Half way around the world with £100 and half the money is gone, World First’s currency challenge throws up some interesting results

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- When 20 year old adventurer, Mike Perham, set off around the world with £100 in cash in his pocket, courtesy of currency company World First, he was aware that poor exchange rates and local charges were likely to make a serious dent in the cash.

However, what wasn’t expected is that nearly half of the money would have gone by the time he got half way through his journey.

Now in New Zealand, Mike’s cash has reduced by 45% to just £55, or 110 New Zealand Dollars, simply by making currency exchanges at the local bureau de change kiosks and paying the associated costs. Not a single penny has actually been spent on anything tangible.

World First asked Mike to take the £100 and get it changed into each local currency as he entered each new country on his journey, as part of a piece of research about the pitfalls of changing your currency up in this way.

Mike said:

"I've been amazed how much of the exchange rates and the charges you get hit with make an impact on how much money you end up with when entering a new country.

“It's been an interesting bit of research to be part of, I'll certainly take the exchange rates into consideration the next time I need to send money overseas. I'm just glad that the £100 isn't my money otherwise I’d be pretty annoyed!"

Karen Eisen, Marketing Director at World First said:

“We knew that poor exchange rates and fees would make a dent in the money, but we weren’t expecting it to reduce by half so quickly.

“People don’t realise just how short-changed they are by using the local bureau de change when they travel overseas, and hopefully this experiment will help to demonstrate why people really should be looking for a fairer exchange when it comes to currency transfers in general, both large and small.”

Mike’s route has taken him from the UK, through Europe, to Russia, China, Laos, Singapore, Australia and now New Zealand. He will soon be crossing through North America before returning home having negotiated some 23,000 miles of road. He hopes to have raised at least £1 per mile for the international aid relief charity, Shelterbox, by the journey’s end.

World First
Nick Jones:
nick.jones@worldfirst.com
07886 302 439

Source: World First