Coming back from my vacation I had a bit of coinage with me from the various countries that I've visited and immediately put it in my "coin drawer" and then realised that there were a lot of coins in there. So what do I have?
-- $1.36 Canadian, including two fifty-cent pieces (any Canadian remember those?)
-- £2.25
-- 500 Bahraini fils
-- 11.80 Euro (Christ that's a lot, better remember to bring it with me next time I am in Europe)
-- 1.60 Hong Kong dollars
-- 2 UAE dinar
-- 22 Czech crowns
-- 0.25 Caymanian dollar (where did that come from? I've never even been to the Cayman Islands)
-- 22 pence from the Isle of Man
-- 0.10 Turkish lira
-- 1.50 Macau dollars
-- $.40 of convertible Cuban peso (in Cuba this currency had a value on par with the US dollar but is worthless anywhere else)
-- unidentifiable coin, has "20" on one side and "confederatio Helvetica" on the other. I don't think it is Turkish.
-- unidentifiable coin, has the number "1" on one side and some sort of Oriental script on it which I think is Chinese. Maybe some kind of Chinese penny?
While I'm in the drawer I may as well list a few "souvenir bills" that I have kept over the years:
-- 10 million Zimbabwe dollars (was only worth about $.30 when I got it and the bill expires on June 30, 2008 so is worthless now)
-- 1 punt note from the Central bank of Ireland
-- a US two dollar bill
And of course I have some Canadian, US, British, Bahraini, UAE, and Euro notes for spending when I am next in those countries.
Looking back at all of this I now realise that different currencies are annoying. I think the Europeans have the right idea by trying to harmonise to just one currency. The Gulf countries may do the same in 2010 and have just one Gulf currency. Fine by me.
4 comments:
"confederatio Helvetica" is Switzerland. You have a 1/5 of a Swiss Franc
Ah, right Switzerland! I was there in 2006 so that makes sense. Thanks for that.
Hi Glen, I am from Ontario. My daughter and her husband have just left New Brunswick to live in Doha for 3 maybe 6 yrs. Needless to say I am a little down in the dumps but am very happy that they both get this experience as they love travelling.
My son in law will be teaching in Doha so they will be back for a 2 month visit next summer.
I have been reading your blogs and find them very interesting also you have a lot of interesting information.
Just wanted to say Thanks !
Thanks for that Karen C., while Doha isn't exactly the French Riviera it is not all that bad -- just takes a bit getting used to. I do miss greenery though.
As for travel it is an excellent base of operations. Qatar Airways has flights to so many different places that it has been great for exploring the Middle East, Europe, and East Asia.
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