Originally Posted by
JayhawkCO
Pardon my naivety, but why do you all hold these currencies? Is it just because you had extra last time you went abroad? For most Western countries, a no-foreign-exchange-fee credit card and a debit card to pull out local currency seems to be plenty.
It can be helpful to carry a bit of cash on hand if the local ATMs or card payment infrastructure is down. e.g. I was passing through AMS and the bus ticket machine wasn't reading my card correctly, so having 10€ on hand to cover the bus fare was helpful in this regard.
Personally, I have a small stash of EUR and some CAD/HKD since I visit those most frequently.