You can purchase travelers checks in foreign currency or buy foreign currency at true american express offices. You need to make sure that it is not a travel agency authorized to sell traveler's checks - because then it will be treated as a cash advance. On the american express web-site when you look for locations they will tell you with an asterisk which ones are which. It's a good thing you don't care about points because you won't get any and it won't count as yearly purchases, but you would have the convenience of not needing to give them cash. A phone could clarify what kind of agency they are, whether you can charge either cash or traveler's checks. There is some kind of fee different from us traverlers' checks.