Thursday, October 29, 2009

London, baby! Part II

Here are some examples of conversations I have had with Heidi (who is traveling abroad for the first time) leading up to our trip:

Heidi: "my friend Susan told me that I should call my bank and credit card company and tell them that I will be out of the country so that they will know that my cards are not stolen when they see activity coming from London."
Me: "Yeah, I've heard that, but I've never had any trouble before."

Heidi: "I am going call my bank today."
Me: "okay. I'm not going to do that, though."
Heidi: "Really? I read that we should."
Me: "I'm not worried. But you can."

(At the airport in New York.)
Heidi: "Oh, there is an exchange place. Should we exchange some money now?"
Me: "You can if you want, but I'm just going to get money from the ATM at the airport."

Heidi: "I called my bank and credit card company, so I'm all set for the trip!"
Me: (thinking 'Good for you!')

We get off the plane in Heathrow. I head straight to the ATM to take out some money. My card is denied. I figure they are just out of cash. I go to a different ATM, where my card is denied again. I go to a third ATM, and my card is denied for a third time. Heidi has to pay for our cab. Once in the city, I try the ATM of a bank that is partnerned with mine in The States, figuring that the problem must be that my bank card is not recognized by their ATMs. Again, denied.

I call my bank, on the verge of swearing up a storm, and am told that they saw some suspicious activity on my card and put a hold on it.

Me: "WHAT??"
Heidi: "Told you so."

(Can I just add that in 2009 alone, I have been to Rome and Montreal twice and have not had a problem?? Grrrrrrr......)

Guess which one of us is Joey (super excited) and which one of us is Chandler (Westminster crabby) in this scenario.

3 comments:

Esther said...

Big Ben is due east.

Equis said...

Oh no! I was totally thinking of the recent The Office honeymoon episode where Kevin accidentally canceled Jim and Pam's credit cards. Glad you got it all sorted out. Can't wait to see your pics.

Unknown said...

Hilarious. You know how much I travel overseas and it is TOTALLY inconsistent whether they deny my card or not--so I've never gotten into the habit of calling the bank in advance, but will try to train myself to do that.