Help! Where can I get a small amount (£25) of Swedish Krona by Thursday?

[grrrrrrrratthis]

DS is going to a weekend sports event in Sweden. All meals are covered, and I'll give him some snacks to take, but as the debit card on his junior bank account cannot be used abroad, I would like to also give him a small amount of cash - around £25, for spending money at the hotel, venue, gift shop, airport etc.

Problem is, all my usual pick-up places for currency (Sainsbury's, Tesco, Post Office, M&S) either have a higher minimum spend, or else can't seem to get Swedish Krona by Thursday, which is the latest I would need to pick it up.

Before I do a trawl of other currency outlets, does anyone have any helpful advice?

I don't think Euros will be accepted. I'm happy to risk posting my kronor to you next day delivery if you want!

Thanks for the offer @FraterculaArctica, but I'm too risk-averse for that.

Debenhams

No worries

Have you asked your bank?

Also, congratulations and good luck to your son for the weekend. My friends son is off to the athletics out there this weekend too

there is a link on martin lewis's site to travel money and shows all the places you can get currency, by rate. so London collection would give you tons of options around most major rail stations.
Take cash to buy as you get charged extra if you use your debit card to buy currency (with most banks)

Moneycorp want a £5 collection fee for picking up £26 worth of Krona at the airport! That's just mean.

Where have you people been, who apparently couldn't pay cash? That sounds weird.

And no, you can't use Euros in Sweden.

@Sparklingbrook we still used cash in Denmark but some cafes/restaurants were cards only.

There are many bars in the UK that don't accept cash, and even more in Sweden.

The article I linked to above states (about Sweden): Most forms of public transport, including trams and airport buses, are now completely cash free and at many tourist attractions, clinics and shops you can only pay with credit or debit cards.

@BarbaraofSeville
Public transport: Yes. Bars: Maybe
But he won't have to pay for public transport himself and he won't go to a bar either.

All "normal" shops should and do take cash.

I agree with the cashless comments. One of my best friends lives in Stockholm. When we go over to visit I never take cash, public transport is really hard to pay for in cash for example. The Netherlands is heading the same way- a lot of supermarkets have card only tills.
I personally use a Monzo card as we are overseas a lot and I don't want loads of random currency.

He won't be going in any bars . But he may want to get a cold drink from a vending machine or cafe/shop in the airport, hotel, or at the sport venue.

Thanks Yogurt.

Some newsagents are also cash free (eg there's definitely at least one in Stockholm's rail station). And Sweden is eye wateringly expensive: £25 won't go very far even on snacks and drinks.

The Swedes love contactless payments etc, there is a real push for everything to move away from cash with the security and personal safety aspects being paramount.

Having consulted MoneySavingExpert, it seems my best bet may be to use a Thomas Exchange - there's one near where I work in central London.

@Gentlemanwiththistledownhair
It's a kid with all expenses paid and going only for a weekend ... £25 will be plenty for a couple of sweets, maybe a soda and even a small souvenir.

Does he have an atm card, put money in his account and tell him to withdraw money in Sweden

I’m about to pick DS from the airport after his flight from Stockholm . I sent him over with cash plus one of my pre-paid cards. He’s managed a weekend there only using cash and hasn’t ended up using my card at all, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the cash vs card issue.

Probably too late now to get a card but might be useful to have one on hand just in case for the future.

Do you have a local eurochange? My friend was going to Sweden so for her birthday I exchanged £10 to krona and eurochange weren't fussed.

But as someone previously mentioned they are quite cashless, my friend said a lot of places only accepted card so might be worth looking into one he can use?

@WickedGoodDoge which pre-paid card did you use? Was it not in your name?

I haven't been able to find one that teenagers can use abroad, except the Post Office one which is for limited currencies, not including Swedish Krona.

stucknoue he can't use his atm card abroad. He has a Nationwide FlexOne account and the card can only be used in the UK. It is one of the limitations of an under-18 account compared to an adult one.

I got Norwegian krona at Tesco

@grrrrrrrratthis DS has a Nationwide FlexOne account, he has just turned 14. We recently went abroad and he was able to use his card there. Are you sure he can't use it?

Edit - actually I can see that the FlexOne account gives you the option of 2 different cards, so am assuming you have the Cash Card as opposed to the Debit Card. Doesn't help for this - but perhaps for the future, it might be worth swapping cards?

If he's sensible, give him your own bank card if it's just for a couple of days