Sometimes, too much worrying. They speak English, ya know.
They speak english in canada, eh?
@thumper1, He is about your D’s age. To be sure, he did not ask our help for this. (e.g., we do not know the dates of his trip , where he is going to stay, and whether he has booked his flight.)
He actually said something similar to what you wrote to us several times in the past: We have often underestimated his ability to manage things by himself.
He has never traveled out of this country (except one time when he was a baby.) He got the passport likely 4 years ago mostly because he believes if he lost his driver license, he could use his passport when he needs to fly within US. That is, he considers his passport as a backup of his driver license in case he needs it in urgency. He did not intend to use that passport to travel internationally. He has never studied abroad - likely because he believes it still costs more to study abroad than just study at his college. Also, our family almost never take a vacation trip, let alone an international vacation trip.
We still appreciate he will let us know he will have an out-of-town trip, even though he thinks we do not need to know the details.
You can use your credit cards in Botswana, Bulgaria and Vietnam, as well as in Canada.
Yes, they worked fine in Europe and I’ve never had any trouble with them in Canada. They’re happy to take US cash, but generally don’t give you as good an excahnge rate as if you use a credit card with no foreign transaction fee.
@HiMom, I learned from another thread on CC that at least in some countries in Europe, they use a credit card with some kind of chip, but we use a credit card without such a chip. So I think we may not be able to use the kind of credit cards we use in US in these countries.
A colleague recently went to some major city in China and was surprised to learn that he could not use his credit card there. He said he could use it a year ago but not now. This is what he told me.
Yes, it is best to have a chip and pin (or at least chip and signature card). You can call your credit card company and see if they offer one. I was able to get several of my credit card companies to send me pin & signature cards. All US cards are supposed to be pin & signature by the end of 2015, I believe.
As my kids would say sometimes, “Let me google that for you.”
Seriously, my kid at age 26 is telling me what to do on some issues now. Our roles seem to be reversing. I don’t offer any advice if she doesn’t ask for it.
mcat, he’ll be fine in Toronto. I’ve lived here for 40+ years and can assure you that he’ll love the city. And yes, you can use U.S. credit cards here with no issue, even if it is not a chip card. It amazes me actually that the U.S. is so far behind with chip technology but no, he will not have a problem using his card. Businesses here are happy to accept U.S. dollars but you won’t get the favorable exchange you would at a bank, especially now while the Canadian dollar is so low.
A passport is required but no visa if he’s an American citizen. And if he’s coming soon, be sure to tell him to bundle up! 
HImom, why would they be pin AND signature? All of our CCs chip cards with a PIN but you do not have to sign.
“Also, it will be an air travel from JFK to Toronto and unfortunately in winter. (Must be freezing there in late February.)”
Haha - Toronto is about the same latitude as Boston and is south of Minneapolis/St. Paul.
This is more and more the case in our family as well. He definitely knows how to survive in a cold climate better than us, and has been to more places than us in recent years (e.g., I have never been to either NYC or Boston, and he has been to both cities so many times.)
@alwaysamom, Thanks. I believe Toronto is a nice city. I myself may be interested in visiting that city in the future.
I think he will know when/how to bundle up much better than us. I actually do not know what winter clothes he has right now because he has been living so far from us for many years. Being from that area, his friend would most likely be an expert in bundling up.
I actually do not follow up on the use of the chip vs magnetic technology on US’s credit/debit cards any more. A few years ago, I heard the credit cards in US do not use the chip technology which is more widely used elsewhere (e.g., in Europe). So I have always had a lingering concern that our credit cards might not work in some other countries.
How can we tell whether a credit card is using the chip technology by just looking at the card? I was told my US passport has a chip on it when I renewed it almost 8 (?) years ago. (It could almost expire by now.) But when I looked at the passport, I could not tell whether it has a chip on it.
I think Toronto is geographically quite close to many northern cities in US, especially Buffalo in NY. So I guess the weather in Buffalo may be quite similar to that in Toronto.
To see if your passport is biometric, check the front cover or inside for a small rectangle with a circle in the center.
If you have a card with a chip, you will see a little computer chip on the front of your CCard.
No need to worry. Non-chip cards work in Canada and our chip cards work fine in the U.S.
Toronto is about an hour to the U.S. border crossings in the NIagara Falls, NY/ Buffalo area. Winter weather in Buffalo is typically worse than it is in Toronto, as it is in many other U.S. cities, and certainly this year in Boston!
You should come for a visit, mcat! Might be an idea to wait a couple of months, though.
Thanks again.
Re: a card with a chip.
I am curious about whether any of my credit cards has a chip on it. So I took a look at it. My Chase card seems to have it - if what I think is a chip is really a chip.
I look up a picture from the Internet. It looks like the picture in this article:
(The “chip” is likely the large rectangle shape thing with a strange pattern on it, on the left side of the card)
The picture (where the “chip” is above the numbers 4921) of the card with a “chip” on the left side:
http://ecreditdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/blue_credit_card.jpg
The article (actually a quite new article):
None of my other cards has such a strange thin and flat object embedded on the front side of the card. So I think that is likely the “chip” (but how come it is so large? I thought the chip is supposedly small.)
I remember I received this card within the past 1-2 months.
70% of the cards in the US should have the chips by the end of 2015 (credit card companies and retailers will be assuming additional liability if chip cards are not used starting in October 2015).
Does it mean that, when a credit card has a chip, it does not have a magnetic strip as it used to have before?
In the transition period, will it be a pain in the ass? The consumer needs to use an old card with the magnetic strip at some stores, but needs to use a new card with the chip at some other stores.
See question 7 - the first cards will have both chip and magnetic strips and you shouldn’t have problems:
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/emv-faq-chip-cards-answers-1264.php
Every time I’ve been to Canada the exchange rate has been close to par, and usually shops charged more for USD than CAD. Since the the USDCAD is so high now do they accept at par or better or do they still charge extra for USD?
^ I do not know the answer to your question. But the currency conversion rate is currently:
1 US Dollar equals
1.24 Canadian Dollar
My wife just dropped a short i-msg to DS to remind him to call his credit card company about his upcoming trip. We did not have a supposedly regular call for this week due to VD.