Lucky Dave

Subarctic, thanks for the opportunity to clarify: my bank rep said "Do not let them tell you must use a PIN." That is what I meant by the vendor "asking" for the PIN. (Vendor: hotels, shops, restaurants, or anyone else whom you might pay for services with a credit card.)

Yep, that sounds logical: with Chase, the cash advance transaction on the statement apparently occurs when using a PIN, not just when using the card. So no use of a PIN=no cash advance on statement.

This was probably covered above but just in case: I use a certain card for travel due to no charges for international purchases. Just got the new one with a chip, so this will be 1st time using it. Never used for cash advance/ATM, so I called my bank about a PIN. They strongly (STRONGLY) discouraged giving the vendor a PIN. Bank told me it would show up on my statement as a cash advance. They said to tell the vendor to just hit "enter" on the register and sign instead.

Carol & Jim-- We have been in northern Europe in May and in Scandanavia in June, July & August. Because *everybody* in Europe goes on vacation in the latter part of July & the month of August, everything will be that much more crowded during late summer. We fly on May 25th this time & expect it will be a little cooler but the museums, etc. will be a lot less crowded & hectic.