Sandydog2
Well-Known Member
They aren’t legal tender in England, or even in Scotland.
The cost of checking in to a foreign country.
- Thread starter john_morris_uk
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AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
I wonder if I could get away with HK$? They're about 10 to the pound.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Actually only Royal Mint Coins are Legal Tender throughout the UK. English banknotes are Legal Tender in England and Wales only. Scottish, or indeed any, banknotes are not Legal Tender in Scotland - only coins. And there is no single thing as a Scottish bank note, as each bank issues their own notes - Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank etc.
But neither are debit cards, cheques etc legal tender anywhere in the UK. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/what-is-legal-tender
the concept of Legal Tender is very obtuse and of little practical relevance - certainly not when overseas.
Many years back before I had a credit card I had an interesting discussion with a petrol station attendant in London when I had put £20 of petrol in my car and offered my only cash, a Scottish note. He wouldn’t accept it. So I shrugged my shoulders and asked if he wanted to take the fuel back. After a long stalemate he eventually took the bank note. I don’t think he was aware that Scotland was even part of the UK and had probably never been outside London.
PS. British Linen Bank notes were the ones which were always most tricky to spend, as they really did look like toytown money.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
I lived at lot of years in Scotland, latterly travelling darn sarf on weekends and leave periods. Our favourite tipple at that time was bottled Holsten Pils. So bartime fun often happened when ordering. Glasses on bar, caps removed from bottles, 'we don't take Scottish notes'. Especially, in the day, a poond note.
Without being stroppy, my answer was to say 'sorry I've only got these'. No one ever decided that two opened bottles was worth the hassle. Especially, I believe, when depositing takings at the bank, they had no problem.
awol
Well-Known Member
Have you seen the prices they're asking for these on eBay? Wish I'd kept some but they were about a week's wages so maybe not such an investment.
bergie
Well-Known Member
Totally agreed on the advise. So far we haven't had any particular issues with the officials. Sure, had I known in advance that you need to pay a 100EC$ "overtime fee" when clearing into Bequia if you do it on a Saturday afternoon instead of morning, I would've rowed faster. As it was, I arrived to the customs five minutes after they'd gone on lunch break.
Sometimes the fees can be quite arbitrary. There were four boats checking in to Roseau, Dominica. Same day, same port of entry, but a bit different times. Every boat had a different fee. One boat paid 0EC$, and one over hundred.
Also, one boat had to bring whole crew to immigration, for others the skipper was enough.
I loved the "would you like a souvenir?" question about whether we'd like to have our passports stamped. That would've cost extra, of course.
But yes, smile, start with a friendly greeting. And smile despite them spending half hour on the phone with family while you wait.
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
I stand corrected then. Whilst I’m aware of the definition of legal tender, I hadn’t thought about the difference between legal tender and legal currency.
Stork_III
Well-Known Member
Scottish banknotes are not legal tender in England, Scotland, or anywhere else. While they are legal currency, meaning they can be used as payment, businesses are not obligated to accept them. The only banknotes that are considered legal tender are those issued by the Bank of England
zoidberg
Well-Known Member
'A long, long time ago....'
My climbers' club chartered bus, en route to Langdale one autumn Friday night full of young Glesga climbers and running late in the evening, stopped by a roadside Ullswater hotel bar so the thirsty horde could catch a 'last orders' pint.
My bunch filed in and half-a-dozen or more of us, well drouthy, delegated 'Wee Malky' to get our order in. For speed, 'twere all the same - pints of 'whatever'.
They were duly ordered and poured, and stacked one by one on the counter. The barman, a bumptious and well-overweight specimen, stated the price of the big round, and 'Wee Malky' reached for his wallet.... He'd come straight from work in Lithgow's shipyard, where he was a 'final year apprentice' working in a welding crew - had a long week's grime on his face and hands - and extracted his unopened paypacket holding his week's money. Not a lot, in those days, for a week's hard graft.
He peeled back the stapled flap, fished out a Scottish £10 note ( 'a long, long time ago...' ) and offered it to the fat barman, who took it, sneered, then held it up to the light. For the benefit of the half-dozen locals playing darts in the corner, he declaimed this 'Mickey Mouse Money' and derided the cheek of 'Wee Malky' daring to offer this 'funnymoney' for good English beer....
Oh, dear! We all knew how hard our mate had to work for his £10, which represented a fairly large chunk of his week's wages. We flinched....
.....Wee Malky was about 4'6" tall. He was also about 4'6" wide. He was one of those individuals for whom the term 'wee hard man' was coined.... that the Tolkien character 'Gimli' was modelled on, apart from the beard. We'd all seen him do repeated pullups in the Auld Bar of the Kingshouse Hotel using one finger in a knothole in the wooden roof-beam. We knew that, once riled, he was uncontrollable. Berserk. There was no 'Off' button. He would destroy everything and everyone in his path....
Malky quietly took the offending Royal Bank of Scotland note from the barman's fleshy fingers, carefully folded it and tucked it tidily back into its envelope, then his wallet - which went into his jeans' back pocket.
He gestured for the barman to lean over - and we flinched, easing our chairs back, expecting mayhem and carnage to erupt. "You see a' them pints?" he gestured with one scarred hand big as a ham. The witless fellow nodded. "Well, ye can just shove 'em a' right back up the spout....'
And we left.
My climbers' club chartered bus, en route to Langdale one autumn Friday night full of young Glesga climbers and running late in the evening, stopped by a roadside Ullswater hotel bar so the thirsty horde could catch a 'last orders' pint.
My bunch filed in and half-a-dozen or more of us, well drouthy, delegated 'Wee Malky' to get our order in. For speed, 'twere all the same - pints of 'whatever'.
They were duly ordered and poured, and stacked one by one on the counter. The barman, a bumptious and well-overweight specimen, stated the price of the big round, and 'Wee Malky' reached for his wallet.... He'd come straight from work in Lithgow's shipyard, where he was a 'final year apprentice' working in a welding crew - had a long week's grime on his face and hands - and extracted his unopened paypacket holding his week's money. Not a lot, in those days, for a week's hard graft.
He peeled back the stapled flap, fished out a Scottish £10 note ( 'a long, long time ago...' ) and offered it to the fat barman, who took it, sneered, then held it up to the light. For the benefit of the half-dozen locals playing darts in the corner, he declaimed this 'Mickey Mouse Money' and derided the cheek of 'Wee Malky' daring to offer this 'funnymoney' for good English beer....
Oh, dear! We all knew how hard our mate had to work for his £10, which represented a fairly large chunk of his week's wages. We flinched....
.....Wee Malky was about 4'6" tall. He was also about 4'6" wide. He was one of those individuals for whom the term 'wee hard man' was coined.... that the Tolkien character 'Gimli' was modelled on, apart from the beard. We'd all seen him do repeated pullups in the Auld Bar of the Kingshouse Hotel using one finger in a knothole in the wooden roof-beam. We knew that, once riled, he was uncontrollable. Berserk. There was no 'Off' button. He would destroy everything and everyone in his path....
Malky quietly took the offending Royal Bank of Scotland note from the barman's fleshy fingers, carefully folded it and tucked it tidily back into its envelope, then his wallet - which went into his jeans' back pocket.
He gestured for the barman to lean over - and we flinched, easing our chairs back, expecting mayhem and carnage to erupt. "You see a' them pints?" he gestured with one scarred hand big as a ham. The witless fellow nodded. "Well, ye can just shove 'em a' right back up the spout....'
And we left.
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dunedin
Well-Known Member
How long was his hospital stay?
SaltyC
Well-Known Member
Yes, remember my first trip through the Suez Canal and watching boxes of cigarettes and spirits disappearing into the customs launch in order to 'get clearance'. Talking to the Old Man at night, the statement was £100k to sit at anchor or give in???
seeSimon
Well-Known Member
I had a substantial spell working in Nigeria, and a longer one in West Africa in general. Mostly a Bloody awful place... Years ago now, but I doubt much has improved - perhaps they're busy with Internet based scams these days?
We actually used to be given company allowances to cover "miscellaneous unreceipted travel costs" so widespread, and widely acknowledged was the corruption.
I used to take pens, pencils etc, and secondhand children's clothes and shoes so as to further ease my transits...could save hours....these days it might save your life?
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
Marlborough Country.
Sea Change
Well-Known Member
In the nineteen countries and territories through which we've travelled in the past 3.5yrs, I'm not aware of ever having had to pay any backhanders. But I'm sure it happens, and I've heard that DR can be pretty bad in this regard.
Laser310
Well-Known Member
I haven't been to the DR in a few years, but for about 20 years or more, I went every year for about 2 weeks to Cabarete; a windsurfing/kitesufing town on the north coast.
This is not a gated resort type of place like say Punta Cana - on weekends, the Dominicans are enjoying the beach and restaurants with their families along with the visitors from the US and Europe. Most visitors in Cabarete were European.
Over those 20 years I never had a bad experience with the Dominicans. They were universally polite, friendly, and welcoming. The worst I can say is that I occasionally saw some of the men drink a bit too much, but you can see that anywhere in the world.., and in any case.., some of the visitors did the same thing.
I never cleared in on a yacht.., and didn't have many dealings with officials.., but I was never asked for any kind of payoff.
One of the first years we went, my older daughter, who was probably about 3 or 4 years old developed an earache in the middle of the night, and was crying pretty loudly. So, not knowing what else to do, at about 2am, I carried her to the local health clinic: basically a one-room kind of place. It turned out that the doctor lived above it and I guess I woke him up. He happily saw my daughter, diagnosed an ear infection, and sent me off with antibiotics. By 8am she was feeling fine. My bill was $5-$10.
john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
We arrived in Samana yesterday after sailing overnight and went ashore to find an extremely friendly place. The local Navy office was manned by some young men who were charming, polite and helpful. They were chatty and just wanted to have a quick look at the papers and send us on our way. No fuss, no bother no charge. We’ve just eaten out: two cocktails, wine and a very nice whole grouper each cooked in coconut and various herbs and spices with sauté potatoes and the bill came to about 60 quid I tipped the young man who was running the bar and doing the cooking and he came out with a pastry complimentary for us to take away. Ice cream at the shop next door where it was full of locals. Perhaps 30 locals and two other visitors besides us. We’ve barely seen another tourist and there are not many visiting yachts either.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
I used to sail to Marina Smir in Morocco a lot. For many years, a couple of packets of Gib low price cigs made life easier. This practice lapsed a few years ago.
Blueboatman
Well-Known Member
Shane Acton ( Shrimpy) tells the best tale of dealing with overeager customs ..
He stood on the cockpit seats athwartships on his little 18 ft Caprice and gently rocked the boat side to side until they got seasick !
It almost worked for me in Luperon.. Three of us squeezed into the tiny cabin of a Corribee on an airless still morning whilst I insisted on making them a nice but slow simmering hot cup of coffee..cost me a five dollar bung but I reckon I got that back in Can Do’s and goodwill over a few weeks.
John, you may love checking into the T and C if you arrive on a Sunday morning.. the local customs lady was in church so I went to find her, singing to raise the roof. And boy can they sing!
He stood on the cockpit seats athwartships on his little 18 ft Caprice and gently rocked the boat side to side until they got seasick !
It almost worked for me in Luperon.. Three of us squeezed into the tiny cabin of a Corribee on an airless still morning whilst I insisted on making them a nice but slow simmering hot cup of coffee..cost me a five dollar bung but I reckon I got that back in Can Do’s and goodwill over a few weeks.
John, you may love checking into the T and C if you arrive on a Sunday morning.. the local customs lady was in church so I went to find her, singing to raise the roof. And boy can they sing!
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
A lot of places charge overtime if you want to clear in or out outside of their normal working hours.
