# Denmark



## swift (Jan 30, 2010)

Over spring break my daughter (18) will be going to Denmark to visit a friend. My first worry is that they will be taking the train from the airport into town. She will have to pay for her own train ticket. I have heard that using ATM's can be difficult there because they do not have all of the symbols that we have. Worried mom here. Any suggestions.


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## Keitht (Jan 30, 2010)

English is very widely spoken in the Scandinavian countries so she should be able to find people to help if she does have problems.  I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say they don't have all the symbols?  Can you clarify?


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## swift (Jan 30, 2010)

The symbols on the back of the ATM cards saying if they except that particular card or not. Example - The credit union card I have uses the Plus System, CU, CO-OP, and Star.


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## Keitht (Jan 31, 2010)

Thanks for the clarification.  I'm afraid I can't directly answer the question of whether her debit card will work, but can say that all my debit cards carry the VISA logo and are accepted throughout Europe.
I'm not familiar with any of the symbols you refer to.


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## Conan (Jan 31, 2010)

The only possible issue I'm aware of with ATMs in Europe is that the pin number may be required to have four digits.  If hers doesn't she might look into getting a new pin number before she goes.


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## mikeemis (Jan 31, 2010)

The various banks atm's will show the icons of the cards accepted - pulse, cirrus or plus ect.


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## Laurie (Jan 31, 2010)

FWIW, we could not use our CapitalOne Visa credit card in Denmark about 4 or 5 years ago (though it had no problems in the other European country we'd been travelling in the week before, Italy) - it required a PIN that we didn't have. 

But we could use our debit card to get cash everywhere we tried. There weren't any unusual symbols.


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## Carol C (Jan 31, 2010)

Laurie said:


> FWIW, we could not use our CapitalOne Visa credit card in Denmark about 4 or 5 years ago (though it had no problems in the other European country we'd been travelling in the week before, Italy) - it required a PIN that we didn't have.
> 
> But we could use our debit card to get cash everywhere we tried. There weren't any unusual symbols.



Some states in the SE USA feel like Denmark in winter. Would you agree, Laurie?


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## Carolinian (Jan 31, 2010)

Laurie said:


> FWIW, we could not use our CapitalOne Visa credit card in Denmark about 4 or 5 years ago (though it had no problems in the other European country we'd been travelling in the week before, Italy) - it required a PIN that we didn't have.
> 
> But we could use our debit card to get cash everywhere we tried. There weren't any unusual symbols.



Many western European countries are now requiring a PIN to use a credit card, something that most US-issued credit cards do not have.  I do not know of an eastern European country with such a requirement, however.

US banks will give you a PIN for your credit card if you ask them, and it is something anyone travelling to Europe should do.


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## Laurie (Jan 31, 2010)

Carol C said:


> Some states in the SE USA feel like Denmark in winter. Would you agree, Laurie?


No kidding! But, at least we have sunlight  - Denmark had about 20 hours of daylight in the summer, so it must be opposite in the winter!


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## swift (Feb 1, 2010)

Thanks everyone. She does have a pin and the Visa symbol so hopefully she will be fine. Someone told us that she should open an account at Bank of America just for this trip that they have more international access than small credit unions.


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## Carolinian (Feb 1, 2010)

swift said:


> Thanks everyone. She does have a pin and the Visa symbol so hopefully she will be fine. Someone told us that she should open an account at Bank of America just for this trip that they have more international access than small credit unions.



B of A will also charge a 3% foreign usage charge on each transaction vs probably 1% or 0% at a CU.  Capital One accounts are 0%.  

I use debit cards from two CU's in Europe and have never had a problem other than that one of them has Romania on a black list and you have to specifically tell them you will be using it there so transactions will go through.  The credit card I use in Europe is Capital One, and I have considered opening an online bank account with them to get one of their debit cards, too.  My CU's both have 1% charges and Cap One is 0% on either credit or debit cards.


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## GordonH (Feb 1, 2010)

*Denmark in Winter*

Laurie:

I spent about 10 days in Copenhagen in January of 1956, and don't recall a shortage of daylight.  I remember it as about what we have in Boston at this time of year.  Maybe way up in the northern part of Denmark it's true.


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## Laurie (Feb 1, 2010)

GordonH said:


> Laurie:
> 
> I spent about 10 days in Copenhagen in January of 1956, and don't recall a shortage of daylight.  I remember it as about what we have in Boston at this time of year.  Maybe way up in the northern part of Denmark it's true.


Are you sure?  Checking latitude on a globe, Boston looks to be about midway between Florida and Copenhagen... 

Our visit to a timeshare near Copenhagen was over summer solstice, when it was still somewhat light at midnight, and got light again before 4 am. I absolutely loved it - sometime in the future I'd like to jump up further north another 10 degrees over summer solstice! But I think I'd get S.A.D.    if I were there during the winter.


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## Patty (Feb 1, 2010)

We spent a week in Sweden and a week in Denmark after a cruise.  We had problems using  a credit card in Denmark because the cards there have an embedded chip with a code that US issued cards do not have.  Some grocery stores were able to override and accept our card, but some were not able.


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## GordonH (Feb 1, 2010)

Laurie:

I'm positive.


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## Pompey Family (Feb 4, 2010)

Laurie said:


> Are you sure?  Checking latitude on a globe, Boston looks to be about midway between Florida and Copenhagen...
> 
> Our visit to a timeshare near Copenhagen was over summer solstice, when it was still somewhat light at midnight, and got light again before 4 am. I absolutely loved it - sometime in the future I'd like to jump up further north another 10 degrees over summer solstice! But I think I'd get S.A.D.    if I were there during the winter.



The sunrise and sunset times in southern England during the summer solstice are not too disimilar to that of Copenhagen.  Dark at around 23:00 and dawn at 04:00.  In the depths of winter, dark at 16:00 and light at 08:00.

The further north you go in Scandinavia the more you experience almost 24 hr daylight in mid summer and the equal amount of darkness in the winter.


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## Keitht (Feb 4, 2010)

To bring the discussion about daylight hours in Denmark to a close take a look at the Sunrise/sunset calculator.


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## swift (Feb 8, 2010)

Keitht said:


> To bring the discussion about daylight hours in Denmark to a close take a look at the Sunrise/sunset calculator.




It is only about an hour more than San Francisco for that same time period.


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## Laurie (Feb 8, 2010)

Thanks Keith, that's a great tool! (I love to go north for summer solstice, that's partly why we exchanged into Denmark over that date, and I'm bookmarking this website.)

For the curious who don't want to take the time to look up, here are sunrise and sunsets on or almost on the solstices for locations mentioned, plus a few, followed by total # hrs of light or dark. (Except for some reason, in summer it feels light for awhile after the sun sets, and in the winter, it feels dark before the sun goes down - to me.)

Glasgow:

Jun 21, 2010  4:31 AM 10:06 PM -  17h 35m 16s 
Dec 21, 2010  8:46 AM  3:44 PM  - 6h 58m 39s 

Copenhagen:

Jun 21, 2010  4:25 AM  9:58 PM  - 17h 32m 59s 
Dec 21, 2010  8:37 AM  3:38 PM  - 7h 00m 40s 

London:

Jun 21, 2010   4:43 AM  9:21 PM  - 16h 38m 22s 
Dec 21, 2010   8:04 AM  3:53 PM  - 7h 49m 43s 

Boston:

Jun 21, 2010   5:08 AM  8:25 PM  - 15h 16m 50s 
Dec 21, 2010  7:10 AM  4:15 PM  - 9h 04m 49s  

San Francisco:

Jun 21, 2010  5:48 AM  8:35 PM  - 14h 46m 54s
Dec 21, 2010  7:21 AM  4:54 PM  - 9h 32m 53s

Raleigh NC:

Jun 21, 2010  5:59 AM  8:34 PM  - 14h 35m 14s 
Dec 21, 2010   7:21 AM  5:05 PM  - 9h 43m 54s


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