I also took a 5 night course in survival Spanish which proved useful especially in the rural areas. For the first time we experimented with using charge cards in the automated tellers instead of our usual total reliance on traveller's cheques. Instead of purchasing all traveller's cheques we put our charge cards in a credit position and then used the automated tellers to withdraw cash in local currency when we needed it. The end result was favourable and we would not hesitate to use both on future trips. Traveller's checks are good where there are no automated tellers and where the automated tellers don't work.
All prices quoted are in local funds.
The itinerary was to land in Lisbon and for my wife to fly home from Madrid. I stayed in Europe for awhile that but may be the subject of another report. Lisbon - We landed and headed straight for the tourist information centre at the airport. We realized that this was a little over budget but knew that we could average out later in the less expensive areas. As well they gave us some useful information on Lisbon and the surrounding area and told us how to take a bus to the hotel rather than take a very expensive cab.