Spending US $$ in the UK

What bank do you have in the US? If you have Bank of America, you can take out money from Barclay's ATMs for free.

Also, various US credit cards have no international transaction fees. All Capital One cards and some Chase cards (Sapphire Preferred and the BA branded card come to mind). The BA branded card even has a chip in it! And right now, there's a sign up bonus of 50k Avios, which can be used for flights in the future. So if you have decent credit, something to look into.

My husband and I will likely do this.  US bank and Wellsfargo also have a card with a chip in it that you can swipe.  Not sure about fees and such yet.  Makes me feel better than having a bunch of cash on hand. 

My husband and I will likely do this.  US bank and Wellsfargo also have a card with a chip in it that you can swipe.  Not sure about fees and such yet.  Makes me feel better than having a bunch of cash on hand. 

Wellsfargo doesn't have it but they may have it in a couple of days. 

Citibank has it and requested the chip, but the foreign transaction fee is 3% as is bank of america.  There is an air force base card that we are getting that has a chip and a 1% foreign transaction fee.  Those are some options you may be interested in.