Originally Posted by pdhenry
If you must use travelers' checks, getting them in the country's currency is a good idea, but if you ask about the buy/sell spread you'll find out that you're still paying for the convenience, even at AAA.
My impression is that the order in which the OP has listed the options is the preferred order of use if exchange rate is the main issue. Another variable for using credit cards is to know what exchange fee is charged by your bank. MBNA and CapitalOne are two large CC issuers that only pass on the 1% Visa/Mastercard fee with no additional charge of their own. Most other banks add 1 to 3% to the exchange. Amex's fee is 2% (but the exchange rate that Amex uses isn't necessarily an "official" interbank rate).
I agree with all the above.
Keep in mind that you are not buying enough to make much difference.
However, if you are the type person that pays his credit card off each month, the big surprise and expense is that if you hit the ATM machine, you get hit with the 14% or 18% monthly interest on the whole card balance. I frequently run up $10-20,000 on a card in a month. The 18% charge runs 1.5% of average balance, which can be $150-200.
Get and use a debit card from your bank. Find out how much they charge for the whole transaction, but do not forget, even if you run through $5000 or so(which is a lot of cash), at 2-3%, you're only talking about $100 or so.