Don’t bank on easy cash for China trips
When you read this, all being well, I will be in Beijing, courtesy of Hainan Airlines and Beijing Tourism. With the direct flight from Dublin now operating since June, it has certainly made the journey from Ireland much easier. It will be my first time in China and although it’s a short trip I am hoping to tick all the major boxes – The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Mao Tse Tung’s Mausoleum, Tiananmen Square… and a few others besides. I’ll use ATMs for money while I’m there but I had trouble getting hold of a few yuan to take with me. My own bank, PTSB, doesn’t handle Chinese currency and my local Bank of Ireland turned me away because I’m not an account holder with it. Then I rang the Foreign Currency Exchange International on Dublin’s College Green, which sorted me out at a day’s notice. Brilliant service.