On arrival to the New Delhi airport at 1 am for my flight back to Seattle, I had 3,500 rupees I wanted to exchange back to dollars. I decided that I would first check my bag at the airline counter and then look for a currency exchange booth. When I asked a worker at the first booth I saw, he said he could not change rupees into dollars and that I would have to go through security first and then find a currency exchange.
Ok, fine. I went back to wait at the currency exchange booth. About 10 minutes later a woman entered the currency exchange kiosk and asked me what I wanted to exchange. I said rupees into US dollars. She then tells me that she can exchange rupees for no less than $100. I said I had only 3,500 rupees (about $45). She said that she was sorry, but could not make the exchange. I asked what was I supposed to do with the rupees if I couldn't exchange them. The money is useless outside of India. She responded that I should spend the money at the airport shops.
Ok, not fine. I suppose I could keep the rupees in case I returned to India. But I wanted my dollars back. I did not want to shop at airport stores at 3 am. There was nothing I wanted to buy. Also, everything is overpriced at the airport. And it's the principle of the thing: I sold them dollars for rupees when I entered the country and they should buy the rupees back when I leave the country. Seems a bit unethical to me.
But what choice did I have? I ended up buying a puzzle book, two blank notebooks and a bottle of melatonin. My suggestion is to make sure you have almost no rupees in your possession before you get to the airport.
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