Dollar vs. Euro Exchange rate

Not influencing my plans, but it is encouraging right now. In six months, who knows?

cyn,

nope.

but it just happens that my planned trip for 2015 will be in all Euro countries.

i may buy some Euros now and save a few hundred.

happy trails.

Not necessarily influencing plans, but looking forward to a bit of a bonus. Realistically, while nice, the impact in Dollars is not great, a few Dollars on a meal, maybe $10 to 15 on a hotel room, probably will not cause me to eat more or stay in nicer places, but that is looking at a trip in February/March

As for this Summer, who knows. The euro has plunged like this every few years, never staying at bottom for long, recovering in a couple months...so by June or July, the story could be very different.

Thank those who are pumping the oil from the fields of North Dakota. The USA will soon be the leading international exporter of oil. This makes for a very strong US dollar against other major currencies for years to come. Take away the oil and we are back in the dull drums economically. This is why the prices at the gas pumps have been declining. Unfortunately the airlines have not gotten the message yet to lower ticket prices. I highly doubt they ever will, just more money in the CEO's pocket. Will RS prices on his tours go down as the dollar is now stronger against the Euro?

Kimberly, do you really think running an airline is an easy path to high profits? The history of US airlines going bankrupt would suggest otherwise.

American Airlines last year paid a dividend to shareholders for the FIRST time in 37 years and while profit margins for airlines last year grew, they were still below the S & P 500 average

I've been putting together a trip for October 2015 for the last couple of months now so no, the falling euro hasn't influenced my travel plans. It would be nice to have a financial breather but who knows what will happen 9 months from now? And I'm also going to the UK for a few days so the cost of the pound is another issue.

my understanding is that most major airlines are stuck in long-term fuel contracts and not benefiting yet.

You can't afford not to go! The more you go the more you save.

All the comments have made me smile.
I am not running out to buy euros for future use, but I sure am tempted to buy a 10'000 gallon tank and store some gas! ;)

I hate to throw a Monkey Wrench into this , but while the rise of the dollar against many other currencies is certainly advantageous to North American travelers , wild swings in currencies and commodities bespeak a great deal of both economic and social instability . I wouldn't get overly optimistic ( for a lot of reasons ) .

Steven is correct. Means almost nothing. It is under $1.20, a year, eighteen months from now, it might mean something. I can remember a time when the Euro was .89.

It could very well be that by June/July the Euro will be stronger than it is at the moment. I can't go now over there but am aiming for the second half of May and early June. I recall when the Euro was below one dollar. That won't come to pass. That it has fallen so far has surprised me. I'm betting it won't be higher than $1,24 by mid-May should it advance again.

And the Forint is 250 to the dollar right now. Fantastic while it lasts.

Not so advantageous to us Canadians...I'm heading to the US this year, and right now ours is at .85 to your dollar. So that nice airbnb in NYC that I was looking at last year when our $ was a little more even is now gonna cost me another $15 a night x 6. Anyways, it's not going to stop me - exchange rate never does - that being said - Americans - your dollar will go further here in Canada so come here this year! :)

For us, 1 euro = $1.40 Canadian, so not such a great deal for us...

but it just happens that my planned trip for 2015 will be in all Euro countries.
i may buy some Euros now and save a few hundred.

If the dollar continues to improve over the euro, buying now will cost you a great deal.

If the dollar begins to fall again, buying now will cost you unless the dollar falls more than about 10%. The 10% being the approximate cost to buy currency.

As always, it is best to hope for a strong dollar and just get cash while on your trip.

I don't make plans based on exchange rate. I consider it a nice bonus if the dollar is doing well while I travel.

If the dollar is strong, I will enjoy some finer meals and bring an extra bag to fill with goodies. If the dollar is weak, I will continue to enjoy frugal dining and bring home memories...
Unless the dollar is ridiculously weak somewhere, it wouldn't stop me from visiting.

I'm thinking now might be a good time to buy a bunch of euros for my next trip.

Reviewing the comments, sounds more like a money management/currency hedging site, rather than a travel site. The only advantage to buying euros now is that your out of pocket costs will be fixed. So, if you figure that your vacation out of pocket expenses will come to 2000 euros, you can lock in your cost by buying euros now. That way, you are protected if the euro strengthens and goes significantly higher compared to the dollar while you are on vacation. Only other advantage is that you don't have to worry about credit and debit cards working overseas. The downsides are the significant currency exchange costs (mine runs about 4%), losing your cash (wear that moneybelt underneath your clothes), and the euro getting even weaker (if you can reliably know that, your last name is Soros).

Interesting to view the euro/dollar responses. FYI, we have been searching for hotels in Paris prior to our Heart France tour in the Fall, and then for London following that tour. Every hotel we've checked rates with over the last month, has had an increase prices over the listed average rate in Rick's Paris & London 2015 guides. For Paris, at this moment we think we'll just stay at the hotel where the tour begins. We look forward to going, and it's always interesting to plan for a tour and watch stuff happen as you get ready to go (floods to heat, guns to a volcanos, strikes rail to airlines). Tonight we are remembering the people and victims who reside in the Paris area.

We wish interesting traveling to you all for 2015.

Eyes should have been on the rate against the Swiss Franc rather than the euro. Some people's holidays will be a bit more expensive ...

Andy, the prices haven't actually changed. Hotels don't change prices because of exchange rates.
The prices are in Euros, and the website is converting these to US$, so it is giving you a different price every day as the exchange rates fluctuate. Same for Guidebooks, by quoting a price in US$, they are not telling you what it really costs.

I find this a very annoying feature of hotel websites. I want to know what it will REALLY cost when I get there, not some arbitary conversion into another currency.

Hotels might adjust prices to keep them up with US$ rates in the Caribbean or Central America, where the overwhelming majority of tourists are Americans and many of the costs are closely following the dollar.

That is most definitively not the case of European hotels, let alone all other service providers.

Planning a 3 week trip to Italy in Sept-Oct and staying in some small places, so will be using up some cash euros for sure! Have read the Rick Steves Money FAQ section. Since euros are about $1.15 now, would it be smart to purchase a prepaid card in euros that you could use over there in their fee-free cash machines? The FAQ recommends against purchasing these cards, but since the USD-euro exchange rate is really good right now I wanted to see what others think. A financial site that I consulted predicts it could be down to $1.10 by the end of the year - not a big enough difference to wait IMO because anything can happen. Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Thanks everyone for your replies and thoughts. I heard a report indicating the dollar and euro might be even with one another by year's end, and who knows what could happen 5 months from now, let alone 11. We're not planning on purchasing a bunch of euros right now, as the exchange rate could go even lower, and as noted above, exchange fees in the USA can be high, depending what company you use.

@plbarlowe - the benefits of a prepaid card might be more for your convenience than for saving a lot of money. I'm currently suspecting the exchange rate could drop even farther, but we'll see. As with the Swiss franc, sudden spikes and drops can happen!

@plbarlowe - Most pre-paid cards come with a fee to purchase or have hidden costs with them. The issuer has to make some money somehow. Cards may vary, but I'd expect 5-10% in fees as a minimum. So right off the bat, you are down that much. Then what happens if the dollar keeps surging? Buy now and your card loses value. You can gamble if you wish (and gamble it is), or you can just hope the dollar stays strong for your trip and use the ATM. If your bank charges out-of-network and currency exchange fees to use the ATM, consider opening an online account with a bank that has no fees. There are several often mentioned here.