Would you believe - after all the hassle of getting American Express Travellers cheques in Citibank Tokyo, turns out I can't even use them. My Travellers Cheques are so safe, even if a look-a-alike of me stole them together with my passport, they STILL couldn't use them. At least not anywhere in Russia. I think the problem is that they are not recognised anywhere, because Stupid Citibank has put their name all over them, and American Express is in tiny size 4 font on the back.
So anyway, after trudging for three hours all over Moscow with Jolene, using a 5-year old Lonely Planet, in a fruitless search for American Express Office which no longer exists, we finally luck upon Beaureu de Change that tells us that across the street and around the corner and down the alley way and next to the park, is a bank that might change them... so off we trudge again. Hot and sweaty and no money.
Well. She looks at them and examines them under UV lighting and makes some phone calls and looks at them again and hands them back to me (I ain't moving!) and consults every other staff member at the bank and they make some more phone calls. The line behind me builds to four or five but this is the land of the eternal queue-er and they are all rooting for me. Eventually, (90 minutes later), they condede that yes, they are ok to cash. But it still takes them another hour of signing and dissappearring (coffee break?) and cash-counting and typing in my passport details three times into an computer (looks like it's still got DOS!) before I finally get cashed up. All that for a measly $300.
Jolene and I went for a celebratory vodka and to calm down our jarred nerves.
That was how I spent my Saturday. Overnight train to St Petersburg. Paul still snores.
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