Redundancy

I like two keep two cards with me when traveling. One is Visa Electron and the other is a hybrid debit/credit MasterCard. The electron works surprisingly well all around but sometimes the reader only accepts "old fashioned" cards. It is a bit problematic as the MasterCard is nowadays also functioning like the electron because of its SEPA compatibility. Marvellous in theory but in practice it mostly just renders the card unusable wherever the Electron is not working either.

Anyway, I have a bad habit of mainly using just one of the cards at a time and generally I don't use the credit card at all. So now the situation is that I have been using only my electron for about 10 months straight without ever feeling the urge to wave around my ostentatiously flashy faux platinum MasterCard. During that time though, I have managed to forget my PIN code for the aforementioned card. Technically it's not a problem, just order the code from my bank but the funny thing is that before going to India last year I had exactly the same problem, that time just with the Electron.

Last october I actually managed to even lock my Electron two days prior to the departure by trying the wrong numbers one too many times. After the vehement PIN code recollecting I managed to screw up my mind in a way that I couldn't even press the right digits for my MasterCard card anymore! And I had been using that one for a few years without any problems. Luckily I managed to just sleep it off and the numbers were in my muscle memory but apparently I haven't learned anything from that.

Technically a good way to avoid situations like these would be to invent an imaginary person and add him to your mobile phone contacts. Phone number would be something incorporating your pin code. Then it would be available whenever you might need it... Retrospectively that actually feels like a brilliant idea all of a sudden. And no, it doesn't make me feel any better about it.