re: Traveling to Europe

In no way shape or form would I say Europe is going away from CCs.

They use smart chips and thats about it. Almost 100% of places I visited in London, Paris and Belgium took Visa or MC.

Only issue was at a clothing store where my wifes card wouldnt swipe and she didnt have the smart chip did I have to pay in cash.

BTW there were a lot of ATMs with no fee over there (forgot the bank name) you would only get charged a fee by your bank back here. (My bank didnt charge for using an ATM overseas either)

BTW I dont recommend going with Euro Rail pass unless you are backpacking accross Europe. Its much cheaper to get individual tickets depending on how many countries you visit.

I paid 25 Euro to go from Paris to Brussels on the Thalys. Eurostar from London to Paris was higher at about 98USDpp.

Paris metro was cheap got 1 carnet(karnay) that lasted for 3 days of metro use for 12 euro. (Its a pack of 12 passes)