Clojurians Log v2

Ah yes Visa and Mastercard are well supported but somehow banks in NL always choose stuff that doesn’t work overseas

I’ve also seen visa not being accepted in a big chain supermarket here

Interesting - guess I was lucky when I was in Amsterdam for Dutch Clojure days 😄 I still have grocery bags from that visit - at the time I couldn't find anything in Norway I liked.

I have to go to a clojure converence. Never been at one. But at least I have sumitted 2 talks to the Macroexpand 2025.

One bit of advice is to notify your bank that you’re going to the US so that their fraud monitoring system doesn’t decline your transactions.

In Belgium at least I’ve noticed my new maestro debit cards are also in the Mastercard network. Don’t know if nl banks are also doing that. Worth checking the logos on the card in case it slipped by

I would recommend Visa or MasterCard for the USA. AmEx would be my second choice - not accepted everywhere but much wider than it used to be. I would never use a debit card here, to be honest. Way too much risk of fraud. Chip-enabled cards are finally a widespread thing here - touch to pay. You might do okay with Apple / Google Pay but don't rely on those - they can be flaky here.

Trying to use chip-less USA cards in Europe in the past was a giant pain, so I'm glad we've caught up there:grin:

I've discovered through my last (and first!) visit that Apple Pay only works for those cards that normally would work when you would physically pay with them, since they go through the same system (VPay, Visa, Mastercard) etc

If I hadn't brought my credit card I probably would have had to borrow some money from people at the conf 😆

and luckily I did have some Lyft credits so I could at least go to the conf from the airport

When I first came to the US on business -- 1990 I think -- I didn't even own any credit cards and I had to get a Visa and a MasterCard because the UK banks wouldn't give me a decent credit limit on a single card. A lot of US businesses won't accept "large bills" (rarely accepting $100 and sometimes not accepting $50) which made traveling with cash a PITA too. It's only in the last few years that US cards have added chips and gone to touchless payment. Something that freaks Europeans out: when you get your check (bill) in a restaurant, they usually take your credit card away for processing and then bring it back with a signature slip, so you can add a tip (20% is typical). Europeans are generally used to their cards being run at the table on a portable card reader 🙂

At least you'll be better prepared this time 🙂

> Something that freaks Europeans out yes indeed 😅

I'm considering taking a second credit card since the other one has my wife's name, since we changed banks and my business account wouldn't give me a credit card since I was just starting out

and them I'm fully redundant, having 2 credits cards which are also activated on my phone and spare phone via Apple Pay

and I've also got 50 dollars cash now (my wife wanted me to bring this last time, she had it from a trip in 2007, but I forgot)

When I travel, I always take some cash in the currency of the country I'm going to with me. Not too much, but enough to cover 2-3 days.

suppose you want to take an Uber/Lyft, can you do this with cash? I guess you could just call a cab the old fashioned way

(I'm thinking through all possible horror scenarios)

E.g. to pay the taxi or bus from the airport to the hotel and to get some food.

Call a cab? Hahaha... no, Uber/Lyft have pretty much killed those off everywhere...

when you walk outside the airport, are there no taxis waiting for people to just hop in?

I compared uber in my local city here with a normal cab I usually take and price-wise it was the same

Some places, yes, but not everywhere any more.

I won't use Uber. I use Lyft, grudgingly. Taxis are much less reliable these days.

last time in US I only used Lyft (STL was kind enough to give me some credits to get around). Is that somehow more ethically sound?

I've actually never used Uber (or rather, paid for an Uber ride myself)

I haven't used public transit a lot recently, but most places seem to have some sort of travelcard or ticket you buy with a credit card, and use that at the fare gates or on the bus...

Lyft is more ethically sound than Uber, yes.

(I mean, all things are relative with Tech Bro companies 😞 )

Where I lived in the Bay Area, California, the taxi service had pretty much died out due to Lyft/Uber. BART (train service) had switched to apps and travelcards (and you can only get the latter at certain stations -- so apps were just easier to use). I don't know about buses and whether they still accepted cash. When we were last in the UK, we were surprised that the airport/hotel shuttles had all switched to touchless credit card payments in the bus itself -- they stopped offering actual tickets from machines at the hotels.

I go months here with no cash at all in my wallet and I can't remember the last time I actually paid for anything with cash...

It seems at Charlotte airport there is a bus going pretty much directly to the hotel: https://www.charlottenc.gov/CATS/Ride/Bus/Airport-Routes 30 minutes ride. Only $2.20. Do you reckon that is safe to take around 21pm...?

yeah, I don't have any cash on my most of the time. except to donate to homeless persons and now and then

Dunno. I'll take Lyft when I get there.

I think Clojure/West in Seattle was the last time I took a bus to/from the airport?

In Alexandria, I took the train -- because DC has a great train/subway system.

I'll probably also take a Lyft. With some luck I'll run into some other Clojure folks at the airport

When do you arrive? 9 pm on Tuesday or Wednesday?

(just realized, I won't take Lyft because I plan to drive now that I live near the East Coast... dang, I still can't get used to that concept!)

Touch ground at 19:43, but exit gate etc, I expect to be there around 20:30 on Tuesday. But you never know with delays and stuff. Last time I had a pretty big delay

I'd offer to pick you up but I don't plan to arrive until Wednesday afternoon. It's about an 8-hour drive I think.

that's very kind of you! :)

last time I had a layover in Toronto. When I was halfway Toronto - St. Louis the plane decided to go back to Toronto again

Oops!

I flew in a loop to STL 🥁

I live about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Toronto now.

Ohio?

Yup, near Youngstown. N.E. Ohio.

We've been here nearly five months and I still can't used to being on Eastern Time 😄

lucky for me conj is Eastern Time

I remember sleeping just 4 hours the first night in STL, the next night maybe 6

Did you sleep on the plane?

The way there it's just daytime for me, so no

The way back I hardly slept, very lightly now and then

I remember someone I was with bought those benzo sleeping pills that are not over the counter in Europe and she slept very well ;P

no I'm mixing it up with something else, but it was some kind of sleeping pill you can only get on prescription in my country

Hmm, my advice -- from when I used to do a lot of transatlantic flights -- is do not sleep traveling West and stay up until your normal bedtime when you arrive, to be tired at "bedtime". When traveling East, try to sleep on the plane as much as possible. Going West is generally easier than going East.

yeah, that's pretty much what I did too. I arrived at 10pm in STL (and this was 5am my local time) and then went to bed at 12 or so after meeting with some people

but I woke up at 4am local time again :)

Sorry... I guess you just need to travel a lot more to develop a habit! 😄 😄

Perhaps the medicine was just some strong antihistamine like Benadryl or so. Which tends to make you sleepy

hehe I guess so :)

Oh, that reminds me... I need to check whether THC gummies are legal in NC, since that's what I take to sleep...

Ugh! No, NC is pretty strict. My sleep gummies would be illegal there and even my CBD-only softgels (for my IBS) are not really legal 😞

I will have to take plenty of anti-histamine.

That's a shame when your sleeping routine is disrupted... I don't remember if I wore a mask last time, but it was the first time I got COVID. I'll probably bring some masks... do people find it weird if you wear one on a plane in the US...?

(I probably just caught by hugging lots of people though)

Some people wear masks flying. Most don't. Right now we're having a COVID surge. Jay has COVID -- we think she caught it in California (but maybe here before she went out there). I'm sick but tested negative yesterday (she was positive).

Definitely worth bringing a couple of masks although, frankly, air circulation and filtration on the plane means you're probably less likely to get it that way than just being around 400 Clojurians all day for 2-3 days...

On the plane from Toronto to STL on the other side of the isle was an old man that had a terrible terrible cold. I hoped the flight would be over soon but then we went back to Toronto. Then on the second plane the situation was the same 😅 I wouldn’t be surprised if I got it from that person

Aisle

btw @seancorfield why do you consider a debitcard unsafer than a creditcard? because creditcards usually insure against fraud or so?

Because if fraud hits your debit card, they can empty your bank account. If fraud hits your credit card, it's easier to challenge without having lost any money.

debitcards are usually limited to x amount per day, configurable (like 500-5000 or so)

and they have pin codes, so if you lose one they still can't just use it (with a creditcard you can)

do Americans usually use a creditcard for groceries, daily stuff, etc?

Credit cards for pretty much everything.

Even if it's like, just a dollar.

I tested paying with credit card on my spare phone today, it worked. It hasn't got a sim card, wifi not enabled. Worked perfectly.

I mean at a shop

via Apple pay

Maybe your European debit card (and your bank) has more protections than ours (likely)...

I used a debit card all the time in England, back in the day.

Never scrunch always fold

🧻