My recent 6-week road trip through Europe.

[NW-Bound]

I just concluded a 6-week trip through Europe. The nearly 6,000-km road trip was entirely by a leased car, and took us through 7 countries, with some of a much longer stay than others. This was the first time I ever drove that much in Europe.

This thread shares some of my experiences during this travel. I hope it may be useful, or at least entertaining to forum readers.

 

[NW-Bound]

First, I want to talk about credit card use. The previous time we were in Europe, the chip+PIN card did not exist. So, I read with much interest the previous threads on this subject.

I brought along only 2 cards. One was a Southwest Visa credit card, and the other was Schwab debit card. The Schwab card has a PIN, while the SW card does not. I chose these two because they had no foreign transaction fees. I left my other cards like AmEx, Discover, and other CCs home, as I felt the above two cards would be all I needed.

The Schwab card let me get cash at ATMs without any problem. The SW Visa was used without any problem anywhere there was a clerk, such as at grocery stores, manned gas stations or in restaurants. I believe I could have used the Schwab card anywhere the SW Visa card worked, but preferred to use the SW Visa card whenever possible. It was because any mischarging or abuse could be protested much easier with a credit card, while a debit card would not provide the same protection.

It was at unmanned kiosks or sales terminals that things got interesting.

 

[splitwdw]

waiting...

 

[NW-Bound]

The leased car was spanking new, and had 2km on its odometer. It was delivered with only a few liters of fuel in its tank. All this was spelled out in the contract.

So, immediately after driving out of the airport, I looked for a gas station as we would not be able to go very far otherwise.

Found a gas station only a few miles from Orly Airport. Pulled in, and saw that it was unmanned. An immediate use of my two new cards. By the way, I applied for these cards just a few months prior, did use them a couple of times in the US to make sure everything was OK, and notified the banks that I would be traveling soon to make sure no charges got rejected.

Put in the SW card (chip+signature). "Not Approved". OK, I expected that.

Lemme try the Schwab card (chip+PIN). This should work. "Not Approved". Did not even ask for PIN. Uh Oh!

 

[NW-Bound]

They say insanity is to keep trying the same thing and expect a different result. OK, I admit to being temporarily insane, as I did try each card once more to see if one of them would get me some gas. Of course not!

Now, what do I do? Keep driving and hoping to find a gas station that is manned, or one that will accept one of the cards? How much gas is in the tank anyway, and how much distance can I drive?

Good grief, I do not expect trouble to come so soon on this trip, not immediately after I got off a long flight, and expected to get to my lodging before it got dark. Is it time to panic yet?

My beloved wife had a brilliant idea. Why not approach another motorist who was pumping gas, ask him to buy gas for us with his card, and pay him in euros?

That I did, and thanks to this friendly French motorist, we were on the way with 20 euros worth of gas. We thanked him profusely, of course.

Armed with those precious liters of gas, I got out to the countryside, found another gas station with an attendant, and filled up the car. A potential disaster averted!

The next day, I tried another unmanned gas station, and this time it took the SW Visa card (chip+signature). No PIN, nothing! Son of a gun!

 

[NW-Bound]

Visited Chambord Castle. Bought admission tickets with the SW Visa card at the entrance window. No problem, as I simply had to sign the receipt, as I did all the later times we made a purchase where there was a clerk.

On the way out of the parking lot, stopped by an unmanned "caisse" to pay for my parking ticket.

Put in the parking ticket. Then put in the Schwab card in another slot. I suspected the SW Visa might not work, so did not even try that.

"Rejected" Oh, sh$t!

Now give me back the parking ticket and my Schwab card, and I will try to find someone to pay to.

Nope, the damn "caisse" kept them both. OH SH!T.

 

[NW-Bound]

Usually, a bank card with a chip is only inserted by hand, and as only its chip needs to be inside for the machine to read via electrical contacts, the end of the card stays protruding which lets you grab it and yank it out.

Now, this caisse was the type that sucked both parking tickets and my band card inside. Perhaps it was an older type that needed to pull the card inside to read the magnetic strip, and they had not updated the mechanism even though cards all have a chip now.

So, I was standing there, not knowing what to do, where to go. Another castle visitor couple walked by, saw my frustration, and stopped to see what happened. They turned out to be a couple of Brits, and I though it would be great as my French was rusty and they could help me in English.

After listening to my problem, and looking at the machine, they shook their heads and said they did not know what the problem was. When they walked away, I was left looking at this box that ate my ticket and card, and pondering what my next move should be. Do I walk back to the visitor center to ask for help? What happens to my ticket and card still inside this dumb box? What if another motorist sticks in his card, and jams everything up? What if this box spits out my card when I walk away and someone gets my card?

DAMN!

 

[NW-Bound]

Forgot to say that my wife and my traveling companions already walked back to the car, else someone could stay with this machine while I went ask for help.

I should say that few parking lots let you pay at the exit gate. Most have you pay at a terminal prior to leaving. They validate your ticket, which you later insert to a reader at the exit gate. This arrangement is superior to paying at the gate, because a motorist having a problem with his card would not hold up the exit lane, like I would do now.

Now, some parking garages may have their "caisse" hidden so well, or some may be broken, and that required you to wander around hunting for one that worked, but that is another problem.

 

[NW-Bound]

Then, I saw a push button labeled "Help" or something like that. There was a speaker grill, and perhaps that let me talk with an off-site operator. So I pushed that button, held it and said something like "this damn machine ate my ticket and bank card".

A few seconds later, an unintelligible French voice came on, and said something that I of course did not understand. Well, it did not matter, because a few seconds later the machine spit out my bank card. Oh joy!

But what about my parking ticket? Without it, I would not be able to leave the parking lot without crashing their exit barrier, which at this time I was tempted to.

I pushed the button again, and asked "What about my parking ticket?" A couple of seconds later, the machine spit out my ticket. Would it have done that if I did not raise my voice in a threatening matter? Well, I would never know, would I?

 

[NW-Bound]

So, having the parking ticket and my bank card back, I still had to go look for a way to pay for the parking. Walked back to the visitor center, and they had a couple of "caisse" machines outside. These were different than the one that ate my card.

Chances were that the people inside who took care of castle admission would not be able to help with the parking fee, so I should try these new machines again. If they ate my ticket and card, hey, I knew now to look for a "Help" button, and to talk to the unseen remote operator with a threatening voice, right?

Put in the parking ticket. Machine spat it right out, saying something like "invalid" on its display. Huh?

 

[NW-Bound]

Umm... Perhaps, just perhaps, the machine saw that this ticket had already been paid, hence spat it out. The only way to find out was to try to use it to get outta there.

I ran to my car, and at this point my wife had been wondering what kept me so long. I told her I would explain to her later. I drove up to the barrier gate, inserted the parking ticket. Lo and behold, the barrier raised!

I later checked my bank account, and yes they did charge me for the parking fee. I guess the remote operator was able to override whatever restriction the system put on foreign bank cards.

 

[akck]

Note to self: Bring at least 1 backup CC when travelling to Europe.

Hopefully in the future, Chip and PIN CCs will have better availability.

 

[audreyh1]

Well I have no experience with paying at gas stations or parking lots in Europe, because I haven't rented a car there yet.

We carry several no-fee credit cards (including a few with PINs) and a couple of chipped debit cards in Europe, because you never know! But I have a feeling that I would easily get in trouble in a parking lot - because many people report problems with paying in parking lots.

Did your experience with gas stations improve?

 

[Lsbcal]

NW-Bound, was the card situation OK if you did not rent a car? Or were there other incidents with unattended machines?

We take 2 CC's and 2 debit cards when we are over there.

So far sounds like a lovely trip.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Aside from the mostly minor credit card stuff, hope you had a good trip!

 

[FUEGO]

We're on day 13 here in Spain/Portugal (out of a 9 week trip this summer). Only one place wouldn't take my Chase Ink Business visa card (the very first purchase in the country - at a restaurant in the tourist area). It's worked everywhere else that takes credit cards. I discovered my first place that has a minimum for credit card usage - the Dia supermarket in Seville, Spain requires €7 minimum purchase to use a card. Silly me, a basket full of beer, croissants, fruit, vegetables, and bread is usually more than €7 but Spain is particularly cheap it seems (€3.93 total).

I have the fidelity ATM/debit card and haven't needed to use it for purchases. It worked fine on the two occasions I needed to use it. Once at the airport - no transaction fee. Another at a Caixa ATM in Malaga, Spain. €5 euro transaction fee refunded in full by Fidelity (so it's working as expected).

At the subway station in Lisbon, Portugal, the Fidelity debit card wouldn't work at the automated machine that takes cash and debit only. Cash works but only small bills (nothing that would generate change larger than €10). This was problematic as all I had were 20's and 50's and I had to add €3 to each of five different metro cards (their metro card system is pretty crappy). I figured out how to ask a stranger for change for a €20 in Portuguese pretty quick.

 

[NW-Bound]

Did your experience with gas stations improve?

NW-Bound, was the card situation OK if you did not rent a car? Or were there other incidents with unattended machines?

I will have more to add, but nothing was as dramatic as what happened on Day 1 and Day 2 of the trip.

Aside from the mostly minor credit card stuff, hope you had a good trip!

Yes, it was a good trip. I went to many places that I had always wanted to visit. There was quite a bit of hassle with driving a car, but these were places not amenable to public transportation. So, I tried to make the most with the car, and it worked out OK after those early incidences. No regret here.

Before continuing on, let me post a photo to juice up the thread. Chambord Castle was the location with the parking ticket machine that ate my card. I had been to the Loire Valley, and in 2007 also drove a car and visited a few castles, but not Chambord. This time, the darn bank card compatibility caused grief that I did not experience before.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I discovered my first place that has a minimum for credit card usage - the Dia supermarket in Seville, Spain requires €7 minimum purchase to use a card. Silly me, a basket full of beer, croissants, fruit, vegetables, and bread is usually more than €7 but Spain is particularly cheap it seems (€3.93 total)...

Yes, Spain is cheap. I need to come back to Spain for another trip, this time staying longer than the 2 weeks I did.

At Place du Tertre in Paris (near the famous Sacre Coeur Cathedral in Montmartre), a glass of Aperol will set you back 10 euros.

 

[NW-Bound]

As mentioned earlier, most machines require you to stick only 1/2 of the card in for them to read the chip. They do not suck up the entire card, then fail to disgorge it like that machine that I encountered. So, if the card is rejected, you just yank it out and try another one.

ATMs at banks do suck up the card. I believe it is so that they can confiscate the card if it has been reported stolen. More on this later.

So, for the rest of the trip I tried to use the Visa credit card (chip+signature) first before the Schwab debit card (chip+PIN). It was because credit cards offer better protection than debit cards, as I mentioned earlier.

At markets and restaurants in all countries, never a problem with the credit card. All the clerks or waiters had to do was to print another receipt for me to sign. In two occasions, the supermarket clerks demanded to see an ID.

Some unattended gas stations accepted the credit card. This was not the norm, however. If there was an attendant, or if the gas station had an associated convenience store with a counter, I would go in to prepay or postpay as appropriate, and the credit card was never rejected.

On a couple of occasions, when the unattended gas station rejected my credit card, I tried the Schwab card, entered the PIN and all was well.

In Italy, neither card worked. But most (all?) unattended gas pumps in Italy took cash (no change returned). So, I would prepay with a 20-euro bill and it was painless.

 

[NW-Bound]

Tollbooths:

Most tollbooths were unattended. I am sure there was an attendant somewhere overseeing in case things go wrong. The main thing was to make sure I did not go through a "Télépéage" lane reserved for cars with automated transponders.

I initially used the Schwab card (chip+PIN) at the first few tollbooths, and as they never asked me for the PIN, I later switched to the credit card (chip+signature) and was never rejected. This was in both France and Italy.

Parking Garages:

Many garages accepted my credit card. The ones in Belgium rejected my credit card, but took my Schwab debit card and asked for the PIN.

Once, can't remember where, the garage "caisse" asked for a PIN with my credit card! As I recalled a poster in another thread said he just entered a random 4-digit code, I did the same and the machine accepted it.

 

[NW-Bound]

There's something I have to say about parking garages in Europe. They've got some nice features that I have not seen before. These may have been incorporated in US cities that I do not know about.

1) In Bordeaux and another city that I forget (damn "superior memory" failing me again), I did not have to insert the validated (paid) ticket into the reader at the barricade. It opened automatically for me as my car approached.

How they do that? A computer camera reads the license plate as you get the ticket at the entrance barricade. A computer associates your license plate to the ticket, and when the ticket is paid at the "caisse", it will open the exit gate for your car when it sees the same license plate. Cool!

2) Garages have signs out front indicating how many slots are still open. And as you drive in, there are signs indicating how many slots are open on each level.

More than that, some cities such as Luxembourg City have billboards out in the streets showing the occupancy level of the many garages in the area. And there are signs directing drivers to these garages. Nice!

 

[NW-Bound]

Tram and Metro tickets:

In Italy, I bought tram tickets with cash. Vending machines had no reader for credit cards. Don't know how widespread that was. Italians use cash a lot. See my earlier post about gas stations.

In Paris, I bought metro tickets with my credit card (chip+signature). The display flashes "Enter PIN:" for a second, then that went away, and it started to spit out tickets.

 

[audreyh1]

There's something I have to say about parking garages in Europe. They've got some nice features that I have not seen before. These may have been incorporated in US cities that I do not know about.

1) In Bordeaux and another city that I forget (damn "superior memory" failing me again), I did not have to insert the validated (paid) ticket into the reader at the barricade. It opened automatically for me as my car approached.

How they do that? A computer camera reads the license plate as you get the ticket at the entrance barricade. A computer associates your license plate to the ticket, and when the ticket is paid at the "caisse", it will open the exit gate for your car when it sees the same license plate. Cool!

2) Garages have signs out front indicating how many slots are still open. And as you drive in, there are signs indicating how many slots are open on each level.

More than that, some cities such as Luxembourg City have billboards out in the streets showing the occupancy level of the many garages in the area. And there are signs directing drivers to these garages. Nice!

I saw this slots available feature in Cassis (near Marseille) as our mini-van driver went into the parking lot. Very cool. I love the license plate reading feature!

Maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to rent a car in France. Probably just locally for short periods. I love riding the trains.

 

[audreyh1]

Tram and Metro tickets:

In Italy, I bought tram tickets with cash. Vending machines had no reader for credit cards. Don't know how widespread that was. Italians use cash a lot. See my earlier post about gas stations.

In Paris, I bought metro tickets with my credit card (chip+signature). The display flashes "Enter PIN:" for a second, then that went away, and it started to spit out tickets.

Some countries, Germany and Austria too, use cash a lot. We usually carry plenty. In France, restaurants (except for the finest dining) prefer it. In Amsterdam which usually prefers plastic including at eateries, still has major grocery stores and other shops that don't take credit or non-NL debit cards, so you gotta use cash.

I've also encountered the "skip the PIN" situation many times.

After I got home last year I learned that my BofA travel rewards chip and signature actually has a PIN too!

 

[NW-Bound]

... Maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to rent a car in France. Probably just locally for short periods. I love riding the trains.

We made many European trips using train. It is preferable to driving, but a car is needed to go to some places not served by trains. One can go anywhere taking a country bus, but oh man you would spend a lot of time by the side of the road waiting for one, then lug your carry-ons to your lodging.

Initially, I was going to do long-distance train travel between cities, set up a home base then rent a car for day excursions. When another couple (relatives) wanted to join us, I decided to do an all-car road trip. With 2 couples, the car cost beats train fares, even if tolls are expensive.

And then, with a car at our disposal, I changed the itinerary to go into more remote corners, and also incorporated some stops along the route to get some freebie visits to town we would not see otherwise.

This trip took a lot of planning on my part; my wife and my traveling companions did not have anything to add. When staying in town, I had to find places that had private parking. When that was impossible, I had to select places that were close to a free parking lot. I was prepared to walk up to a mile between the lodging and the parking spot. In some cities, parking spaces were so rare that not even hotels had parking spaces. The ones that did would be far enough from town that we would not be able to walk to restaurants, shops, or the train station to take daytrips.

Planning for this trip was part of the fun. I spent a lot of time on Google Map and Street View to study each situation, to see how I would get in/out of a tight spot. From buying the plane ticket to taking the trip, I had 6 months to plan out the details. And none of that prepared me for the failure to get gas, and the card-eating machine.