changing dollars into pounds...uk or usa?

Not a good idea to write USA dollar cheques to yourself to deposit into a UK account.  My bank charges about £8.50 per cheque and it takes about a week to process.

Also- the annoying thing about the USA banks is they charge ATM fees, at $1.00-$2.00 per withdrawal it adds up big time. Also there are limits to the amounts you can withdraw in one go.

I would recommend the links that Jackie supplied for that amount of money.

Another word of advice - even though you are moving back here - it might be a good idea to keep your USA account. I thought I wouldn't need mine and closed it - only to have my mom open an account for me at her bank a few years later.

i dont know about the check idea but i take money out with my debit card all the time..my bank is stateside..they did charge me like $5 for a fee to take the money out until i got around that and went to a different atm and dont pay any fees any longer

yeah, we are keeping our US account open.