We accepted a VDB in Dublin, bumping from the morning flight back to ORD to an afternoon one taking off about 3 hours later. They said they needed 5 seats and the offer was 400 euro per seat. 3 hours, no sweat to us really, why not? I just assumed they were Aer Lingus vouchers...until they handed me a brown envelope with 2,000 euro in it.

The thing I learned that day is that when you have that sum, the offers from the moneychangers do get better. The Thomas Cook clerk right there 100 feet from the EI counter made a phone call to a manager and then gave me an offer that was around 1.5% off from the real-time interbank rate that I could verify on my phone. So basically, about $40 total juice to do it right then and there. I figured even if my home credit union would do it for free (which I don't really think they would), it's not worth my time to go find a brick-and-mortar branch to do it. I accepted the offer.

If I somehow found myself with 6k on me, I probably would have tried to unload it in Europe where they simply handle a lot more volume of international currencies than, say, Detroit. But at home, definitely make the phone calls and let them know the amount...the volume will influence the terms to some extent.

Finally, I'd be tempted to keep it and just use it on my next Europe trip. A "pro" is that you've basically just mindhacked your way into actually saving for your next trip, something a lot of people find hard to do. A "con" is that you're effectively investing in a currency market until that next trip happens, something you might not intend to do. Another "con" is that you might need to go to Home Depot and pick up a little fireproof box for it. I wouldn't just throw 6k into my sock drawer...