WorldTravelReynolds

Mono hulls and Catamarans getting ready to race

Before we left the U.S. we visited our bank, Bank of America, on multiple occasions in Virginia and in Florida. We have never had issues with this bank and other than this type of incident, we love the bank.

We think these brown boats (3 of them) were the guides on where to turn around. Some races were using the markers as well

We explained to all of them on each visit that we would be traveling outside the US for an extended period of time and asked what should we be doing to protect our accounts against fraudulent use and what should we be doing while traveling and using our credit card frequently during this time. We use our credit card for every transaction possible and then pay the balance each month. We were assured on so many occasions that we were doing everything we could.

Up to 30 sailboats were out racing

So, here’s our issue. For the third time since we left in April we have paid for something online and have been redirected to call the Fraud department. It could be airlines, hotels or just an Elvis concert. It’s very frustrating to do so since we must use Skype to make these calls.

Orgueil Castle in the background

We pay for 1 hour in advance per month so that’s really not a big deal, however, they want several things when you call. 1) to text you a message (cant do that in Skype unless you pay for it) 2) Credit card in possession (no problem), 3) Current drivers license on file. ) We didn’t know they even had it but it is a Virginia DL on file and not our current Florida license. They wont change it unless we are at a bank.

Tide was at its highest for the day so the beach was perfect for swimming

We will try to change this through customer service and 4) call them through the mobile app. Can’t do that because it wont utilize Skype. The first two calls of getting nowhere and speaking to a supervisor ate up almost one hour of time and a lot of extreme frustration on Chucks part. Even spoke to a supervisor and couldn’t get it resolved.

The little single sailor boats look like they should be remote control boats

We are pretty sure its the drivers license problem because they couldn’t verify it. So, we decided to take a break and eat dinner and calm down. After dinner I told Chuck call one more time and let’s try giving them the Skype number to text to and hope that we have enough minutes left purchased to cover it. He called, the young lady asked for our credit card number and the ID on the back, she confirmed the purchase we were trying to make ($40) and she approved it.

Some of the larger sailboats had their head sails out

No problems, nothing. All done in 5 minutes. Really? Same phone number to the fraud department, same issue. Why could she help us so quickly and the other 3 (2 reps and a supervisor) could not. The DL# wasn’t requested nor a text. She requested to send one but also noted that in our file we stated you could call us but couldn’t text us.

We saw several sailors flip their boats. A dinghy would come by and help them right it back up

Maybe she can read and understand? We have no idea why the other frustrations ensued but it proves that when a situation gets out of hand, walk away and calm down. It helps! This was very frustrating. I’m sure it will happen again so we will try to get something resolved through Customer service. In the past we have let them know what locations we will be in when traveling, but how does that help if the purchase is online? We shall see.

We took our daily walk and this time we visited the Gorey pier area which is right next to Orgueil castle. Its only about 1 1/2 miles to walk and mostly sidewalks the entire trip. We found a bench up on the hill just above the beach and watched the Regatta for a few hours. We counted about 30 sailboats. Some small, single sailor types, a mid size requiring two handlers and then the larger mono hull and catamaran sizes.

It was fun to watch. As the little ones moved further out into the channel, they looked like little toys. And those little things could fly in the wind! We also like to people watch. The children playing on the sandy beach, a mom and her two preteen girls were learning to paddle board. The fun part was watching grandpa sit on his knees on the back of one. Thank goodness she didn’t tip him over! The fun, yet seemed dangerous, part of our day was watching a group of sailors on their sailboat swinging.

In all the Europe locations we have been living there are speed indicators and it cracks us up when the face is either smiling for staying within the limit or frowning for going over. This would never hold up in the crazy freeways in Texas

One person would be in the back holding on to a long rope from the top of the mast and when the captain steered the sailboat sharply in one direction, the person would swing around the boat and be thrown out into the water. A few times, they did flips. It was fun to watch but we think they were crazy!!