Great idea about the Alaska Airlines Visa! My family lives in the PacNW, so this makes total sense. Also my cousin is a pilot for them!
Also good info about the ATM. I’ve always done currency exchange at the banks but an ATM makes sense.
I found out the hard way about calling your CC companies when traveling abroad. I was in Japan in 1996 and went to pay my hotel bill. All of my cards had been put on hold! Except….Amex. Whew! Now I’m very good about calling them.