 Poster: A snowHead
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| pam w wrote: |
| And I always have enough cash for a couple of coffees or beers in the leg pocket of my salopettes. |
Strange place to keep your coffees and beers, pam_w but each to their own...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Last year credit card stopped working on autoroute on my way home having been fine all holiday. Rang bank and they said no problem their end, must be something French. Euros would have been useful!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Mjit wrote: |
| pam w wrote: |
| And I always have enough cash for a couple of coffees or beers in the leg pocket of my salopettes. |
Strange place to keep your coffees and beers, pam_w but each to their own... |
Cargo salopettes, coming soon to a ski shop near you...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Snowmadmum wrote: |
| As with others: card by default and then some cash as backup and tips. Good tip on the Halifax card thank you @Bergmeister, and @Skimum1, |
The full Mastercard name is "Halifax Clarity." And it's free to apply for one online  .
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| welshskier wrote: |
| Last year credit card stopped working on autoroute on my way home having been fine all holiday. Rang bank and they said no problem their end, must be something French. Euros would have been useful! |
Reminds me of the "good old days" of people waiting at unmanned French petrol stations waiting for some local to show up so you could get them to use their card in the pump/give them the cash 
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I remember doing that, @Mjit!
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Never did it myself, but did once arrive at a garage on fumes, fill up, and see them locking the manned office door in the rear view mirror as we pulled out!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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if you want to 'spend a penny' on the mountain in Tignes and ValD'isere you might need some change ...
after 3pm in the FolieDouce (Val) and anytime on the Grand Motte (tignes) - & maybe elsewhere.
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Val D is the only resort I've been to where I got charged to use the toilet on the mountain.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Jagerbull wrote: |
| Val D is the only resort I've been to where I got charged to use the toilet on the mountain. |
Not just that but in the restaurant where you are eating as well. (Though it was Tignes to be precise)
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
Every card transaction costs the proprietor a fee + commission. Some are on old, expensive contracts that they can't afford to buy out of, hence the minimum spend limits for cards.
This applies in the UK also.
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Note that many businesses would rather have card payments, as they pay a bigger percentage to bank cash than for the card transaction.
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Cash is king.
Especially because my thieving bank (Lloyds, but they are all the same I think) think so too and charge me a fortune every time I use the debit card abroad. In fact here's a weird thing, it's cheaper for me to use my business debit card abroad than my personal ones. Not sure how I can justify a ski trip to HMRC though?
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You know it makes sense.
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@gixxerniknik,
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every time I use the debit card abroad
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Why would you do that? I leave mine at home when I go abroad.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Hurtle, I'm beginning to think that's what I should do as well.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@gixxerniknik, get a chase debit card or Halifax clarity
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Took about €130 Euros cash to the Dolomites in January came back with about €90. Anything over a couple of Euros was paid for using Revolut on my phone, most places just assumed and you were paying on card and automatically brought the machine over.
Only pain point was motorway tolls as you have to stick a card in the machine so end up paying some fees on those transactions.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I carry cash as a lot of the small huts, restaurants, and bars prefer the 'less' traceable payment. Always nicer I think to tip in cash...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
Only pain point was motorway tolls as you have to stick a card in the machine so end up paying some fees on those transactions.
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All the toll booths in France are now RFID enabled
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@JonA, There’s free loos at the top of the GM in Tignes, bear left off Vanoise, they are just on the left, as ever a bit of a black run down the stairs.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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My Halifax credit card was inexplicably rejected yesterday at Cascades above Le Fornet so I was glad to be able to pay in euros. It had been a long queue and I didn't want to waste time.
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Do the "mesdames pipi" at the Belgian motorway service stations now accept contactless?
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@pam w, dunno about Belgium and what's special about those ones, but Sanef takes contactless
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@holidayloverxx, Belgian service stations have turnstile entry to the loos. Some take contactless but some still require change, and all the machines are unreliable meaning you may sometimes have to climb over (or crawl under) the barrier. They give you a ticket that in theory allows you to get the money back as credit on a purchase - but with complicated restrictions which means we have a glove compartment full of them.
There aren't that many service stations anywhere that are pleasurable to use, and certainly none in Belgium that we have found.
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Didn't use any cash in the 3V on our last trip or Mayrhofen last year
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We used cash and cards in Austria recently, the card machines just seem reluctant to work sometimes. I find it easiest to use cash for coffees etc. My Fairfx card wouldn’t work in one cafe but debit card did. OH has a card from our CA account and that seemed to be accepted everywhere. I think I used coins for the loos in Belgium and Germany. I had a purse full of the vouchers from previous journeys and bought some mints. They were all accepted by the cashier bar one which looked to me to be exactly the same as the others.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| j b wrote: |
@holidayloverxx, Belgian service stations have turnstile entry to the loos. Some take contactless but some still require change, and all the machines are unreliable meaning you may sometimes have to climb over (or crawl under) the barrier. They give you a ticket that in theory allows you to get the money back as credit on a purchase - but with complicated restrictions which means we have a glove compartment full of them.
There aren't that many service stations anywhere that are pleasurable to use, and certainly none in Belgium that we have found. |
Same in France, Germany, Austria...run by sanef....it just sounded thst Belgium must be different. The ticket price has gone up but you can use the whole value of the voucher against a purchase instead if just 50c. I've never found any complicated restrictions...one voucher per item is easy enough
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I was in Canada skiing this time last year and Euros weren't accepted anywhere. Bloody Foreigners.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
it just sounded thst Belgium must be different
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When I was last in Belgium (a few years ago, admittedly) the loos were "free". Indeed there were big signs on the wall saying that they were free, under which would be a small table, a chair and a fierce-looking vrouw with a home-made sign saying the charge was 40 cents, or whatever. My Belgian friend told me this was "Madame Pipi" and that a kind of informal "franchise" system existed whereby these women would sort out who was entitled to demand money with menaces where. It was disconcerting, and easier to pay up the 40 cents, than run the gauntlet.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Yeah, she probably takes contactless
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Jehu wrote: |
| My Halifax credit card was inexplicably rejected yesterday at Cascades above Le Fornet so I was glad to be able to pay in euros. It had been a long queue and I didn't want to waste time. |
They're getting wise to the Yorkshire mafia in the Espace Killy.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@dunc999, gosh, I didn't even know one could do this.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Yeah, she probably takes contactless |
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Snowmadmum wrote: |
| As with others: card by default and then some cash as backup and tips. Good tip on the Halifax card thank you @Bergmeister, and @Skimum1, |
I used to only use Halifax but no more.
Wise card allllllll the way… no cash withdrawal fees in euros dollars yen, comparable XC rates …. super simple to top up from bank account
Time to move on
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@Super Steezy, Chase if the future - same as Wise, 1% cashback and 1% interest on debit balance coming
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I still have a French bank account so use a French debit card. But it sometimes doesn't work, even in Franceland. I also have UK credit cards, and cash. Belt and braces..... like I always print out boarding passes too. Easier to slip it out of back jeans pocket than opening up phone.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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im an old stick in the mud who for lower £ items prefer to use cash either in a bar,cafe, for lunch, or day to day expenditure etc especially whilst away . Its a simple and easy way to control the budget .If your pocket is empty or getting that way its time to go home means no card bill or hole in the bank account next month , or at least makes one think before flashing the card .
Interestingly during covid one of our local supermarkets went card only it took it about a fortnight to notice the downturn in receipts and footfall soon returned to accepting cash,a couple of the local cafes now closed insisted on card only .I try to save up a wodge of cash prior to going away then change a larger amount to get the higher exchange rates which can be as good or better than card transactions as another albeit small benefit
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@ski for fun, changing cash will never give as good a rate as a chase debit card
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FAQ
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