The Mighty Quynh

I’m back from visiting Edinburgh and Milan. A big thanks to Ami, Bree, and Colin (ABC!) for being awesome folks and making the Edinburgh trip extra fun, and an especially big thanks to Ami for allowing Rich and I the use of her room in her flat. I definitely appreciated having a local to guide us to the good (and inexpensive) spots.

I wanted to use this trip to put my JP Morgan Select Visa card to the test (see my previous entry on this). It’s a chip and signature card, but I set up a PIN with a customer service rep when I activated my card, so I wanted to try it out in a variety of settings. At most cashiers the card machine would print out a receipt that I had to sign, which is pretty much like a normal swipe card (and all cashiers who took credit cards accepted swipe cards anyway). The real test was at a metro kiosk in Milan where no swipe option was available (Rich tried his non-chipped card and it didn’t work). I stuck my card in the slow-ass machine and then had to enter the PIN and… Success! Whoo hoo!! All in all, I’m quite satisfied with the card.

Seeing the credit card statement after this trip, however, is another story.

P.S. I cancelled my Amex Gold card after I received the JPM one. For a card that heavily markets itself to travelers, I find it unacceptable that Amex has no plans to introduce a chip and pin version at this time (I asked), especially given the $175 fee. I will say the customer service was pretty good. They did offer me some money off of the annual fee to stay and didn’t hassle me further when I declined. Pretty painless process overall. I definitely wanted them to know I was leaving because of the chip issue though.