I was worried that the ATM fees would be outrageous and it would be better to exchange money before hand. A couple bucks and 1% seems pretty reasonable.

All our cards have chips so we should be good there. I forgot about having a PIN, I never need it over here so I don't even know what it is.

The international drivers permit is required by the rental car company. I found out my wife already got one so we should be fine to get the car. I kinda fell I should get one just in case.
Without it I'm still legal to drive, it's just against the rental agreement. My wife arraigned the rental car so I think the CC she put it on has insurance. Good call printing out the policy.

I'll briefly echo some of what's already been said:

- For cash, just use a bank ATM at the airport when you arrive.
- If you have leftover cash at the end and you are checking out of a hotel, give them the leftover cash as partial payment and pay the rest with your credit card. It's better than going to a cash exchange place and getting screwed converting it back to dollars.
- Make sure you know your PIN for your credit card. Yes, you need to have a PIN for the "chip and pin" transaction, unlike the PIN-less credit card purchases we make here.

If you check with your bank, they charge fees to exchange currency before you leave. I have found the fees less using ATM with DEBIT cards than exchange at the banks here. If course, if the ATM doesn't work you will be out of luck and wish you carried some foreign cash along. But the only country I've ever had trouble getting ATMs to work is Mexico.

What I've found is use Credit Cards for purchases (best exchange and lowest fees) and Debit Cards for cash at ATMs. Credit Cards charge higher fees for cash at ATMs. At least that's the case on my accounts. You can check with your banks.

I'll chime here as I travel to Asia every year.
Never use the Banks if you can. In southeast asia the street vendors always have the best exchange rates and its competitive so shop around. this is especially true when you are not in a well developed country.

This. In China street discreet is what I did. The dollar remains strong. I cannot say this works in France.

I don't disagree with card for larger purchases. Not worth using cash for this, but for small things cash is king.