Bank machines, foreign countries and language barriers: a recipe for frustration.
Take our once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe from our home in Canada. We were celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary with a 10-day cruise from Barcelona to Rome, followed by stays in Florence, a Tuscan inn, Venice, Amsterdam and Paris – five weeks in all. This was our first Mediterranean cruise – first trip to Europe, actually, so it was going to be Nirvana.
We had always taken travelers' checks on trips. This time our travel agent advised us to put a credit on our VISA and use it to withdraw cash whenever we needed it.
"There are machines on every corner," she said.
So, VISA loaded, I went to the bank, keyed in a PIN and tested it at the ATM. We were ready.
In Barcelona, we tried to withdraw cash from a machine. "Tried" is the operative word. Everything was going fine: the machine asked how much I wanted, asked for my PIN, asked me to wait – but at the point when those Euros should have come tumbling out, it refused my PIN. Every other machine we tried did the same.
Then I remembered I had never actually withdrawn money when I tested that ATM in Toronto, but just taken it to the point where it asked me to wait – the same point we were at now. When I had keyed in a PIN at the bank, some gremlin had obviously screwed up. This meant no cash for buses, taxis, small shops, cafes – anyplace we could not use a credit card.
Well, we thought, don't panic yet. We can get cash against the VISA in a bank.
Not so fast. The small bank near our hotel did not perform this service. The teller directed us to various large bank branches in an area many blocks away that he said would be able to accommodate us.
Well, we were sightseeing anyway, so what's a long walk?
When the officer at the bank understood what we wanted, she pointed to the machine outside the door. Our PIN was not working, we said. Her bank did not perform that service, she replied. Try one a couple of blocks away.
At the second bank the officer we approached did not understand English. She kept shaking her head and pointing to the machine outside the door. She obviously just wanted us to go away.
We wouldn't accommodate her.
"English?" I asked, hoping she would call someone who spoke it.
She seemed not to understand. She also seemed angrier and more impatient.
"Inglese," I pleaded.
She stalked off and reappeared with a pleasant woman who spoke to us in English. Unfortunately what she said was that her bank did not perform that service. She gave us directions to one she said would definitely accommodate us. When we went there, we realized we were back in the first bank.
Panic-ville! Our cash supply was next to zilch. I contemplated shaking the woman who had refused us when we were there the first time. Second thoughts said we wait and talk to someone else.
The second person, when she understood the problem, was happy to accommodate us. She photocopied my passport, and after several false tries during which we held our breath. managed to get the form properly seated in the machine, took the imprint of my VISA, then, at last, counted 500 Euros into our grateful hands. This was much more than we would have normally withdrawn, but we did not want to repeat this procedure too often.
Still, given the nature of our trip, we did have to do it again a few times.
The day before we left the cruise ship, we approached the purser with our problem. Seems we could get cash against our VISA, but only U.S. dollars, which we would have to exchange at the money exchange desk for Euros. From our Canadian dollars to U.S. dollars to Euros, we were getting killed on exchange rates, but what choice did we have?
On land, the situation was the same as in Barcelona, except the language barrier was now Italian-English. At last we found that the one bank we could depend on was the Deutsche Bank. Now all we had to do was find a large branch of this bank when we needed cash. Still, lots of wasted sightseeing time and a fair amount of stress.
We kept our cool by recalling the experience of one of our cruise shipmates, an American.
In port at Valletta, Malta, she attempted to get cash from a machine, using her credit card. The first machine refused her request for $200. She tried another machine, this time asking for $100. This machine was more accommodating. But imagine her astonishment when the machine spilled out 100 Maltese pounds!
Worse, the Maltese value their money at three times the U.S. dollar. It had cost her $300 to get those 100 Maltese pounds, useless anywhere but in Malta.
She frantically tried to spend the money, something, she said, that is normally no problem for her. However, it was Sunday, and only souvenir shops were open. Her only consolation was that the first machine did not give her that 200 pounds – $600 U.S. would have been down the drain. The last we heard, she was planning to make a bracelet with the Maltese money.
So, lessons learned: Before leaving, be very sure your credit card will dispense money, know what currency your machine deals in – and don't forget the travelers' checks.