We here at Trippist are about more than just recommending things we like and writing of our adventures in and around the Netherlands.

We are also into giving advice and tips, just in case they come in handy for your trip to the land of wooden shoes.

Therefore I have yet one more simple tip to pass onto you... it involves credit cards.

Like any young and healthy person living in Amsterdam, I travel. And as I travel I often have a credit card with me, just in case. While it is mostly only for when I don't have another option, I make it a habit to check if the place Im eating in, shopping at, or sleeping in, accepts credit cards, and which ones.

After much research and years of experience I can tell you within Europe it still varies a great deal. Sometimes the country you least expect, like say Croatia, turns out to be a very credit card friendly country. While the country you'd most expect, like the Netherlands, is surprisingly anti-credit card.

Now I'm not talking hotels, let's leave them out of the equation. When it comes to cafes, restaurants, shops and other miscelaneous places where you need to purchase something, it is very common that the business will not accept credit cards. They might even have a little machine that looks like it takes credit cards, but you'll be surprised to find it only works for Dutch debit cards and not much else.

Beyond that, if you're a VISA or Mastercard carrier, you'll probably have better luck. As in my experience, AMEX isn't very loved amongst the small business community in and around Amsterdam.

So if you do go, try to get some cash flow going. While cash machines can sometimes be quite hard to find, they're out there, and there's no operational reason why you couldn't get some cash from there and hold off on taking the gamble to see if your credit card is accepted at that next place you go to.

Oh, and on the off chance that you use travelers checks, my personal opinion is that you're trapped in the 80's and I hope it's fun.