Around the World or Across the Street (TM)

Travel Alerts

LongLogo

You can use Visa in Myanmar

Myanmar Oriental Bank has established the first Visa point-of-sale system in the emerging Asian country. Local shops and banks – if they have the technology – can now take Visa credit, debit, and prepaid cards for purchases. In addition, the country has established a nationwide ATM network that just went active at the end of 2012. There are now a little over 100 ATMs across Myanmar. Remember, however, that most of the country isn’t on the grid, so be prepared to pay cash. Your dollars, even the ones you use to exchange for local currency, must be clean, crisp, and “new” bills. http://corporate.visa.com

Is your airport friendly or rude?
Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris France

Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris France. Credit: CDG

Travel website Skyscanner surveyed frequent travelers, asking them to rate European airports based on the friendliness of the staff. Paris Charles de Gaulle, with more than 60 million passengers in and out annually, was rated the rudest. Copenhagen Airport, with 22.7 million passengers last year, was ranked Europe’s friendliest. The airports were rated on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the friendliest.

In all of the airports, staff at shops, restaurants and security gates were the friendliest, while airline check-in staff rated at the bottom of the list. Here are the results of the top and bottom five airports:

Five Rudest European Airports:

  1. Paris CDG 4.86
  2. Domodedovo Airport, Moscow, Russia 5.03
  3. Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey 5.91
  4. London-Heathrow 5.94
  5. Madrid Airport Barajas, Spain 6.01
Five Friendliest European Airports:

Don’t rely on cash when you travel to Sweden

According to a new report from the Bank for International Settlements, Sweden uses very little cash for transactions, relying instead on electronic payments (credit cards, debit cards and bank transfers).

Only about 3% of the Swedish economy is tied to cash transactions. By comparison, 9% of transactions in the Eurozone are cash and 7% of transactions in the US are cash.

Travelers are advised that they may find businesses throughout Sweden that no longer accept cash. One notable example is the public bus system. All public buses require prepaid tickets and they do not accept cash on board.