Letter to a Thief, from a Lyon Hostel

Dear former dorm-mate,

I know it's you. Yes, you with the filthy hair and the smelly feet, who slept in the bed across from mine. Congratulations on taking off with my money. I'll admit it, it was stupid to leave anything in my backpack, but who knew that you'd be so interested in obscure foreign currencies. Do you collect them? Or are you trying to make your life difficult? You took bills that even the banks downtown won't change. Let's run down the list:

-- Kuwaiti dinars. Ok, I'll give you this one. It is the most expensive currency in the world (1 dinar = 3.6 US dollars). But where are you going to change it in Lyon? The airport? Going there and back will cost you half of what you stole. Oops.
-- Indian rupees. Wow, thousands of rupees! Actually, a thousand rupees is worth about 20 U.S. dollars. So there goes my rickshaw ride into Mumbai.
-- American dollars. Another win for you, sort of. That was enough for my welcome-back-to-America breakfast, when I land in Washington Dulles and can't find a decent airport eatery.
-- Qatari riyals. Another meal, I guess. I was saving those up for a lunch in Doha. Are you thinking of going there, too? Maybe we should meet up and exchange some notes. Banknotes, that is.

Also, thanks for leaving behind my driver's license. Was my picture with the awful bed-hair too ugly for you?

Broke, Bitter, and Still Blogging,
Roland