Gregory Mulholland

I am cursed when it comes to traveling and using my debit card. Let me give you a few examples of some major trips where I have had trouble with this:

Paris and the rest of Europe
When I studied in Spain over the summer of 2003, I was planning to meet Win in Paris afterward. On the day I was supposed to leave, I packed my bags and went to the airport. There, I planned to get some Euros and top up my cell phone SIM card using the ATM. When I put my card in the airport ATM, the system locked up and wouldn’t respond to any buttons. To make matters worse, it was Sunday in Spain. Good luck getting anything done then. For the next 2 weeks and all of my travels, I was lost without my card.

Seville and Granada
This year, on the weekend before Kelly and I went to Seville and Granada, we went to London with Will and Jackie. I’m still not quite sure how it happened, but when I returned to Cambridge after that mini-trip I didn’t have my debit card any more. Of course I cancelled it right away, and within 10 days I had a new one. It did not come, however, before we left for Spain. I was stuck using my US card and paying the extra charges. Luckily, it was only for 2 days.

Prague
Yesterday, before we left for Prague, I tried (once again) to top up my cell phone. This time I was doing it online. I kept getting an error every time I tried to do it. I figured that since I had used my card the day before, the website must be at fault. I was wrong. On the way to the bus station, I stopped at an ATM to get some cash. Lo and behold, my card was rejected again. Luckily, at that ATM, I happened to be standing in front of a Barclay’s. I went in and, sensing my worry, one of the tellers told me that my account had been flagged (I guess because I had just booked a trip using my card) and that they just wanted to verify that all the charges on the account were genuine. After checking, I assured them that everything was fine. She then put me on the phone with customer service to get the safeguard removed. This, mind you, all started less than 45 minutes before we were supposed to be on the bus to Luton Airport. Finally, I was able to get it cleared up and even thought ahead enough to tell them that I would be in Prague and not to cut me off over the weekend.

I really enjoy traveling, but it seems that every time I go somewhere, something happens. Hopefully I can thwart that next time.