We would have managed to call our friends in Paris who would have sent us money.

As for our friend, we checked that it was OK to carry us for the entire trip, which included ten days in France. She was going to stay another two months in England, and we could have transferred money to her account once home.

From my perspective, speculative comments reflect the writers' anxieties. The episode is long over, we obviously have been affected by it, and will take steps to avoid a repetition, steps which are not always satisfactory to others, but we all have to make our own choices.

Michael has a good attitude.

<<And all of the big banks have big fees. With all the alternatives available, no one has to put up with that unless they wish to do so. Yes, it is a hassle initially but there are fee free online accounts you can use. We started using a Cap One online account in 2016 just for travel and are completely satisfied with it.>>

Capital One is a big bank, it's one of the biggest in the US, it's in the top 10. So is TD Bank and they have no foreign transaction fees, although they may have an out-of-network ATM fee.

I think people choose a bank for many reasons and foreign ATM fees is not at the forefront of many person's needs. I have a couple accounts for this reason, one without a fee, and my regular everyday acct which is with a bank that does have a fee because it has many branches around where I live, and many ATMs. Sometimes I still want/need to do some business in person. If I didn't travel much, I wouldn't bother with having more than one bank acct as it does increase the hassle factor (multiple accounts to keep track of, multiple tax forms statements, increased fraud chances, etc).

ATM's are ubiquitous and we are charged just 1% over the daily average regardless of the bank which might or might not levy a fee depending on the country. We withdraw just enough to add. But your system makes a lot of sense and it is something to consider. The problem is that except for single large purchases and on-line shopping, we still use cash at home as well, even if our week's shopping at one store comes close to a three figure amount.

My wife finds it easier to keep track of our weekly expenses by having a fixed amount to begin with. We also write checks for most of our bills (Fastrack and our internet & telephone provider are the exception through our credit card not our bank account). We all have our individual quirks.

I track my expenditures by having my credit card payments imported into Quicken, which takes no effort and also tells me where my money is going. Leaving money on the table (cash back if not FF miles) is not a "quirk".

You can't define someone else's reasons for their habits by applying your rules. You can only state what you do. We have been aware of FF miles for a long time, but when we tried to apply them, there were always impediments that made the work not worthwhile. We choose to find cheap flights rather than get a ;reduction on a more expensive flight. That's just one example of a different choice.

How does that fit in with my original post? The only reason I posted it is that discussions about finances, even as simple as ATM transactions, are generally vague. So if one mentions that banks can have high fees, the next person will say, "why sweat the small stuff?" Fine. Just as long as you know that the small stuff represents 7.7777% of my 6 week travel expenditures. For some that is the cost of travel, for me it's an unneeded expense.

I don't believe that's a TOS for Fodor's. And I think the point is very applicable. Because it's not just about FF miles, as was stated above.

Example 1: I have a Visa from a credit union where I get 1.5 percent back on all purchased. No annual fee.

Example 2: Citibank Visa offered through Costco offers 3 percent back on travel related (there's a list), 2 percent on gas and 1 percent on everything else. No annual fee.

Failing to use your daily expenditure money in this way is not different than using a bank with high transaction fees to travel.

Thing is, you're preaching to the choir here. We all know about the per withdrawal fees and conversion fees that many banks and CC companies charge. It sounds like your friend is the one who needs "religion" so to speak... or maybe those fees and charges really are small stuff to her. To each his/her own.

What makes you think that I do not use a credit card that gives me a percentage back? My dealings with Shittibank have not been very good. We all make different choices when it comes to our finances.

I am not trying to convert, just gave precise as against general information. Some of the replies indicate that such charges are OK even for those in the know. And one would hope that there are new travelers who are reading the posts and might find the issue interesting.

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What makes me think that? See below. And no need to swear. I gave you two examples. There are others that offer cash back.

That does not mean that we never use a credit card which happens to have a cash back program. In fact I just used it to provide our traveling companion a thank-you gift and a celebratory Portuguese meal.