I recently returned to Canada after spending the winter in Europe. I don't know if this issue has ever been discussed here, but I thought I'd mention it for anyone who intends on travelling.

I took USD to change in Eastern European countries. I remember that in the past hearing that they like new, freshly-minted-as-possible bills. Well, this does seem to be the case.
At a currency changing place in Romania, they would not change a USA bill that was 1996 issue or older. I was told that they would not accept it, but that just over the border in Hungary, they would accept it.
Also, they were very picky about the condition of the bills. Even tiny condition issues were spotted and complained about by the money changers. They simply will not accept bills they don't want to. This could very possibly leave travellers in a lurch if they dont have another couple back-up ways to obtain funds.
I ran into problems several times while trying to change bills that would be concidered perfectly fine in the USA and Canada. The bill's date, wear, or a small grease(?) spot on a bill, and it can very possibly be rejected.
Of course, iv'e never ran into this situation in Canada or USA, where we accept a (circulation) bill's value because of its actual face value; we don't value it based on condition.
I was left shaking my head quite a few times, thinking that business places, whose only reason for being was to change money, and here they are, afraid to make money by changing perfectly good banknotes.

[ message was edited on: 2007/03/20 ]