I got a nasty surprise last year while traveling in Canada.  The
usual approach is to charge everything and let the bank convert the
currency when they post the charges.  What a surprise when I discovered
that they added a couple percent to each transaction for making the
conversion.  Never did this before.  Someone in their marketing
department must have stumbled on a new way to make money.

I'm sure that they don't really make any transfer other than a daily
net transfer in the other direction.  I'm actually doing them a favor
by requesting a transfer of USA to Canadian funds, to help offset the
much larger transfer in the other direction.

By the way, I think there is still a bank which, for about $4, will
send you a check in any currency.

Craig Smith