In addition to the comments from Jill, make sure your ATM card does not have a PIN that starts with zero.  It will not work overseas for some unknown reason.

Michele 

I use ATM's in the countries I visit. Amsterdam airport has ATM's and a money exchange where you can get cash either from ATM or exchange cash there before heading out of terminal. You can use an ATM in Zurich, or exchange for some Swiss Francs at Amsterdam airport to get you through a day. That's what I would do just because I don't have the time to bother with getting currency ahead of time :-).

Before you leave, be sure to tell your credit card companies where you are traveling so if you do use your credit card, they don't block it for being out of the country.

Just checked-AAA sells currency thru Travelex at a slight discount over the normal price if you are an AAA member. Access this thru AAA.com and sign into your account with them, click Foreign Currency under the Travel heading, on the next page click "Buy Now" button, this should take you to the Travelex partner site. They also sell prepackaged currency in some of their stores-not sure about the exchange rate.

 Denise & Annie 

Remember, there are no stupid questions!  We had some of the same questions on our first foreign vacation. 

Check with your credit card company about their fees.  Of our 3 Visa cards, one charges no fee, one charges 1%, and the last charges 3% for foreign transactions.  Guess you know which one we will be using!  Also, I have read on the internet that Europe uses chip & pin credit cards-US cards do not have chips.  So, our cards may not work in the automated machines-but supposedly most places have the ability to swipe your card.  Can any of the Oliva staff or previous travelers comment on this??

We have a personal preference to have a little local currency in pocket when arriving.  We will have Euros-some of my coworkers were sent to Germany for training and they sold me their Euros when they returned.  Some banks here will get you Euros, but the exchange rate may not be great.  Check around with different banks-if you are a credit union member, you may get better exchange rates. Travelex.com has a website to purchase currency-have never used them so we can't tell you if this is a good value or not.  We haven't decided if we will get any Swiss cash before arriving there-not sure if we will need it since most (not all) meals are included in the post trip and we are not big souvenir buyers.

Annie & Denise 

Haven't sold room yet so I'm making my travel plans,

As Amsterdam uses Euros and Switzerland uses the Swiss Franc, what advice or ideas does anyone have about bringing foreign currency or just sticking with credit cards? I usually stick to using foreign currency but in this case am not sure.  When using credit cards don't you get hit with a fee each time used?

Also for those of you who have been on this trip before how are the prices of food and other expenses acquired while traveling compare to the US. I want to make sure I budget in enough for pre and post trip strechers..

These might be stupid questions but would just like to get other opinions, thought's and ideas..