OK, I'll ask... why don't you carry the cash and your ATM card in two different places?

cantstayhome, no offense but your BofA person does NOT know what he's talking about. There will NOT be a 3% transaction exhange fee. There WILL be a 1% fee. He's confusing himself with the fees for using a credit card and not a withdrawal from an ATM. Period.

Oh and by the way, if you lose a BofA ATM card in the US, they will send you a new one within 24 hours and it will work with the same PIN but the old one will no longer work. If you lose it in Europe, you will get the replacement within 48 hours of reporting it. Same deal.

Neopolitan, thanks, and hope you're right and not him (I'm guessing you probably get out more than he does)! Good to know about the replacement policy, although hope I never need to find out first-hand!

I start out with a small amount (100-150 euros) to get me around the first 3 days with taxi, bus, misc fares, including lunches, etc.