Addendum

If you make a few charges, however meager, to a Capital One credit card while overseas, your account will be frozen automatically in case your number was stolen. This practice seems more protective of the company than of the cardholder. My parents even called Capital One to warn them of our vacation, but they lost the use of their cards halfway thru it. Fortunately, our hotel had some Net access, so they regained the use before leaving. In the interim, they borrowed the cards of me and my sister.

That wasn't our only card problem. Visa may be everywhere you want to be, but American cards of a certain style do not work on certain European machines. We couldn't get gas at the first station we stopped, which had no personnel, and Dad was worried we'd run out.

He made sure to stock up on cash euros as soon as he found a working ATM. (The first one was out of change.)