<p>I agree with cupcake. One of our Ds lives in London and we visit fairly often. Visa and Mastercard are the best options. Compared to North America, very few places accept AMEX and Discover/Diners Club is practically useless.</p>
<p>cupcake -</p>
<p>The kids are starting out in Austria, and passing through Switzerland (yet another currency) and France on the way to the UK. Unfortunately, the only Pounds I’ve seen locally were at a hideous exchange rate. I may get some for Happykid, but first I have to convince myself that the convenience of leaving home with 50 Pounds is really truly worth USD 100. Just now I’m inclined to let her take her chances with the automatic tellers closest to the arrival gates of the Eurostar.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. about AMEX and Discover/Diners!</p>
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<p>Probably a proof of payment system where they occasionally go through the train and ask to see your ticket. If you do not have a valid ticket, you get a citation that is large enough that the expected value of cheating is negative.</p>
<p>[No</a> ticket! - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39ZuGNaGVg]No”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39ZuGNaGVg)</p>
<p>^^Our commuter train system in Toronto works like that. It isn’t worth it to try to cheat.</p>
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<p>I did not experienced any issues in Spain, France, and Belgium with the lack of chip. Did have to make numerous calls to the credit card who seem to enhjoy blocking them. Despite having called the cards ahead of time and given a list of cities, they still blocked them after a couple of uses, especially if the charges were in different countries in the same day. It has become a real nuisance for credit and debit cards. Despite the warnings about Amex, it was the card with the least problems. </p>
<p>As far as train rides from airport to the cities --read the story in the link above-- it might be good to inquire about the charges IN THE TRAIN. For instance, to travel from the airport to the center (and vice versa) in Brussels, one does not have to bother buying a ticket before boarding. Looking at a long line, I asked the teller and the answer was to simply board the train and pay an extra 3 Euros. I am pretty sure that most countries have similar rules. The key to separate yourself from the cheaters is to flag the train attendant when boarding. Even when I missed him, I had no problems explaining I needed to pay the on-train fee.</p>
<p>Fwiw, one of the hardest things to do in Europe is converting dollars into Euros at a reasonable rate. Western Union are the worst thieves (just behind the airport gangsters,) and banks only want to help their local customers. It really pays to know the outfits that are still offering reasonable rates.</p>
<p>Whenever I travel, domestic or foreign,I always carry 2 debit cards(includes Schwab) and 2 credit cards(includes Capitol One), when one doesn’t work, you have an alternative.
I always get my foreign currency from a bank’s ATM at the destination airport or train station. You always get the best rate. Withdraw just enough local currency so you won’t have to convert back even though you have to go to ATMs more often or spend it all at the airport shops.</p>
<p>J.P. Morgan/Chase issues a US Visa card with a chip in it. DH has one that he uses for European travel. I believe it has been out for about a year. I saw an article in the New York Times last week that said American Express would be issuing a chip card within the next year.</p>
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<p>Always might depend from the type of account you have in the US, as the ATM fees and exchange rate might come in a wide range. Some banks might provide full disclosure of fees and applicable rates; others might bury it. </p>
<p>I have used the ATM in Spain and the “landed” cost was higher than converting at a local bank. However, the bank imposed a limit of 200 dollars. In Belgium, the best rates are available at the diamond trading houses (by a large margin) and at traders located next to the Stock Market. </p>
<p>Again, it pays to know the outfits, but one has to weigh this against the comfort and instant gratification of using an ATM upon arrival. </p>
<p>PS Fwiw, another reasonable source for a limited advance is your hotel. Some hotels allow to add a few hundred dollars to the bill and the fees will be identical to the ones charged by your credit card.</p>
<p>My credit union gave me a rate within a penny of the rate reported on google (google “euro to dollar”), with a 2% fee, plus the ATM fee.</p>
<p>The rate went down almost every day (from $1.28 for a euro to $1.23 for a euro) and my credit union tracked it the whole time.</p>
<p>Compared to the crooks at the airport, I thought that was pretty good.</p>
<p>xiggi, for all the ins and outs of Credit/Debit/ATM Cards and Foreign Exchange, you might be interested to read this.</p>
<p>[Credit/Debit/ATM</a> Cards and Foreign Exchange - FlyerGuide Wiki](<a href=“http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange#Schedule_of_foreign_transaction_fees_by_bank_for_debit_and_credit_cards]Credit/Debit/ATM”>http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange#Schedule_of_foreign_transaction_fees_by_bank_for_debit_and_credit_cards)</p>
<p>there are other threads on CC about this. I work for an Amsterdam-based company and find my corporate AmEx is not widely accepted - only hotels and a few restaurants. My US Mastercard is accepted in most restaurants and some large, but not in small retailers, grocery stores or the train vending machines in the Netherlands. </p>
<p>I also travel to Sweden on business and find not much acceptance of the AmEx and similar experience with the Mastercard. </p>
<p>I do find, however, that I can withdraw money at ATMs with my BankAmerica debit card. They do charge me $5 for this priviledge, so for small amounts of local currency (under US$50 equic), it is cheaper to take the less favorable exchange rate at the hotel, as they don’t charge a fee.</p>