Question:
I agree Visa first, Master card second Regards John — When visiting New Zealand come and stay on Waiheke Island. Click to www.ki-wi.co.nz/waiheke.htm Waiheke Island’s award winning Internet site
Response:
beware of Credit Card Fraud while in Australia http://www.octa4.net.au/marlinw/credit_card_fraud.htm this site gives tips on avoiding becoming a victim – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I agree Visa first, Master card second Regards John — When visiting New Zealand come and stay on Waiheke Island. Click to www.ki-wi.co.nz/waiheke.htm Waiheke Island’s award winning Internet site
Response:
I don’t think credit card fraud is more common in Australia than most of the rest of the world. Usual common sense rules apply. Don’t worry, be happy.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – beware of Credit Card Fraud while in Australia http://www.octa4.net.au/marlinw/credit_card_fraud.htm this site gives tips on avoiding becoming a victim I agree Visa first, Master card second Regards John — When visiting New Zealand come and stay on Waiheke Island. Click to www.ki-wi.co.nz/waiheke.htm Waiheke Island’s award winning Internet site
Response:
Don’t forget that the Europeans use debit cards.
My ex had a Eurocard, (dark blue color, with fancy design at the top of the card). But he could only use it in EEC member countries, it wasn’t valid outside them.
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<snip Checking the Michelin Deutschland, back in 1999 there were still plenty of smaller hotels that didn’t take cards – but the larger hotels were fine. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel in Germany that took credit cards. Fortunately, I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel in Germany that I had to pay for. 
Lucky you. I think I’ve only stayed once when it hasn’t been reimbursed (Koeln, 1998) and that was an Accor hotel so they combined German efficency with French charm and took Visa. There is a slight downside to traveller’s cheques as I found out in Duesseldorf in 1992. I was caught in the middle of the Lawson currency crash whilst on a training course and my cheques were (as was standard policy from my employers in Sterling). The result was that I could still pay for my hotel room but only by not spending very much cash at all. I found it quite hard going to find restaurants that took credit cards and matched my per diem expenses rate. What’s a ‘currency crash’? They ran out of money?
The government managed to get the pound to lose about 20% of its value against the mark in a week. Working for a bunch of Swiss tightwads you were always issued with a carefully calculated amount for Germany. Oh and I defamed Lawson, it was Lamont. And that exhausts all the ‘currency problems’ I’ve ever had (aside from having too little of it in my youth ).
Oh well, if you have too much now, charitable donations are always acceptable in my account – US or UK, you can choose 
Iain — / Member of the UK Usenet Committee, also Control for uk.* Full information on uk.* newsgroups at http://www.usenet.org.uk Iain Bowen. in deepest B13. Also available at alaric(at)alaric.org.uk West Midlands Election Site at http://www.harlech.demon.co.uk/election.html
Response:
<snip Checking the Michelin Deutschland, back in 1999 there were still plenty of smaller hotels that didn’t take cards – but the larger hotels were fine.
I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel in Germany that took credit cards. Fortunately, I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel in Germany that I had to pay for. There is a slight downside to traveller’s cheques as I found out in Duesseldorf in 1992. I was caught in the middle of the Lawson currency crash whilst on a training course and my cheques were (as was standard policy from my employers in Sterling). The result was that I could still pay for my hotel room but only by not spending very much cash at all. I found it quite hard going to find restaurants that took credit cards and matched my per diem expenses rate.
What’s a ‘currency crash’? They ran out of money? I’ve had a currency problem exactly twice in my life. Once, in the early ’80s, we went by night train from Tours to Madrid, changing in Irun. The whole place was Kafkaesque in a number of ways but one of the many things lacking was a bank. The problem lasted about 30 nanoseconds, however — it turned out that there were plenty of private people there eager to change money. The second time was arriving in Vienna in 1998 by train from Bratislava, quite late at night. No bank open in the train station, no bank machine, nada. But what the hell, we took a cab and figured the hotel would change some money for us to pay for it. Didn’t need to do that — on the way I spotted a bank machine and we pulled over and changed money. And that exhausts all the ‘currency problems’ I’ve ever had (aside from having too little of it in my youth ).
Response:
One aside, tho — have you traveled much in Germany? It’s amazing how many places take NO credit cards, tho a lot more now than 10 years ago. Even places like fancy oriental rug stores — they seem to assume you just walk around with a few thousand bucks in your pocket — and apparently many Germans do!
Don’t forget that Europeans use debit cards. They don’t need to walk around with cash. Almost all supermarkets and most other shops in the Netherlands, for example, accept debit cards. Very few accept credit cards. Sjoerd
Response:
<snip interesting story about Czech hotel I still travel with Travelers’ checks unless I’m super-familiar with the place I’m going to and am absolutely sure I won’t be needing them. (It’s not a big deal — another freebie for a Gold card or better from AmEx, delivered to your door.) As for purchasing currency before I leave home, I’ve NEVER done that — in 39 yrs of travel on 6 continents — and have never regretted it.
I’ve found it easier to purchase currency before I leave. There’s an Amex office within walking distance of my office. I always need local currency when we arrive somewhere, whether it’s for a taxi, to purchase a train ticket or whatever, and I’d rather not spend the time looking for an ATM (this last trip we used an ATM in Marrakesh with no troubles). Amex gives me an exchange rate comperable to what I’d get on an ATM card. I do carry my check book, as Amex will cash personal checks up to, I think, $5,000 (I did this once in HK when I didn’t have an ATM card with me and needed to extend my stay — a great convenience!) I’ve just never had the need for travellers checks, though I do travel with emergency US cash. Odd as it seems, the US dollar seems to be accepted almost everywhere in a pinch — I once didn’t have enough lire left to pay an Italian cab driver. "No problem," said he, "I’ll take dollars." We worked out the exchange rate on the spot. In Morocco, I was offered a discount if I paid in US dollars instead of with a charge card (I opted for the charge card). And in China, my dollars are always welcome. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – <snip One aside, tho — have you traveled much in Germany? It’s amazing how many places take NO credit cards, tho a lot more now than 10 years ago. We haven’t been to Germany yet, though that’s our next trip. I was surprised by Iain’s post that, in Germany, there are even _hotels_ that don’t take credit cards. I can’t imagine how that would work. I think Iain’s post was about Amsterdam. Oh yeah, lots of hotels in Germany don’t take credit cards.
Checking the Michelin Deutschland, back in 1999 there were still plenty of smaller hotels that didn’t take cards – but the larger hotels were fine. There is a slight downside to traveller’s cheques as I found out in Duesseldorf in 1992. I was caught in the middle of the Lawson currency crash whilst on a training course and my cheques were (as was standard policy from my employers in Sterling). The result was that I could still pay for my hotel room but only by not spending very much cash at all. I found it quite hard going to find restaurants that took credit cards and matched my per diem expenses rate. Iain — / Member of the UK Usenet Committee, also Control for uk.* Full information on uk.* newsgroups at http://www.usenet.org.uk Iain Bowen. in deepest B13. Also available at alaric(at)alaric.org.uk West Midlands Election Site at http://www.harlech.demon.co.uk/election.html
Response:
<snip One aside, tho — have you traveled much in Germany? It’s amazing how many places take NO credit cards, tho a lot more now than 10 years ago. We haven’t been to Germany yet, though that’s our next trip. I was surprised by Iain’s post that, in Germany, there are even _hotels_ that don’t take credit cards. I can’t imagine how that would work.
I think Iain’s post was about Amsterdam. Oh yeah, lots of hotels in Germany don’t take credit cards. And, in the last few years, I’ve stayed in hotels in Prague and Slovakia that didn’t take credit cards. And, while the German railroad took credit cards in Frankfurt, it didn’t in a little town called Eschwege-West (near Kassel) — they claimed the station there was ‘too small’! I’d never realized credit card slips took up so much room. Re Prague, when planning my first trip there about 10 years ago, I was having trouble finding a hotel room for under $100/night so I wrote to a colleague at Charles University and asked if she knew of a cheap hotel for me for 7 nights. She wrote back that she’d reserved me a room at a hotel that the university owned, very well located and only $49, but that I’d have to pay in Czech currency. Great, I’ll take it! Get there and it’s really fine — in the middle of the old city on a delightful pedestrian-only street, right between the two major squares. My last morning I got up early and went to a nearby money-changing place and changed $49 x 7 = $343 into Czech currency and came back to the hotel and went to check out. The guy hands me the bill — and it was for $49 (in Czech currency) — so I figure he’d forgotten that I’d been there 7 nights and, being Ms. Honesty, I gently reminded him of it. And he replied, ‘Yes — 7 nights at $7 a night — $49.’ ROTFLOL!!! It seems my friend had quoted me the ENTIRE bill as $49, not the per-night rate! My best bargain ever, anywhere. With the increasing acceptance of credit cards world-wide, international travel has gotten considerably easier. I remember having to carefully calculate costs, purchase foreign currency from my bank (a several day transaction) and bring travellers checks as backups in case I ran low on cash.
I still travel with Travelers’ checks unless I’m super-familiar with the place I’m going to and am absolutely sure I won’t be needing them. (It’s not a big deal — another freebie for a Gold card or better from AmEx, delivered to your door.) As for purchasing currency before I leave home, I’ve NEVER done that — in 39 yrs of travel on 6 continents — and have never regretted it.
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – <snip Thanks. I know that we originally had a MasterCard and, while it was accepted in many places in Europe (and with the name ‘MasterCard’), Visa (with the name ‘Visa’) was more widely accepted and that was the sole reason we got our first Visa — probably around 1980. Nobody ever asked me if I had a ‘Barclay’ card. I think things may have changed somewhat. We’ve been travelling to Europe at least once a year since 1996. We’ve only run into once instance in which Visa was accepted, but MasterCard was not. We’ve also noticed that Amex is now accepted almost anywhere. Though we found a few shops that would take MC/Visa but not Amex, generally eveyrwhere we go all three are accepted. Yes, of course, I know that. (I’ve also been going to Europe at least once a year since then. ) I was just giving the basis for my saying that Visa was known as Visa and MC as MC quite a while back. One aside, tho — have you traveled much in Germany? It’s amazing how many places take NO credit cards, tho a lot more now than 10 years ago.
We haven’t been to Germany yet, though that’s our next trip. I was surprised by Iain’s post that, in Germany, there are even _hotels_ that don’t take credit cards. I can’t imagine how that would work. With the increasing acceptance of credit cards world-wide, international travel has gotten considerably easier. I remember having to carefully calculate costs, purchase foreign currency from my bank (a several day transaction) and bring travellers checks as backups in case I ran low on cash. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Even places like fancy oriental rug stores — they seem to assume you just walk around with a few thousand bucks in your pocket — and apparently many Germans do! But even there credit cards are becoming more readily accepted.
Response:
I think things may have changed somewhat. We’ve been travelling to Europe at least once a year since 1996. We’ve only run into once instance in which Visa was accepted, but MasterCard was not. We’ve also noticed that Amex is now accepted almost anywhere. Though we found a few shops that would take MC/Visa but not Amex, generally eveyrwhere we go all three are accepted.
Amex acceptance has grown in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Diners Club is still not terribly useful, however, outside of upscale places. I can remember when Belgium was pretty much a Mastercard monopoly, which actually encouraged me to get one. So that would have been about 1991-2. Acceptance of credit cards in Germany has come in grown massively as well. I remember having to carry a number of 500DM notes to deal with expenses only about 10 years ago. However, don’t even think about trying Discover – although Japan Bank Card is taken quite widely. Frex, of all the hotels in the Centre of Amsterdam listed in the Guide Michelin, 3 do not take Diners, 8 do not take JCB, 1 does not take Credit Cards, 1 only takes Visa and 1 only takes the big 2. Iain — / Member of the UK Usenet Committee, also Control for uk.* Full information on uk.* newsgroups at http://www.usenet.org.uk Iain Bowen. in deepest B13. Also available at alaric(at)alaric.org.uk West Midlands Election Site at http://www.harlech.demon.co.uk/election.html
Response:
<snip Thanks. I know that we originally had a MasterCard and, while it was accepted in many places in Europe (and with the name ‘MasterCard’), Visa (with the name ‘Visa’) was more widely accepted and that was the sole reason we got our first Visa — probably around 1980. Nobody ever asked me if I had a ‘Barclay’ card. I think things may have changed somewhat. We’ve been travelling to Europe at least once a year since 1996. We’ve only run into once instance in which Visa was accepted, but MasterCard was not. We’ve also noticed that Amex is now accepted almost anywhere. Though we found a few shops that would take MC/Visa but not Amex, generally eveyrwhere we go all three are accepted.
Yes, of course, I know that. (I’ve also been going to Europe at least once a year since then. ) I was just giving the basis for my saying that Visa was known as Visa and MC as MC quite a while back. One aside, tho — have you traveled much in Germany? It’s amazing how many places take NO credit cards, tho a lot more now than 10 years ago. Even places like fancy oriental rug stores — they seem to assume you just walk around with a few thousand bucks in your pocket — and apparently many Germans do! But even there credit cards are becoming more readily accepted.
Response:
Does France still have the "Carte Bleu" (early version of French Visa card)?
CB exists in France abd means now "Carte Bancaire". It is the french standard for the bank cards. In this cards, you can have either Mastercard or Visa. Fran
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