been mistaken because there's going to be a $10 service fee on that...sorrry....." and someone else chimed in "we haven't done that for nearly 10 years now..."

Yeah, so that person on the phone was DEFINITELY a LIAR!

Well, I asked what the exchange rate was to see how close it is to the market rate of about 1USD=87 Yen. Apparently the bank is not the best place to exchange currency because they quoted the rate of 1USD=81 Yen PLUS that $10 service fee!! What a ripoff! So I decided not to exchange any money yesterday and probably won't before I leave. Luckily I found some Yen in my room from previous trips which I had saved, and my parents had some so I exchanged some cash with them (They are the best bankers with THE best rates ever!) haha. So I have enough to cover me through Tokyo and til I get to my city. I suppose I'll just exchange currency at a local bank when I get to my town. I also called Chicago O'Hare to see what rate they use and they are absolute thiefs! 1USD=75 Yen and they charge a fee unless you exchange more than $500 worth of cash. Narita airport actually has the best rate...1USD=83.9 Yen. I would exchange there, but apparently after we disembark in Narita, we are not going to have enough time to do anything at the airport besides grab our luggage and be shoooeed through to our buses that take us to our hotel in Tokyo. Bummer...

Well, the packing situation has gotten a lot better. I put about 90-95% of the clothes I'm taking with me in all my luggage, and I actually have plenty of room to spare! Who woulda thunkit? So I'm pretty happy. I just have to wait until I wait it on our scale here to see what the damage might be....pleeeeaasse no more than 50lbs. per check in....otherwise there's a $50 charge which I can deal with. It'd be nice not to have to pay that fee, but if I have a ton to bring and I need to bring it regardless, then it's worth paying only $50 rather than having it shipped which would cost a lot more, I'm sure.