My son is going to Italy and Greece on a school trip very soon. We have gotten conflicting advice as to how best to exchange his money. First what is the best way to secure it. Traveler's Checks, debit card or any other way. Also does the exchange rate differ enough that he should wait until he arrives in Italy/Greece before he makes the switch? And can I get a basic idea what a foreign currency is worth in US dollars?

Traveller's cheques are a great idea.

Go here to see how much $1 USD is worth in Euros or any other currency: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/exchform.html

Best option is to convert the money BEFORE leaving Boston. Exchange rate seems to be stable, so getting the traveller's cheques 2-3 days prior should be okay.

Daughter spent a semester in spain.

Gave her $200 converted to euros and a debit card. Everything worked fine.

However, when her mother went over for some reason her debit card would not work at atm's. She could use it as a credit card for purchases, but had a funky problem with the cash machines. No one in my daughter's group had the problem my wife's card had though.

The dollar has hung around 1.2 dollars to get 1 euro for some time... I think it might be a little stronger than it was last fall (was it 1.25?), but still, the dollar is weaker.

I know the concerns about carrying cash... but especially when flying long distances, I always want my daughter to have paper money available, usually about $200. You just never know when you'll need a taxi, when the bank's system goes out of wack, etc. she knows to carry it split up in a few places.

If he uses a debit card he'll need to be careful... keep receipts if given and mentally think about the purchases (again, every euro spent is 1.2 dollars out of the account, so you could easily overspend if not paying attention).

We also gave her a $200 buffer in her bank account. She was to not use this money, unless there again was a dire emergency, but it helped her mother and I to know there was some extra cash present. On her flight over her luggage was lost... well, she had euros, a debit card, and a visa card to take care of any problems. When the girls took a jaunt to england and made a mistake in buying tickets home, she had the extra cash needed to get her and two other girls home.

I'm not saying make him flush. But a little extra in the bank and in his pocket is not a bad idea, as long as he is responsible.

Don't wait until you are there to buy euros if you are going to...

For how long is your son going?

This is probably too late but for future viewers...
I went on a school trip to Paris
Everyone on the trip did different things. A few used an atm card, but there's a rate there and some just took a lot of money as soon as we got there because of the charge but I do not like carrying a lot of money around.
I used travelers checks which was very convient. I always had cash with me for when I would need it. But whenever I needed more I would exchange my checks for cash (I liked that because I did not even end up using all the checks so I exchanged them back when I got back). And if you take out a lot of money as soon as you get there, there really is no way of telling how much you will need during the whole trip.
I also has exchange some money into euros before I went. Not much at all though.
I also brought a credit card in case I needed it (which I know some people perfer because I think the rate when low.. don't really remember)
But I never ended up using it.

I had no problems with travelers checks because there are always places to exchange them for cash. The only extra work is if you look for a place with the best rate.

Hope that helps