This guest blog is by Susan Ladika, a freelance writer who has lived in both the United States and Europe, and now calls Tampa, Fla., home. Her articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal-Europe, CreditCards.com and scores of other publications.

I’ve traveled from Bosnia to Bali to Boston, and many points in between, and this month’s trip to Egypt was the first time I’ve ever had my bank card eaten by an automated teller machine.

It was a stifling hot night in Luxor, and all I wanted to do was grab some cash at the ATM across the street, run back to the coolness of the hotel, and pick up some souvenirs in the gift shop.

I inserted my ATM card and watched it disappear into the bowels of the machine — very different from the quick swipe and remove that I do with my SunTrust card at home.

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