Using cash in Europe is the best way to go
Instead of plastic, be prepared to use local cash for many transactions in Europe. Credit: TMS Blender
f you're bound for Europe, be warned: Your credit card won't always work. Thanks to technological advances, tax evasion and merchants' disgust with fees, an American credit card is not nearly as welcome as cash.
Much of Europe has started implementing a chip-and-PIN system, using credit cards that are embedded with a microchip and require a Personal Identification Number (PIN code) for transactions, which stands in for the customer's signature on a receipt.
WHAT IT MEANS Americans should know that magnetic-strip credit cards may not be accepted at some automated payment points: ticket machines at train and subway stations, luggage lockers, toll roads, parking garages and self-serve gas pumps.
For example, while driving in rural Switzerland on a weekend, you could discover that your card won't work at the gas pumps in the few gas stations that are open on Sundays. In Paris, you'll see bikes in racks all over town for anyone to use for quick trips, but the machines accept only chip-embedded cards, allowing Germans and Brits to cruise the cobblestones - but not Americans.
Live transactions are easier. For now, most hotels, restaurants, and shops that serve Americans will accept U.S. cards. But change is coming.
The chip-and-PIN system is most commonly used in the British Isles, Scandinavia, France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most of Western Europe should be converted in 2012 (Canada will convert in 2015).
WHAT TO DO Europe's automated machines sometimes take a U.S. credit card if you know the card's PIN number. Every card has one - ask your bank for the number before you leave on your trip.
If your credit card is rejected, don't panic. It's safe and easy to withdraw cash from a nearby ATM (there's no problem using magnetic-strip debit cards in European ATMs). But using it to routinely pay for purchases at various shops increases the chance that a disgruntled employee could lift your number (which, if abused, draws money directly out of your account).
There's no need to exchange your dollars for euros (or whatever) before leaving on your trip. You'll pay fees to withdraw money from ATMs, but these are less than you'd pay to exchange dollars for foreign currency at home.
