DOLLAR RISING --- Good News ??

...and the only thing you can really do is monitor/control your spending. Dollar goes down - look for less expensive lodging, eat at lower priced restaurants, eat a couple of meals of grocery store goods, limit your gift and other shopping. It is certainly do-able and you are in control.

I'm not traveling this summer. But I'd advise you to book rooms now for the best online deals. Dublin, for example, as it did last year, has several nice hotels with doubles at under 60 Euros per night, but they're filling nicely. Book and pay ahead with North American agencies, and you'll lock in your price and incur no currency exchange fees.

But I'd still hold off on flights. I haven't seen a year in the last dozen where good deals didn't pop up in March and April, as airlines try to fill empty trans-atlantic seats - even after jet fuel had soared.

I have this trip already on the budget plan

Airfare... miles. "credit card cost" $60. (Of course my "behind" has spent a lot of time in a plane for those miles :) )

Hotel ... Marriott rewards. Sure it's not Rick's "get to know the natives" but it's CHEAP! Last time the "fees" (some kind of Paris city tax) were around $10.

So lodging and air are under $100!!! :)

ohhh, I am watching. It's a sickness. I watch it closer than I watch the DOW. It's like a dog race...come on Green Back, go Green Back, go!!! CRAP - took my trip at 1.47!!!

This was not intended to be an economic discussion or a prediction of future exchanges rates. I guess that some posters missed that. Not a question of right or wrong. Only trying to illustrate the unpredictability of the interaction between the dollar and euro. On that point, I cannot be wrong.

"But the reasons for the Euro being driven down may be more scary than the reasons for it being driven up."

Investors are worried about the large deficits that Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland have. This is dragging down the Euro.

If you like playing the stock market (or in this case, doing currency speculation), buying some Euros now might be a good idea, because I think the Euro will probably go back up after awhile. But, that is only my guess.

At the beginning of the financial crisis, the Euro was down to around $1.25. I don't think that is going to happen again.

The first time I went to Germany in this century, the Euro was 89¢. Two years later, it was 98¢. In 2004, it was $1.23, then $1.43 in 2007, back to 1.28 in 2008, $1.43 again in 2009. If anyone could predict where it is going, they would be too rich to bother with this website.

Generally speaking, the moment my husband and I book a trip the dollar usually starts to weaken.

As a service to this Helpline, it is only fair you should know we are in the process of booking a trip for next month. Buy 'em while you still can!

I am in the same group as Angela and I booked a trip for May today. Just a warning!

Jealous of Carol

We are taking advantage of the strength. Just made an additional payment on our planned trip for September this year. I want to have the trip paid for before we go, this will help save us a few $$.

That being said, last year we paid through the nose when the Euro went up- so I guess it all equals out in the end.

It fell another penny today. And the DOW was unchanged. We can only hope.

Jessica,
There's a price. I spend about 50 to 60% of my time out of town. It's a trade off. The "free" travel is paid for however :)

If anyone has pre booked a rental car with Gemut or Autoeurope it would be a good idea to call them and lock in a better deal for your car.

Frank, your post made me go back to my files and check the rates of the Euro for the years I have been since the switch to the Euro by certain countries. BTW, I found that I had misfiled some of my records and found some of my 2000 and 2004 records in my 2002 file. So, thanks for motivating me to go back and look in those files. Actually I enjoyed it because I saw old receipts from places we ate and lodged that I had forgotten about and was a nice little mental trip down memory lane. I looked up an historic exchange rate for the years I went which in some cases were the years Lee mentioned but because we obviously went during different months the exchange rate was in some cases different for us. Here is what they were when we went. It is of no benefit to anyone but since I went to the trouble of going back I thought I would share what I found. June 12-June 27, 2002 the dollar was $.95-$.99 with a monthly (May) avg of $.96(rounded up or down). June 9-June 24 2004-$1.21-$1.22 with a June monthly avg of $1.21. May 4-May 25 2007 $1.36-$1.35 with a May monthly avg of $1.35. May 15-May 28 2009 $1.35-$1.39 with May's avg of $1.36. During our trip in Feb-March 2000 the Euro was not in effect operationally even though it was adopted prior to that year. Coins and notes did not appear until 2002 did they? Maybe electronically before then. Below is a link to the history for any given day, month or year of the exchange rates. Also charts available on this site.

http://www.x-rates.com/cgi-bin/hlookup.cgi

OK people, now I'm really confused. But here's my question. I've already booked rooms in France and Switzerland, but they don't charge me till I arrive in April, so they want euros. Do I put in on my card when I check in, or exchange dollars there and get euros and pay cash, or exchange here while dollar is strong. What is my better option?

HELP!!!

Ok -- it is always a math question. To obtain Euro on this side you will pay a premium of 5 to 10 percent. Since it is $1.36 today, that means you could pay 1.43 to 1.49. Probably not a good deal especially if it trends downward which might be the case through April. On arrival you credit card could add 3% currency conversion fee to the hotel charge. Some credit cards do not -- Capital One, for example. Then there is the possibility of a discount for cash. 5% is not uncommon but not always offered. ATM cash withdraws can also incur the currency conversion fees and other fees. BUT that is solely dependent on the card issuer. So check carefully. Most credit union and soome other financial institutions do not add the extra fees. So the best deal is cash, if you get the discount, with an ATM card that has min fees.

Scott,

I look at the situation as a scale of preference for paying:

Cash from an ATM best (1-2% hit off Interbank Rate)
Credit Card (~2-3%)
Exchange Cash there (maybe ~4-6%, highly variable)
Exchange Cash here (~5-10%)

So cash from the ATM is always best, but if you are dealing with a daily limit ($300 US in my case) paying for the hotel in cash can be a big draw, making the credit card the next best option.

Speculating on currency (pay now vs pay later, or exchange now for a trip a year from now) is risky enough to not even worry about, best to deal with the situation at hand than speculation.

Have both a good debit card (low or no fees) and a good credit card, and you are set.

Be careful of the new credit card machines at hotels and merchants where you have the option of converting the money to dollars. It is an option on the machine that I thought was just informational.

They will ding you with an extra % charge. Better to just let it pay in Euros or other local currency....

all helpful info. thanks.

Just came across this article. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703427704575051083270554468.html?mod=WSJ_Currencies_LEFTTopNews

Sorry don't know how to do in post links.

"Sorry don't know how to do in post links. "

Jessica,

see my posting on the Wall on that very subject.

Testing

Article

Thanks Lee!

I certainly don't gamble in the currency market as a long-term investment.

That said, I do opportunity buy when I've got a trip coming up.

I look at the monthly moving average for the recent 12 months. Currently, that is about $1.40 If the Euro goes more than 5% to 7% below that number I buy $500 worth or so -- to use on the upcoming trip.

So, if the price gets down to $1.32 or so I will buy some Euros, on the chance that when I take my trip in 2011 the price is more likely to be north of $1.40

(...besides... I've gotta save for the trip in some currency... it might as well be cool, multi colored, currency instead of boring green-backs....)

How do you get around the US markup for buying on this side of the ocean. That has to be factored into your purchase decision.

It seems it didn't last long. It's creeping back up.