i have hauled a lot of cash equivalents into and out of the country. make certain you can find the guy when you go out of the country. i have had a lot of trouble finding someone to tell that i have 92 zillion billion bucks and am on my way to some small african or south american country. i have never been asked for what i plan to use the money. they do not have good records for money hauling, so you can always say"i'm returning it. i did not use it to buy sex slaves in eastern europe."

rather than cash, join AAA, and they will provide travelers checks(a least they did when i hauled money) looks like the new thing is a "travel money visa card" costs a few bucks, but not much.

as an alternate, get an etrade(schwab, fidelity) account. get their atm card. no charges. you will have to go "inside" to get that kind of money, but no charges, and one probably does not have to fill out the forms.