<p>The “seed money” idea is a really good one. Just 100E or so, tucked away for an emergency. I arrived in Toulouse on a flight from London once that was so late that the airport was closed. They barely let us in, and the nice Douane man who had been left behind just snarled at us to get out. If I hadn’t had a bunch of Francs left over from my last trip, I don’t know how we would have gotten to our hotel with our luggage—the taxi drivers would only take cash. It was about 2AM.</p>
<p>It would also be a good idea to discuss tipping in Europe.</p>
<p>Cangel, My mind is going…but I recall one trip when the thing about traveler’s checks came up and then I think they took all Euros for the week that we got here first. My kids did not have ATM cards in high school. One kid went to France for ten days, the other to Greece/Italy for ten days and one also did a month travel trip through Europe. Now, I can’t remember which of those trips involved traveler’s checks or if it was all Euros, or what…it was one or the other for those short trips. </p>
<p>Now, my college kid is applying for jobs in France for the summer and also to study abroad in Florence next fall. In these instances, I’m sure we will handle it differently as they are longer stays and now they do their own banking, etc. I printed out the posts recently about phone service options so when these trips come up, we’ll look into it more. </p>
<p>But for the HS trips, they had some type of calling card that was prepaid, if I recall. </p>
<p>One thing I recall that I was able to do when my child went for 2 week trip several years ago was to make arrangements with my land-line company for reduced international rates during the period she was traveling. At the time the only calls I expected her to make were back to the States. Now that cell phone options are so much more abundant (and also, during an extended trip, I imagine she will be making some intra-continental long distance calls) I wondered if there were not better options this time around, hence the original inquiry. But perhaps that old method, if still an available option, might be worth checking into. As I recall, calls were as little as $.06 minute during certain times of day!</p>
<p>I’ll go first re: tipping. In Germany, service charges are built into the bill (as are taxes). Most people “round up” maybe 5-10 percent, but giving over 10 percent marks you as an American. (My H has a hard time with this – he feels cheap.) The traditional way to tip is to hand the waiter a larger bill than necessary, and tell him how much change you want. If my bill is 12.00 Euros, I might hand him a twenty, and tell him “seven” - meaning that’s how much change I want. It’s usually given to the waitstaff directly, not left on the table. (They also don’t share any tips with the kitchen or clean up staff.)</p>
<p>By the way, I expect most of the “tourist” places to be fine with credit cards. Where I live - a town of about 50 thousand - they aren’t generally accepted. Neither are Traveler’s Checks. Banks charge hefty fees to cash them (or any check). If you do use a credit card to pay for things, keep in mind that many places that do accept the card require a PIN to use it, even for regular purchases. My sister came here with a company Visa, and didn’t know the PIN. Didn’t even know there was one. Took a couple days to get it.</p>
<p>We found that in restaurants, it is noted on the check whether a gratuity has been included in the charge. Where we were (London) it was usually included. We asked the concierge in our hotel, and they said 10% was the standard. Also, we were told that hotel staff is not tipped at all (the room staff)…we felt badly about this as our chambermaid was wonderful…and we were there for a week.</p>
<p>I checked out VisaBuxx, but a very helpful lady at my own bank said they can do the same thing with more advantages. Namely, my son has his own Visa ATM (meaning debit from his checking account) card with his name on it, but I can transfer money out of my own checking account online into his debit card account anytime. That way it is very easy to stay on top of how much he has left and replenish when necessary. When you sign your child up, just tell the bank you want your child’s account linked with your account for this online accounting purpose. He uses his card all the time. He doesn’t care if I see his account online as long as the cash keeps rolling in lol. Seriously, he is very responsible with his expenditures.</p>
<p>Also, even though it is a debit card, NOT a credit card, the places that only take credit cards will still take this card because the Visa logo is on it. You sign the receipt like a credit card, but the money comes out of the debit account.</p>
<p>The only thing to watch out for that I know of, and I don’t really understand this, is I have heard that hotels and even gas stations can put an advance “hold” on a certain amount in a debit account. For example, you check into a hotel, and when they run your card at check-in, they have the ability to estimate an amount which they can “reserve” so you don’t run out of money before they get paid. This may be more than your bill will actually be. This has not happened to me, but I have heard of people who got rejected later for a purchase because the hotel had still not yet released excess reserved funds even after the person checked out and paid their full bill. Maybe someone else can address this. Another reason to be able to replenish funds in your child’s account when you need to.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the hotels, but I do know that car rental agencies put an advance charge on a debit card. I and my kids have always had both a debit card (with Visa logo) and a credit card. </p>
<p>The other issue is that with a stolen debit card number, someone could drain your account. Most banks will make it up to the customer when there is proof of fraud – but its a little more complicated than simply making a phone call and having your money back the next day. So it really isn’t a good idea to have a lot of cash sitting around in the account linked to the debit card – a credit card with a high enough limit to cover air fare and emergencies is nice to have on hand.</p>
<p>Hi, Calmom–
I agree with what you say. I think the Original Poster (OP) was talking about a trip to Europe, and if my child were going that far without me, I would probably send the debit card and a backup credit card. When I make purchases online I always use PayPal or a credit card, never my debit card, because just as you say, a thief could clean out your checking account.</p>
<p>However, the nice thing about my son’s Visa debit card (as I described above) is I don’t have to keep a large balance in it, because I can replenish it instantly online whenever needed. That reduces the liability of theft somewhat. Thanks for lots of good comments on this thread.</p>
<p>Another thing that is very bad to do even at home is to buy gas twice in one day in similar locations. Apparently the first thing credit card thieves do is buy gas. This happened to me on a day when I did two round trips to the airport 75 miles away and had to fill up twice at the highway service area. The credit card company cut my card off – and, since my husband was the primary card holder, wouldn’t explain to me why I was getting declined all over town.</p>
<p>My interest in European tipping practices comes from a childhood experience–my first trip to Paris as a 15-year-old. I arrived alone in a cab (relatives I was supposed to meet weren’t there yet), and because I hadn’t yet mastered currency exchange rates, pretty much panicked and emptied my wallet tipping the driver and the porter who took my bags in. I must have given them a couple hundred dollars, in Francs. The dirtball cabbie kept it all, but the porter took me aside later, privately, and very kindly explained the international monetary system, tipping practices, and gave me back most of my spending money–including what I had given to the cabbie.</p>