I don't know what a bank Visa Debt card is, as to where the advance lands.

If it lands on your credit card statement and is a Visa charge, there is a 2 or 3% premium added to the cost of the money. If you usually pay off your credit card bill every month, and do not take credit card cash advances, you pay no interest. You take a foreign currency advance, they hit you the 1.5% or so on your entire charges for the month, and maybe (due to carryover interest)for the next month also. If you have a card that works as an ATM card and a Visa, and you can debit your bank account, the cost seems close to the bank exchange rate, plus some nominal ATM fee. I get a $1.75 to $2.00 charge for each withdrawal.

For my local bank card, I am theoritically limited to $500 per day. Most European ATM's will only allow $200 or $300 max withdrawal. Sometimes a machine will allow multiple withdrawals, sometimes it will not. THe $500 limit is frequently not enforced, as the European machine does not seem to always post immediately.

Get a 4 digit password, and tell the bank, and your credit card companies you are going to Europe.

Visa/MC are universally accepted, and preferred. Charges on most Visa/MC get tagged with a 2 or3% surcharge for currency conversion. MBNA cards(Amtrak & LH) are exceptions, and have no surcharge.

It is difficult to tell if you got charged the correct rate, as the rate fluctuates during the day, and the rate is at the time of settlement, not the time of charge.

There are a lot of ATM's in central London, and every one I tried recently has worked. In most other places, about 90% work. If the machine does not work, do not keep banging on it, as it may eat your card.