Remember, credit cards aren't almighty!

It happened when I bought a Vuitton bag which my aunt had requested me. The shop keeper said to me, "Don't you have another card apart from VISA? Or can you pay in cash?" I don’t know why she said so. Probably I was about to ask something, so she explained. "The VISA line was broken down. Therefore, we have to confirm by phone, but the telephone was very busy. It is difficult to get through." I didn't have either enough money or any other cards. I thought that I should have got another card such as American Express, but it was late! Probably, I could use a cashing service, but if I did, a fee would be necessary. Actually, it wasn't a item which I wanted to buy, so I didn't want to use a cashing service. Many thoughts were coming to me.
I said, "I’m sorry. I don't have another card or cash."
After that, she said, "OK. I'll try." Fortunately, we got an answer  on the first try.
She said, "You're lucky! That lady couldn't get her call through for more than thirty minutes."
At that time, I was back on safe ground. However, after this accident, I asked to issue a Master card and so have two cards, VISA and Master, while traveling abroad.
When I traveled in Las Vegas, I bought tickets for a magic show. I used my VISA card, but I saw a man in the ticket office was having some trouble.
After the procedure, he said, "This card is difficult to read. Now, I put your card number by hand, but I think that your card is broken or something."
During the trip, my VISA card didn't work well, so sometimes, I couldn't use it.
After coming back to Japan, I went to the VISA office and asked for it to be checked.
However, the attendant said, "We can't find any problem."
I don't know why I had some trouble with my VISA card in America. Maybe, my card and America didn't mix. Ha ha ha.
It means that even normal cards sometimes don't work well although the line is connected. In short, it is wise to have two cards during travel.
However, if you have two cards, it isn't so safe. Now, everybody has his or her own cards and use them all of the world, but there are small towns where you can't use either traveler's cheques or credit cards. When I traveled in Church Town near Liverpool in 2003, I went to such a small shop.
At first, the shop was closed. While I was waiting for it to open. I began to want to buy many things, for example, some greeting cards, a water colour, some jewelry bags. When the shop finally opened, I was shocked because the proprietor said that I couldn't use either credit cards or T/C. At that time, I didn't have enough money, so I was at a loss. However, my friend lent me some money, so I could buy the minimum of things which I wanted to buy. If I could have used my VISA card, I would have surely bought more at the shop.
Recently, I think that using credit cards to buy something is more benetifical than exchanging Japanese yen to T/C. Therefore, I exchange less in T/C than before. However, remember, credit cards aren't almighty or plastic fantastic everywhere.

(2004.10.16)

Yokobruce, I'm a traveller. TOP

to the top

Trip to England

I really like London!