Having been to Canada many times in the last couple years, I offer a
suggestion regarding currency and exchanges.  Rather than actually
exchanging funds, I would use my ATM card to withdraw Canadian funds
directly from the ATM machine.  I only withdrew what I thought I would be
using so I wouldn't have to exchange when returning to the USA.  If I
needed to pay for something that was expensive, I used a credit card.
 
One other thing; watch how you spend your change.  Canadians have $1 and $2
coins, which I always had a hard time remembering represented large funds.
I once gave a panhandler about $15 in coins, thinking it was just a couple
of bucks.  A handful of change can represent a lot of cash.
 
I found nearly every place of business would accept USA funds without
hesitation, and even knew the exchange rate for that day.  You may not get
the best rate, but it will be close.  Only once did a business try to screw
me; a gas station north of Edmonton insisted on a $1 to $1 rate, wouldn't
take a credit card, and there were no ATMs in the area.  But that was only
one time out of a lot of extensive traveling in Canada.
 
If you are driving, please don't make the mental goof I made.  Once, while
driving up a mountain road, I was really putting my little red car through
it's paces trying to stay on the road at the posted speed limits.  A curve
warning would say 40, and I would just about go off the road trying to take
it at that speed.  Just when I had decided Canadian drivers had huge racing
cajones, I remembered the signs were in kilometers, not miles.  Duh.
 
But it was FUN!
 
Bob C and 15 MO' Silly 'Mericans
[Posted in FML issue 3165]