Germany

Yawn. Close mouth, hold nose, blow. Yawn again.

There are a lot of stores that only accept debit cards(no credit cards), but they will only accept chip & pin debit cards. Any store that accepts credit cards, should also be able to accept US magnetic strip debit cards provided you have the MasterCard/Visa symbol on the card.

Janina, may I piggyback on your ear-popping question? I sometimes experience strong pain in one or both ears during descent and landing. No head cold, ear infection, or other problem I'm aware of. Does anyone else experience this and know what causes it? I've tried to correlate it to some particular circumstance, but it happens randomly and I never know in advance when it will. Is it related to cabin pressure?

I've never had an issue using a credit card in Germany or anywhere in Europe for that matter. If it's a pure debit/ATM card where you have to enter in your pin number and it doesn't work as a credit card as well like most bank cards I'm not sure about them. If it has a Visa or MasterCard logo on the card, that means you can use it as a credit card (not entering your pin number) and every place will accept that. I would suggest using a credit card not affiliated with your bank account or tied to it. That way if something goes wrong, your actual money won't be affected.

Hi Janina and Rose. My wife has similar problem with ear pain when descending. There is a product called Earplanes that are inexpensive earplugs for this problem; she has found that they help. Give them a try. Enjoy your trips!

Hello! We just got back from Germany. We really didn't have a hard time using our credit/debit card. There was only one time where the hotel's credit card reader was on the fritz (Thank goodness we had enough cash on hand). Also, know that everytime that you swipe your card, there are fees added onto the transaction. So we just got money out of the ATM and used cash most of the time. Although if you have a pure credit card, ie one not tied to your bank account, I would not use it to get money out of the ATM. I believe interest starts accrewing (sp?) as soon as you do and sometimes at a higher rate. Just my two cents...;) As for take off and landing, I chew gum and it helps.

Hello! We just got back from Germany. We really didn't have a hard time using our credit/debit card. There was only one time where the hotel's credit card reader was on the fritz (Thank goodness we had enough cash on hand). Also, know that everytime that you swipe your card, there are fees added onto the transaction. So we just got money out of the ATM and used cash most of the time. Although if you have a pure credit card, ie one not tied to your bank account, I would not use it to get money out of the ATM. I believe interest starts accrewing (sp?) as soon as you do and sometimes at a higher rate. Just my two cents...;) As for take off and landing, I chew gum and it helps.

Second Earplanes- put them in an hour before you land and don't take them out until you are in the terminal. Works great!!!

In Germany most stores do not accept credit cards, even big stores like Ikea.

In the last post, I would change "most" to "some". Ikea in Germany does not accept Visa or Mastercard, but they accept other cards, I think Eurocard, and one or two others (or these might be debit cards). But really, who travels to Europe to buy stuff at Ikea? Mediamarkt in Germany also does not accept credit cards, but once again, what tourist will want to buy TV or European region Blueray disc on vacation? Of the major grocery store chains, I can confirm that at least Rewe, Real, and Edeka accept credit cards, although I can't verify they will take a magnetic-strip only card. And any business that wants a tourist's money will take Visa and Mastercard.

Eurocard and Mastercard are one in the same. MC owns it.