So the last few days have been a very interesting exercise in learning how international money exchanges are done....
The travel agency finally got back to me with a figure - 1440 Euro for several tours and nine nights' accommodation as well as airport transfers. Of course, because it's so late in the game I had to pay them via credit card, and of course, they don't accept my American Express that would have kept me from having to pay any currency conversion fees. I scoured the internet to try and figure out how much it would *really* cost in USD after charging it. According to the Wells Fargo site, my fee is 3% of the transaction; and according to the Visa calculator site, the total conversion rate including the 3% comes out to 1.288 USD per Euro, or about $1854. But I won't really know what exactly was charged to my card until the charge goes through, which could take a couple of days.
Add to that the roundabout necessity of wiring money to my Greek clinic's Swiss bank... the clinic sent me their bank info, and I signed up for an account on USFOREX.com (which was actually pretty easy). Then USFOREX had to call me to set my account up... then I had to create the transaction online for the 5500 Euros, and got a rate of 1.26 USD per Euro (not too bad, better than my bank which would have been at least 3% plus $45 wiring fee) for a grand total of $6913.89. Then USFOREX called me again to confirm, and they've sent me instructions to wire my money to their US bank (still going to be about a $30 wiring fee, I think). I have to go to the bank on my lunch break and complete the wire, but they assure me that as long as I wire them the money today, the Greek clinic should have the funds by Thursday or Friday.
All of this adds up SO DAMN FAST. And, if we have enough embryos for freezing, I'll owe the clinic another 1000 Euro for that and will have to go through the whole wiring process again. Except I don't know that I will be able to do that until I'm back stateside. I might have to use my Traveler Visa at an ATM ($5 plus 3% for the transaction) and pay them in cash for the freezing.
In terms of my "Costs of TTC" page, I'm only going to include 630 Euro ($806.40) of the travel agency's total - because that's the cost of the hotel. The extra tours we want to take while we're there really aren't part of the TTC expense. But I'm waiting to update these figures until I know exactly,
in USD, how much everything is going to cost.
Add to that the absolute insanity at work as I try to get ready to leave AND try to figure out how to replace my clerk (in my boss's words, "creatively") AND try to get packed at home AND try to help Kaitlin get ready to leave (she's starting to feel the pressure too) and it's just crazy. I'm so afraid I'm going to miss something vitally important.
One thing at a time, I guess. Now to cram some work in before I run to the bank and the grocery store - I need to pick up some travel sized toothpaste and some Airborne, because a bunch of the ladies at my office are sniffly and sick and I CANNOT CANNOT get sick on this trip.
If it does turn out that we need to do a second round with our frozen ones, I will have them put back two embryos for sure. The cost should be a lot less, because I'll travel alone - $1300 for a plane ticket, maybe $60/night for 2 - 3 nights in a hotel, and $1000ish for the FET, so something like $2500 when it's all said and done. After spending SO much on this already, how sad is it that I'm thinking Pshhh, $2500 is NOTHING? X.x
I would give anything for this to just work the first time. For us to be able to come back from Greece, after an amazing vacation, and find that we're pregnant... and, of course, for the pregnancy to stick and be full and healthy. That's really all I want right now. That's all I want. Please, universe??
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