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Planning a cashless trip to Scandinavia & SL (Stockholm transportation app)

My husband and I have put our credit & debit cards in Apple Pay, which we had not used in the past but after reading about how Scandinavian countries (We will be in Helsinki & Tallinn briefly as well) are almost cashless transactions everywhere, we would like to be on board with that rather than having to worry about 4 different currencies. I used Apple Pay yesterday at a drug store where I live in NM yesterday just to try it out and I don't know why I waited so long. But in spite of feeling pretty good about having everything set up, I still feel a little strange not having any currency except 25 euros from our last trip in 2019 to France. If any of the community has any advice or experience to share positive or negative, I would appreciate hearing it.
Also, I have watched some Youtube videos and explored the SL website since we would like to get a 72 hr. transportation pass when we arrive by ferry to Stockholm. We have the app on our phones and I set up our credit card info as well as chose that we are senior citizens on the website, which is what the video said you need to do at least 24 hours before you are going to purchase any transit ticket when in Stockholm. What we hope to do is purchase the 72 hour pass on the app before leaving Helsinki or on the overnight ferry to Stockholm so we have the QR code in the app ready to go and we can start using it upon arrival to get transportation to our hotel from the ferry terminal and there on. I have heard the app has had issues as far as transaction going through. Any advice or experiences related to that? Thank you

Posted by
486 posts

You might see if the app allows you to put your credit info and store it in advance before you leave. On our trip to Norway this summer I had no problem using apps I had done that in advance from home. But a couple times when wanted to put on a new app and store my credit card while I was there it wouldn’t authorize. I wondered if that was the difference.

Posted by
16272 posts

I've spent lots of time in the Scandinavian and Nordic countries. Never used cash. In fact, many places didn't even accept it.

Posted by
231 posts

Thanks to both of you. Laurie Ann, I explored the SL app just now and I did find a section where I could put in my credit card info so now it should be seamless when we are ready to purchase the transportation pass. I had not scrolled down far enough in the "more" section. I also found where I could put my email to have receipts automatically sent to me. So thanks for the prompt!