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cash or credit in Europe??

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Old Sep 10th, 2006 | 09:08 PM
  #1  
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cash or credit in Europe??

What would be the best payment options:

Cash
traveller's cheques
credit cards

I realise i'll have to be doing a lot of online bookin while im in europe, so ill have to carry my credit cards. Any ideas?
Im a little hesitant carrying cash, it makes me feel unsafe. What would be a reasonable amount to carry for mobility.
anne06 is offline  
Old Sep 10th, 2006 | 09:16 PM
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Use credit cards as much as possible and cash when necessary like for small items. Don't bring travelers checks unless you get a few for last resort emergency situations. Hopefully that doesn't happen and we've not used TC's for quite a few years now relying on the ATM's to get local currency. If you're from the States and have a Bank of America account you can use the BNP Paribas' ATM's in France without being charged fees for example.
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Old Sep 10th, 2006 | 10:23 PM
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If you do a search you'll find that this has been asked a few times before.
alanRow is offline  
Old Sep 10th, 2006 | 11:07 PM
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By "cash" I hope you don't mean carrying hundreds of €. Use your ATM card to get cash as you need it, and credit cards for everything else.
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Old Sep 10th, 2006 | 11:12 PM
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tod
 
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I used to do all three but will never carry Travellers Cheques again. Too much trouble to find a bank to cash them.
I do take lots of cash in high denomination notes so my wallet still remains reasonably small. I don't walk around with all the cash but put it in my hotel safe & only take what I think I need for the day.
A credit card is a must. I mainly use it as a back-up but do not like ATM's so never use it to draw cash.
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Old Sep 11th, 2006 | 12:05 AM
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tod...

You should be aware that many banks will not touch US $50 and US $100...at least during a trip to Ireland last April many of the people had trouble getting banks to exchange them because of the counterfeiting problem...don't know if this is still a problem.

Quite frankly, in this day and age, there is next to no need to carry all that much cash. I use credit cards for every purchase everywhere for everything.

Unfortunately visa and mastercard do not in Europe have the same 2 customer protection rules that would make so much sense that they have in the USA.

In the USA merchants are prohibited from setting a minimum for use of a credit card and may nor surcharge purchases made with a credit card.

This rule should be made universal.
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Old Sep 11th, 2006 | 04:45 AM
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ira
 
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Hi A,

Traveler's checks in your local currency only for emergency. You can deposit them when you get home.

Charge everything chargeable and use the ATMs for walking around money.

Enjoy your visit.

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Old Sep 11th, 2006 | 05:43 AM
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thanks !!
anne06 is offline  
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