Don't know about the situation worldwide, but here (Netherlands) at least 99% of the population seem unaware or uninterested in the phenomenom Bitcoin. Media reported about Bitcoin now and then in november and december 2013, but this has died down completely. Even 'geeky' persons I know brush Bitcoin off as some odd appearance on the internet. It is yet to be seen if cryptocurrencies will pick up REAL momentum (widespread usage and acceptance among the general public) and then the price could indeed reach hights that would seem surrealistic right now.
There are relatively many physically stores in the Netherlands accepting Bitcoin. Still not anywhere near common though.
We have a long way to go before we get mainstream, but that only means Bitcoin can grow a lot more in value.
Do you have mainstream ways to buy bitcoin like coinbase or gemini. Automatic withdrawal from traditional bank accounts?
One of the quickest ways (with a little bit of a fee for their service) is
bitonic a secure website that buys and sells bitcoin using iDeal. It's really fast, and I sometimes use it if i immediately want to buy or sell small amounts of bitcoin.
Obviously, since it uses iDeal, you need a dutch bank account. (Although, once the rest of europe introduces similar system, the rest of europe can use it too).
For an actual exchange I prefer to use
kraken it seems to me the most professional exchange and also seems very trustworthy. It's one of the first if not the first to have proof of reserves, and they have high security standards, I never had any problems with them either.
They use SEPA for transactions, which make them pretty fast if you have a european bank account. (not as fast as bitonic, since SEPA is still slower than iDeal, but still pretty fast).
