[Leica] OT: Eurotrip Question

[reid at mejac.palo-alto.ca.us (Brian Reid)]

> I had not realised that the US did not use the PIN system yet

North American bank cards use PINs only for debit/ATM transactions.
Credit transactions just use a signature. And our cards do not have chips in 
them.

My experience is that the most universal form of access to money when I 
travel is an ATM/debit card with a 4-digit PIN. Being the sort of person who 
always has a backup Plan B, I carry two such cards, issued by different 
banks that use different debit networks.

Though because of the epidemic of banks buying other banks, most cards 
issued by nationwide financial institutions are members of 3 or more debit 
networks.