You may find a cheaper way but I would question if its safer. I would do the safest way possible.

Man, that is a really tough question.

The only thing I can think of would be to use some sort of commodity as the intermediary of exchange.... i.e. buy something with your Euros, and then sell it to someone who will pay you in dollars. But, then again, this raises tax implications.....

I just can't think of anything to help... perhaps there is some "offshore" intermediary solution, but I am not privy to it.

Easy, negotiate the fee with the european bank (they are negotiable) and send the money as Euro's, the exchange will be automatic and probably medium fix plus 5 pips, you could also ask the receiving bank for their interbank Nostro account with said bank, if both banks have a bank relation you wire to that interbank and have a "for further credit to........" (.... is your bank account number), if they do not have a Nostro account relation they may have one in the same country and you can do a domestic wire with the further credit and since these are generally cheap it will be a difference.