Credit cards and computer chips were both invented in the US, so why is America the last country on earth to combine the two technologies?!

The chip and PIN feature was developed in the 90’s to fight credit card fraud. Since then, the world has been ditching the magnetic strip readers and replacing them with new readers, which require you to enter a PIN to make a purchase.

This has created a major dilemma for US cardholders. Since we still have the old fashioned plastic, our cards have been rendered almost useless while traveling in many areas of the world.

The most common places your card won’t work?
The good news is many stores and restaurants in foreign countries are able to process your card manually by typing in the account number into their reader. There are, however, a number of scenarios where this might not be possible:

• European rail tickets – Most train ticket kiosks will not accept magnetic strip cards. If you scroll down to the comments on my recent blog post about chip and PIN cards, you will see a rant from someone who was practically stranded at the airport in Paris because the machine would not accept his US-issued AmEx Platinum Card.

• Pay-at-the-pump gas stations – Better known as “petrol” stations in Europe, if you try and swipe your card at the pump, there’s a good chance it won’t work.

• The misinformed employee – Regardless of where you’re making a purchase, I frequently hear stories about store employees in foreign countries who are skeptical (and might outright refuse) the acceptance of magnetic strip cards. Technically speaking, that’s against the Visa and MasterCard TOS. Unfortunately, not every employee knows that!

Hawaii’s Big Island is a great place for a vacation, but it has more than just beautiful beaches. It also provides both adventurers and families with a host of exciting activities to get their hearts racing—from fun in (or on) the water, to great hikes and more.

Famous for its ecological diversity, in one long day you can roam the Big Island and witness 13 different climatic regions. From lava fields to rain forests, a simple hike can expose you to spectacular views, amazing stone-carved petroglyphs, fauna unknown anywhere else in the world, fabulous hidden beaches and waterfalls that will make you never want to leave.

For those looking for more of a thrill, venture into the water and try snorkeling or scuba diving. Some of the finest snorkeling in the world is located on the Big Island at Kealakekua Bay (the location of the Captain Cook Monument), Kahaluu Beach Park and dozens of other great spots. If you’re lucky you’ll see dolphins, turtles, stingrays or even the odd shark. Another awesome spectacle that can be experienced in Hawaii is a manta ray night dive. Tour guides place large lights on the ocean floor, and then snorkelers and scuba divers can witness huge manta rays floating through the light feeding. It’s amazing.

Man is it humid in here. You get used to it quickly, but the warm temperature at Victoria’s Butterfly Gardens is a bit of shock when you’ve just come in from the cold. Gardens Manager Kurtis Herperger tells me the first thing Butterfly Gardens employees learn is “don’t show up for work hungover.” The first thing I learn is to take off my jacket and scarf immediately. The second thing I learn is how cute a baby Poison Dart frog is. No larger than a fingernail, Herperger keeps the little guy inside an old 35mm film canister. Like many things at the Butterfly Gardens—this isn’t something you see every day.

Herperger, a man who I’m sure my mother would describe as looking like Mr. Peabody, says the frenetic kinetics of the gardens is his favourite part of the job. “Every time you do a lap you see something new.” 

Like most visitors to the gardens, I start my tour with Herperger at the emerging window. Most people go their whole lives without seeing what Herperger has seen happen thousands of times inside this case—a butterfly emerging from its pupa. 

“When the butterfly or moth emerge, they’re not a beautiful butterfly,” says Herperger, “It’s this ugly looking insect with balls of slime hanging off its shoulder. But within five minutes those balls of slime pump up into beautiful [butterfly wings].” 

Herperger guarantees you’ll see a butterfly emerge from its pupa if you visit the gardens during the first half of the day. He says the Atlas moth, with its large cocoon, is his favourite to watch.

San Francisco’s Beat Museum is dedicated to preserving the memory of The Beat Generation and continuing to spread their ideas. Longtime employee Brandon Loberg keeps the beatnik spirit alive through heavy involvement in San Francisco’s poetry scene (he and his friends run an underground publishing company called Seven7h Tangent Press). Here’s his favourite story related to the museum:

“Before the building we’re in right now was built, I think maybe 1910. Right after the 1906 earthquake when they were starting to rebuild the neighbourhood and everything. Prior to that [where we are] was the site of the old Broadway jail. It was this big stone building where they would lock up all the drunken sailors and the people that came around back in the old Barbary Coast days to carouse. [It was] kind of a lawless area here in North Beach.

So what was interesting was the writer William S. Burroughs, his favourite book was a book called You Can’t Win by a guy named Jack Black. It was written in the early 1920s. It’s basically an outlaw, hobo memoir about this guy that travels around the country on freight trains and becomes this fairly notorious robber who robs banks and houses—pretty much whoever has money. At one point he was actually locked up here, in the old Broadway jail during the 1906 earthquake. Kinda interesting.”