Purging Those Loose Pounds...

Leftover money isn't much of a problem in student travel -- most vagabonders are on a tight budget and every last bill gets spent abroad. You inevitably forget to use a few foreign coins tucked in a passport holder or pocket, though -- or, like me, obsessively conserve change in case of a never-happening travel emergency and wind up with fistfuls of foreign dollars (I also tend to forget that a small foreign coin may be worth a lot, and subsequently riffle past it when reaching for money on the road).

Many guidebooks advise travelers to settle a hotel bill with the last of their change, but hostels like to be paid up front -- there is no settling to be done. How about buying a book for airplane reading which you can resell at a used paperback store at home?

See some other ideas for unloading loose foreign loot before you get home, including a fairly philanthropical solution:

• Top 5 ways to spend leftover foreign change

Oh -- and keeping leftover change for your next trip, as is often advised? Not so much. I really could have used that 1000 peso coin ($10) I kept saving for a Mexico emergency while traveling and ended up bringing home with me in the mid '90's... I forgot to bring it back to Mexico for several years and tried to spend it in Mexico last fall, and I've had it so long that Mexico has since changed its money. So much for my ten bucks...