Some notes re: OSCON, for what it's worth. The conference provides lunches and snacks during the day. You need to feed yourself breakfast and dinner. Usually, groups of people go out together for dinner. If you go with one of these groups, you can usually expect to pay between $10 and $20 US for your meal. In Portland, particularly, people often go to brewpubs (pubs that brew their own beer and have meals as well). At most of those places, meals would be around $10. Keep in mind that you will add tax and tip on top of the price on the menu. Tipping in the US is around 18% generally. Sales tax varies; in Oregon (where OSCON is) they have none, but in California it's 8.25%. So expect to add 15-30% to the listed price of the meal depending on where you are and how generously you tip.
With regard to currency exchange and travel, my usual technique is to give myself a *local* budget for what I can spend. For instance, when I was in the US as a visitor for the first time, I gave myself $50/day for meals and entertainment and incidentals, which was quite generous given the way I usually travel. Having set a budget in USD, I didn't ever have to think about currency conversion while I was out and about paying for things, I just had to stay within that budget. To make it even easier, I'd put the day's budget in one section of my wallet and know that that section contained what cash I could spend. If I had any left over (as I often did), then I'd roll it over to the next day.
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mmmag
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Date: 2010-07-10 08:55 pm (UTC)With regard to currency exchange and travel, my usual technique is to give myself a *local* budget for what I can spend. For instance, when I was in the US as a visitor for the first time, I gave myself $50/day for meals and entertainment and incidentals, which was quite generous given the way I usually travel. Having set a budget in USD, I didn't ever have to think about currency conversion while I was out and about paying for things, I just had to stay within that budget. To make it even easier, I'd put the day's budget in one section of my wallet and know that that section contained what cash I could spend. If I had any left over (as I often did), then I'd roll it over to the next day.