In my previous letter on how to handle money abroad (Oct. ’05, pg. 53), I noted that going to the ATM was virtually always the best way to get local currency. At the time of that writing, ATM withdrawals (straight from a bank account) were usually executed at the interbank exchange rate, and there were few “add-ons” other than the basic usual fee of $1-$2 for using an ATM other than your own bank’s ATM (a fee sometimes refunded by Internet banks, USAA Bank and others).
I have been reading with great interest readers’ reports about credit card/debit card use while traveling. I travel a fair amount and have always used my debit cards (business and personal), for reasons like not having to pay monthly bills; getting money from ATMs; avoiding extra exchange fees (with a debit card I get the commercial exchange rate, not just the regular “bank” rate at an airport or hotel desk), etc. However, following a trip to Hong Kong in March ’06, I noticed a huge foreign transaction fee charge on my statements: three percent!
In the past we’ve taken fairly large quantities of American Express Travellers Cheques with us overseas for reasons of money safety. At least we got them at no cost from AAA! On a trip to Italy in September-October ’06 we learned a painful lesson regarding euro-denominated American Express Travellers Cheques. They may have been safe, but they were not treated like euros overseas.
Just prior to our leaving for a trip in France in late June ’06, ITN carried two items about the difficulty Americans were encountering in France and the U.K. when using credit cards (May ’06, pg. 20 & July ’06, pg. 15). The problem was attributed to new cards in use there that require entering a PIN number.
There’s something else about which to ask your credit card company before you travel. Is a new card being issued for you while you are on the road?
Prior to traveling in Mongolia and China in April ’05, I called Orchard Bank to tell them that I would be using their MasterCard while overseas. Even with that, it didn’t work in the ATM in Beijing nor anywhere else, for that matter! I also had a TJX Capital One Visa card and a debit card, however, and both worked fine.
My wife and I toured the island of Hokkaido on a 7-day Japan Rail Pass in November ’04.
Mt. Everest was the highlight of my trip to Tibet in April ’04. I will never forget watching the sun rise over the mountain. I learned that, with the altitude, we needed to take it slow when touring the monasteries and temples; there were a lot of steps to climb. Also, we found that most roads outside of Lhasa were dirt, some more hard-packed than others; some travel days were dustier than others. The Tibetan people were extremely friendly and always said “Hello.” Even if they did not speak English, they all had huge smiles for us. We felt welcome everyplace we went.
My wife and I departed for Amsterdam on April 3, ’06. We were to be there for five days, departing on Sunday the 9th for London Heathrow, where our driver would meet us and take us to Bath to stay three nights, stopping by Blenheim Palace on the way. We then would stay three nights in Shaftesbury, finally heading into London on the 16th for a stay of four nights. To complicate money matters, the 17th was Easter Sunday and Monday would be a bank holiday.
When we used our MasterCard for a purchase in Glasgow, Scotland, on April 10, ’06, the new machine refused it because there was no “PIN number.” We insisted that the assistant try again and she refused. The manager came over and inserted our card again. The machine then said to enter the last four digits of the card. She did so and the card was accepted.