Once the amount is decided upon between you and your agency, call the financial institution that you are pulling the money out of and have them order that amount from the Federal Reserve. This will usually only take a week or so, sometimes faster. You will need to do this to ensure you have brand new, unmarked, unfolded bills to exchange when in country. Make sure when you pick up your money, the majority of the money is in $100 bills (very easy to exchange) and have maybe $500 in 50 dollar bills. The $50’s are helpful with back and forth travel and if you only need to exchange small amounts toward the end of your stay in Ukraine. There is no lack of places to exchange money in Ukraine.
Personally, I stressed for days about this; please don’t. The easiest way to travel with the dollar amount decided upon between you and Larissa is to use a security belt. We found ours at Wal-Mart, but are available other locations as well. Make sure any type of security belt you purchase doesn’t have metal as it will set of the metal detectors at the airport and defeat the whole purpose in having the money strapped to your body. Anyway, split the money as evenly as possible between the two of you. *They also make one for your bra too.* Anyway, if you use the waist ones, they are comfortable and if you wear loose clothing, no one can tell you have it on. It’s very easy and nothing to worry about. Remember, no one knows you have all the cash. You will be paranoid at first, but eventually you will feel comfortable and relaxed. The paranoia will gradually disappear, I promise.
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