Many Credit Unions have credit cards that don't charge more than a 1% conversion fee.

I still always carry a few traveler's checks as an emergency measure.

The converting of local charges into US dollars has started in Asia also. This past December the smaller Bangkok hotel that I've used for 15 years presented the bill which had been converted "for my convenience." It was $112 instead of the approximately $108 that it should have been.

Apparently their little machine was very new because it took 2 of them about almost 10 minutes of reading the instruction book and working the machine to figure out how to cancel that charge and present me with a bill in baht!

Harlene in Madison where we actually had a few hours of sunshine the other day!