A couple things I've learned about travelling in Europe, so far

[xiphias]

1) Cash
I didn't even think about this until I glanced at a travel guide in London -- one of those humor books which actually has good points in it. Naturally, I looked up the US in it, and and they had a bit about money. Everyone in the world who comes to the United States is annoyed that all of our paper money is the same size, shape, color, and design, with the only differences being a few numbers in the corners -- written smaller than the numbers in any other currency -- and which basially-similar-looking white guy has his basically-similar-looking portrait on it.

They pointed out that Americans aren't bothered by this (or, for that matter, that we have a $1 bill rather than coin -- I think that other countries believe that, if your average vending machine sells stuff more expensive than your smallest bill and your largest coin, you're doing it wrong) because we almost never use cash.

I'd never thought about it, but it's true. Even McDonald's takes debit and credit cards. I normally don't carry more than $20, back home, because I don't need to.

But I have not seen, in London, Florence, Rome, Paris, Venice, or Trieste, any of those self-service credit-card/debit card readers -- the ones where you swipe your card yourself, sign the little box with a light-pen, or punch in your PIN, and handle the transaction with minimal input by the clerk.

However, ATMs are everywhere and usually fee-free. In the United States, ATMs are a little less common, and almost always charge you for the privlege of getting your own money. If they only charge you $1, you count yourself lucky. If I want cash, I go to a supermarket, buy something small, and pay with a debit card, asking for "cash back".

But I almost never want cash.

In London and in Italy, we can use our Visa card at some restaurants (mainly the ones which cater to tourists), and to buy more expensive, big-ticket items (in general, if it's expensive enough that you're going to fill out a VAT exemption form for it, you can use a credit card), but, mainly, it's cash.

The advice we'd gotten had been to keep your cash in a moneybelt under your shirt, and only have what you need for the day out in your wallet, in case you meet a pickpocket. But we've found that a better place to keep your money is in a bank, and just go to the Bancomat every day to get your cash for the day. The Italian sentence I've used most is "Dovè ille Bancomat, per favorè?" And I've always gotten a helpful answer.

We have a credit union, which doesn't charge us for ATM transactions on their side, so we can do this. (Yes, in the United States, your own back can, and usually will, charge you to get your own money, and then the bank which owns the ATM will charge you again). So, for us, just getting money as we go makes more sense than getting extra.

Comments

[navrins]

Um, not to contradict your main point, but I've *never* kept a bank account that charges me to use its own ATMs, and for the past many years if have an account with any bank on the SUM network (which is almost any bank except Bank of America) and you use any ATM on the SUM network, you don't get charged anything. So if you're getting charged for ATM use, you're either choosing to pay for the convenience of using *this* ATM rather than looking for one a block away, or you could get a better account.

[undauntra.livejournal.com]

ATMs are a lot less common here than they are around Boston. I pay for the convenience of using *this* ATM, rather than looking for one across the interstate and down the road a mile or two.

[navrins]

Fair enough. But I think my points should pretty much hold for xiphias, even if they don't for you.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

We don't have a bank: we have a credit union. So we don't have ANY native ATMs. Nonetheless, our credit union does have agreements with a bunch of the local banks, so, if we plan ahead, we can usually avoid fees.