😀 Tom I just booked my my plane tickets for my brother's wedding in October. It's nice not having to pay for them. I used the miles I got as a sign-up bonus for a credit card. I think that's going to be my game plan for now on. I'll never have to pay for plane tickets again :-) (You can re-earn the bonus every two years. Do that with 2 cards, and that's a free round-trip flight each year. Flights to/from Hawaii cost more miles, otherwise I could get two round-trip flights per card per year.)

Martijn And here I am struggling to just get a fucking card, let alone a sign-up bonus...

😀 Tom Is it different in the Netherlands? This actually my first "real" credit card. The one I had before was secured because I didn't have a credit history.

Martijn They want to be really sure you are able to pay it back. My first attempt was to get a card through my bank because one is included with my account, but was told I hadn't been living in the Netherlands long enough to be eligible. So then I took it up with the main card issuer, and they turned me down because I hadn't been working my current job long enough. So I had to go to my boss, get a signed document that they weren't going to fire me, and send that in. A couple days later they got back to me asking for a bank statement that my salary was actually deposited. I've sent that in and am waiting again...

Mark Dain Ouch that sucks. I'm glad you kept pushing to get one, hopefully all you need is that letter. What are you going to do with the card once you have it?

Martijn Internet purchases feel safer with a credit card, most of them also give some sort of insurance making them great for buying long travel tickets. So one of the main things will be train tickets through Germany and my trip to England.