International Travel Advice?

[Dag_Otto]

@Candyman74

Ouch. That’s unfortunate! I guess a quick phone call to the bank to verify that the cards will work might be a good idea.

Do not rely on a single source for funds. Have multiple credit cards, ATM cards, cash, etc.. My wife and I both had Bank of America ATM cards - she had a fancy premier account, and I had a el cheapo basic checking account. Guess who’s ATM card didn’t work overseas? Same bank, and we both called ahead to inform them of the overseas activity. Didn’t make a difference, only the basic checking account card worked.

[PaulParkhead]

@mnemosyne

You might simply want to check what your bank will charge for you to use your ATM card overseas - our bank is dumb and charges a couple of bucks, so it was always worth it to grab hundred(s) of pounds or Euros rather than just twenty at a time!

As for your phone, depending on the type of phone (if it’s a GSM/smartphone) you can get it unlocked and just buy a SIM card once you reach the UK/Europe. My friend uses Giffgaffon a cheap old phone when she travels around (she lives in Manchester). Others might be able to give you other suggestions. We borrowed her phone when we were there for a few weeks and it was so convenient to have.

From memory, BoA charges 1% plus $5 for an overseas withdrawal. If the OP can find a Barclays Bank ATM, the $5 fee doesn’t apply.

IIRC, Verizon is a CDMA network so there’s no way to make those handsets work with the GSM networks in Europe. A dirt cheap prepaid cellphone would be around £15-£20, or something like Skype would work from a CDMA smartphone with wifi.

[drewtwo99]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I’m now at my gate waiting to board

[Eva_Luna]

@Candyman74

Ouch. That’s unfortunate! I guess a quick phone call to the bank to verify that the cards will work might be a good idea.

The bank has so far been completely unable to give any reason why the cards didn’t work. They were part of the (international) Cirrus network. When we called to see what the problem was, the bank told us their system didn’t show any of our numerous attempts to use the cards abroad. This was a problem we never had with our previous Humungobank accounts, to which, when we pointed out that we have made ATM withdrawals successfully in Siberia and Beirut, Local Bank’s response was “oh, sometimes that happens,” which I gotta say, was less than reassuring. I am now not so thrilled about our decision to leave Humungobank and support that particular local bank.

[aruvqan]

@drewtwo99

Haha, I would never refer to Scotland as England or vice versa. I might talk about how I went to the United Kingdom… but, I still prefer to say Scotland.

I won’t ever be in a hotel (go straight from the airport to the port to the boat), and I’ll never really be walking around out in public except when I’m at the airport and heading to the port. So I think having my real passport in my bag and my copy in my wallet should be ok. I left another copy here at home as well.

I just realized that my cell phone will NOT work in Germany or the UK. (went on Verizon’s website and they said no dice). However, I use google voice, so as long as I am at a wifi hotspot, I should still be able to send texts either from my laptop or my phone. I should even be able to make calls from my laptop using the google calling from gmail, I assume… has anyone ever tried this?

I have verizon also, I just said screw it, and bought the cheapest clamshell phone available and a sim card for it and put ah hour of time onto it. now I don’t have to worry about scrounging for a wifi spot, I just pop the battery back into the phone and top off the charge on it, and put my droid on airplane mode so it doesn’t try to hook up all the time [i use it mainly as an ebook reader when it is not being a phone or gps unit.]