Hi,
Speak to HSBC and see if they have any partner banks in whichever countries you are intending to travel to and in. Perhaps the cash withdrawal fees will be waived in that case or at least reduced. If there's no partner banks, then most likely you'll be charged , so a way around it is to convert to the local currency before you travel.
The other way for reduced fees is to move larger amounts of money for which a Currency Exchange specialist can get better rates than the high street banks or mainstream exchange services you see. However, this isn't useful if it's just holiday time that you'll be travelling -it's useful for when buying property, expensive purchases, sending funds to family, opening business etc etc.
Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!
