In addition to all the packing and preparations I have to make before my journey starts in January 2003 I have also been planning a trip to experience Carnaval in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and other parts of South America in late Feb. - March 2003 with some friends. I inserted a 6-week trip to South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay) to break up the US/Canada travel, as well as to use up some United Airlines miles and to take advantage of favorable currency rates. Originally South America was the last continent on my route plan - but nothing like the forces of economics to mix things up.
I faxed in my hotel reservation for Rio yesterday (Need to do it early for Carnaval). The hotel rep kindly informed that I faxed him information on my Mastercard, not VISA as indicated on the form. My mistake. In all of the places I've used credit cards save one, Mastercard and VISA are from a usage standpoint, the same. Apparently it makes a difference down there. The little details! I remember visiting an ATM in a smaller town in Costa Rica which accepted only VISA Plus linked ATM cards. Aie. Fortunately there was one that accepted Mastercard after further prowling around town. I now am armed with 4 different credit cards to go travelling with. Diner's Club (62 day billing cycle before interest - useful when you can't always access the Internet or a phone - or having too much fun to think about bills!), American Express (For their customer service network and offices around the globe in case of trouble), and now both Mastercard and VISA.
Speaking about money -- I received a $150 rebate check recently from Simon & Schuster, publishers of the Pimsleur language learning series I mentioned earlier. If you want more information about how to get the 1st Level of one of their languages for a significantly reduced cost after rebate visit Language Lovers. The web retailers Big Red Garage and Plurality Language also have good prices and customer service on Pimsleur audio courses.
I faxed in my hotel reservation for Rio yesterday (Need to do it early for Carnaval). The hotel rep kindly informed that I faxed him information on my Mastercard, not VISA as indicated on the form. My mistake. In all of the places I've used credit cards save one, Mastercard and VISA are from a usage standpoint, the same. Apparently it makes a difference down there. The little details! I remember visiting an ATM in a smaller town in Costa Rica which accepted only VISA Plus linked ATM cards. Aie. Fortunately there was one that accepted Mastercard after further prowling around town. I now am armed with 4 different credit cards to go travelling with. Diner's Club (62 day billing cycle before interest - useful when you can't always access the Internet or a phone - or having too much fun to think about bills!), American Express (For their customer service network and offices around the globe in case of trouble), and now both Mastercard and VISA.
Speaking about money -- I received a $150 rebate check recently from Simon & Schuster, publishers of the Pimsleur language learning series I mentioned earlier. If you want more information about how to get the 1st Level of one of their languages for a significantly reduced cost after rebate visit Language Lovers. The web retailers Big Red Garage and Plurality Language also have good prices and customer service on Pimsleur audio courses.
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