I have no actual money on me. I was going to withdraw some in the US and convert here, but I forgot to do that. I did let my credit card company know I would be here, and planned to use my phone to pay everywhere that I could. Not having any experience with retailers here, I am assuming they all take credit cards, but even where we live there are some retailers that do not.
At the Chinese food place there was a lady in front of me paying. She tapped her card to the machine to pay. Do we even have that in the US? First time I’ve seen that.
My turn! Tried tap to pay with phone. Fail. Tried making the phone trick the swipe reader (Samsung Pay). Swipe failure! Huh, that usually works at home.
My actual credit card worked via the chip reader slot, but I felt so antiquated after watching the lady just tap her card and then looking like I do not know how to use a cellular phone.
I was redeemed at 7-11 though, where tapping my phone worked just fine.
Aging Skater 
Wow, I did not realize that 7-11 was global! You know I would be laughing at your “incompetence” with the card reader. I laughed reading about it.
Hope you are having a blast!
ED
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I’m enjoying all the play by play. Keep it up!
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Bold move, traveling sans A$
And what about the Cockney English over there? Our first transaction was to buy more memory cards for our *actual* camera (dating our trip, I know). The clerk was doing a whole lot of talking … and I understood not a word!. Suddenly felt like I was in a foreign country … so I started listening to Aussie talk show radio in order to inoculate my ears!
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