Saving Money on International Travel

We’re planning a trip to Europe this summer, and I’ve been working on coming up with ways to save money while we’re there. One of the things I’ve always hated doing while traveling to another country is paying the currency exchange fees. I have a cashback rewards card from American Express, so I gave them a call to see if they had any currency conversion fees. They do 2%. So, I guess I won’t be using my American Express while there. I found out though that Capital One does not charge any fees for currency conversion. Their website says:

Capital One does not charge a fee for using your credit card for foreign currency transactions. Foreign purchases will be converted at the foreign exchange rate in effect at the time of posting the charge. Typically other credit card issuers charge a fee between 2% and 3% of the purchase amount.

I wonder if it would be worth it to get a card through them to use during the trip. I’m not sure yet if I’m going to or not, because even having my American Express that I pay in full each month makes me nervous, but it’s certainly worth considering for the savings.