Some tips when travelling in the United Kingdom.....

Having just done a British Isles cruise and spent a few days in England, here are some issues I encountered that might save others from a few problems along the way!!

 

1. We were in England about 1.5 years ago. We had some money left over from that trip that we used on this one. It turns out that England changed from 5 pound paper notes to 5 pound plastic notes in that timeframe. We could not use the paper notes in stores. We had to find a bank to exchange them.
   
2. While Northern Ireland uses British pounds, they also issue their own bills. We got 5 pound Irish notes as change in Ireland, tried to use them in Scotland and couldn't. Again...had to find a bank to replace them. This time, they weren't quite so willing (wanted us to have a bank account with the bank), although in the end, they agreed to exchange them as a 'one-off'!
   
3. Stagecoach, which ran the public buses we used in both Kirkwall and Invergordon, only accept tap credit cards. If your card doesn't allow that service you will need to pay in cash. We found that in both cities.
   

Anyone else discovered any tips that might help others travelling in this area of the world!?

Scottish notes are also plastic and the old ones can't be used in shops etc

This is great info. We already changed our old notes, but I am wondering... my credit card is not tap to pay, BUT I have my credit card set up for android pay on my phone, which IS contactless. Will that likely work? Anyone know?

If stopping at Guernsey, they have their own money if you have change from a purchase ask for £ back.

From Sept 2017 England has changed the £10 note to plastic and the £20 will be done in 2020. The round £1 coin is out as well and we use a multi sided £1 coin now.

 

Scottish banknotes have changed as well – the 3 banks, Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank all have their own banknotes and all have changed to plastic about same time as the English did, again the £20 note is still to be done. English banknotes are fine in Scotland but not the other way round so something to watch out for.

English banknotes are fine in Scotland but not the other way round so something to watch out for.

 

The Scottish notes are legal tender in England so they're fine to be used there. My husband is English and we never have any trouble

What is a tap credit card?

What is a tap credit card?

The credit card has a chip in it and you tap the machine to pay.

I live in the UK . We don't call it tap . We call it contactless. If your card has the chip on it . U can spend up to £30 with out a pin or u just place it over the credit card machine

Most shops - buses except this format of payment now

You can use it on the London underground too .

 

 

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Contactless payment is so widespread that you really don't need cash in the UK anymore.

Whenever I visit the US I am always bewildered by the fact that most places still have machines that require you to swipe the magnetic strip on your card. It's like going back in time 10 years!

 

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Most Countries have the Tap & Go, WAVE, contactless card with the exception of the USA

Contactless payment is so widespread that you really don't need cash in the UK anymore.

Whenever I visit the US I am always bewildered by the fact that most places still have machines that require you to swipe the magnetic strip on your card. It's like going back in time 10 years!

 

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The PCI requirement was for universal support of the chips in 2014 - needless to say this is not complete 4 years after the deadline.

You would think the USA would not be so far behind with there technology

 

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The Scottish notes are legal tender in England so they're fine to be used there.

 

True, but the problem comes when a shop in England doesn't recognize them as such. $2 bills are legal tender in the U.S. but are so rare that on occasion the police have been called when someone tries to pay with one. And then there's our $1 coin fiasco....

Watch the coins you receive as change for paper notes. Last month, three different shops attempted to give me one of the old one pound coins, claiming they were still good. I also received a 5 pound note in Scotland, at a shop on the Royal Mile, tucked under another 5 GBP note. That, I didn't realize until we were in New Forest and stopped for cream tea. The shop refused the note. However a travel friend was heading to Scotland in a few weeks, so I gave the note to her. Also be sure to verify any charges at the point of sale. Once I had to correct a shop that I requested they post in their country's currency, NOT convert to US$....their exchange was absurd.

 

We travel to GB twice each year, and this I the first time I have ever had any issue with receiving dated currency.

 

Download a currency conversion APP such as XE, to your phone. Out of curiosity, I used the Travelex kiosk at LHR for GBP and EUR - there was not way I would complete the transaction....significant hidden cost, not in my favor. Places such as Tesco or bank cash machines had some of the best rates.

 

Darcy

You would think the USA would not be so far behind with there technology

 

You would think so! We've been slowly progressing towards having chips in our card over the past 4-5 years. Almost everything now has a chip and almost all card readers have chip readers.

 

It was interesting being in Europe before we started the transition. There were many times where I had to show a clerk or restaurant server where the swipe slot was on their handheld device. They'd never used it before. :D

 

The slow implementation in the US was explained as the banks found it easier/cheaper to accept the fraud than pay for all new terminals at every point of sale. Crazy.

Cash, especially large bills, is fast becoming the preserve of shady deals. Drug dealers, the bloke in the pub with a dodgy sat-nav for sale and the shop selling smuggled cigarettes and booze don't take credit cards. Just about everyone else does.

 

The only cash I spend these days is wages for the guy who mows my lawn and the Chinese takeaway delivery. Cheques are almost entirely obsolete.

True, but the problem comes when a shop in England doesn't recognize them as such. $2 bills are legal tender in the U.S. but are so rare that on occasion the police have been called when someone tries to pay with one. And then there's our $1 coin fiasco....

Fiasco? That should be plural. :) Whether the quarter-sized Susan B Anthony, or the newer Sacagawea, they're entertaining to spend. Usually met with dumbfounded looks of disbelief.

Cash, especially large bills, is fast becoming the preserve of shady deals. Drug dealers, the bloke in the pub with a dodgy sat-nav for sale and the shop selling smuggled cigarettes and booze don't take credit cards. Just about everyone else does.

 

The only cash I spend these days is wages for the guy who mows my lawn and the Chinese takeaway delivery. Cheques are almost entirely obsolete.

If the UK is like the US, checques are obsolete except for the person in the grocery line ahead of you who needs to dig one out of their purse and remember how to write one. :)

 

Cash is more of an occasional convenience than necessity. I'm pretty sure I've had the same $10 bill in my wallet for the past month or two.

Watch the coins you receive as change for paper notes. Last month, three different shops attempted to give me one of the old one pound coins, claiming they were still good.

A few weeks back, I got an old 10p coin back in change. I didn't notice for quite some time, so I don't actually know whether I got it as 10p or whether someone gave it to me thinking it was a coin of bigger value. (It's not that far off the size of a £2 coin.) Either way, what I got is supposed to have been out of circulation for over 15 years. :D

You would think the USA would not be so far behind with there technology

 

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But the old hardware is paid for, still works - and the checkout folks know how to use it.

 

I think quite a bit of the delay can be attributed to the payment card service vendors [e.g. Chase's "Paymentech" service] My local supermarket had chip compatible hardware for years before the chip was enabled.

Just thought I'd mention for our foreign friends, just 'cos you have a 'chip' card, that doesn't necessarily mean its 'contactless'. To be contactless you need the 4 little ) picture on the card somewhere, like this:

 

The chip is the silver or gold square on the left.

 

 

 

Simon

A few weeks back, I got an old 10p coin back in change. I didn't notice for quite some time, so I don't actually know whether I got it as 10p or whether someone gave it to me thinking it was a coin of bigger value. (It's not that far off the size of a £2 coin.) Either way, what I got is supposed to have been out of circulation for over 15 years. :D

 

 

 

Must have been the same place I got an old 50p piece last year [emoji1]And, no, I didn’t notice either.

 

I am trying very hard to rein in my inner pedant on ‘legal tender’ and just go with the flow of incorrect common usage on this thread...

 

 

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Just thought I'd mention for our foreign friends, just 'cos you have a 'chip' card, that doesn't necessarily mean its 'contactless'. To be contactless you need the 4 little ) picture on the card somewhere, like this:

 

The chip is the silver or gold square on the left.

 

 

 

Simon

 

Much appreciated! None of my American chip cards has those ) on it. Also, our chip cards mostly are chip and signature, not "chip and pin," which is what is really needed in Europe. It took a good while for me to find an issuer of a true chip and pin card.

Much appreciated! None of my American chip cards has those ) on it. Also, our chip cards mostly are chip and signature, not "chip and pin," which is what is really needed in Europe. It took a good while for me to find an issuer of a true chip and pin card.

 

(my bold)

 

Eh, I have never been turned down with my chip and sign card. I understand that train kiosks or gas stations without attendants are different animals (that I don't use), but for a store or restaurant purchase, my chip and sign card has always been accepted.