I absolutely love the thrill of getting new banknotes when I have crossed a new border. Even as a child I collected them, thanks to a collection from the Sunday Times. I was fascinated by geography as a child and my banknote collection grew and grew over the years. Above, 70 of Brunei currency.
It’s bulky to keep carrying different notes around with you, so I came up with a plan. I collect ONE note from each new country I visit but obviously some of them use the same currency i.e. Spain and Italy – Euros, USA and Ecuador – US Dollars, England and Wales – Bank of England Sterling etc.) and there are also other unusual notes I come across (e.g. the Guernsey one pound note).
I also collect notes that don’t exist anymore and currencies that don’t exist anymore (e.g. the German Mark).
Here are my favourite banknotes:
£5 Northern Irish Northern Banknote – with George Best on it (released in 2005 on limited edition – if you have one, keep it).
5,000 North Korean Won note bought inside the DMZ (* foreigners entering North Korea are NOT ALLOWED to use North Korean Won – it’s Euros, RMB and US Dollars there).
2,000 Paraguayan Guarani shiny plastic note – Paraguayan notes are really old and dirty, it was nice to be handed a clean one, so I kept it.
Jonny Blair is a self confessed traveling nomad who founded and blogs at Don’t Stop Living. He sees every day as an adventure. Since leaving behind his home town of Bangor in Northern Ireland ten years ago he has traveled to all seven continents, working his way through various jobs and funding it all with hard work and an appetite for travel. Don’t Stop Living, a lifestyle of travel’ contains over 1,000 stories and tips from his journeys round the globe. He wants to show others how easy it is to travel the world, give them some ideas and encourage them to do the same but most of all he aims to constantly live a lifestyle of travel. He is currently based in Hong Kong and on Twitter @jonnyblair.
