Credit card companies generally let you set up alerts for things like large purchases, so you can monitor for fraud. One I have set up on my Chase card is to notify me of any international charges. (This is not a promotion for Chase credit cards, but I did choose it for many traveler-friendly features including no foreign transaction fees, and no need to inform them to my travel plans which saves the hassle of having a purchase declined. Hence my interest in setting up this specific alert, so that I would catch purchases outside the US not made by me.)
When I made my first purchase in London, within seconds I received an email saying “An international charge has been posted to this account” with the details. At first I was annoyed, and thought “I need to disable that alert so I won’t get these emails all week.” But I looked at the email more closely, and realized it showed the amount of the purchase in US dollars, not in British pounds.
Hogwarts souvenir pin from Warner Brothers Studios
Now I may be a bit OCD, but with every purchase in international currency, I immediately start doing the math in my head to figure out what I paid in USD. Yes, there are apps for that, but the exchange rate the app uses is not necessarily the one the bank uses.
I immediately realized how this was a huge perk for me. I started checking for the email immediately after handing over my card, and telling the family “This wasn’t so bad, it was only $—- considering we all had appetizers and bought 2 bottles of wine!” Disclaimer: London is expensive, but being from California, it was pretty much in line with what I would have expected to pay at home. Which confirms how expensive California is!
No viist to England is complete without scones..
And a meal in a pub!
The staff at Rubens at the Palace loves celebrating all holidays, even the Fourth of July!
