What a difference two years makes

[walkitout]

When I was planning a trip to visit family in 2013, I was frustrated by the lack of compatibility between usage of credit cards here (as yet universally magnetic swipe only) and there (universally chip cards, and mostly chip and pin). I was also frustrated by a relentless assumption on websites for lodging and house rentals that if you wanted English, you were coming from the UK -- and all the payment assumptions embedded along with that.

Not any more!

Over the last few months, as cards expire and are replaced, I'm seeing chips. And when I went to make reservations to the next trip to visit the same branch of the family, PayPal or similar was almost universally available.