I'm executor for my aunt. Found $800 in travelers' checks that her husband had bought 31 years ago. Advice on AmEx site is to go to a bank that sells travel

I'm executor for my aunt. Found $800 in travelers' checks that her husband had bought 31 years ago. Advice on AmEx site is to go to a bank that sells travelers' checks. I can only find a few within 25 miles of Los Angeles, none very close to where my aunt lived. When we traveled to Italy 12 years ago, we took travelers' checks. The local banks would shake their heads and point at the ATM. As you say, getting free travelers' checks don't matter if you can't cash them. It used to be standard advice to put some travelers' checks in your sock drawer (or wherever) to have some emergency money on hand that wasn't easily stolen. I calculated how much money was lost by having travelers checks for 31 years instead of sitting in a bank and it was about $3000 at 5%. Hard to find in these times but not until recently.