Yikes The Euro!

We save a lot when we travel by only eating dinner in a restaurant. Skip dessert at the resaturant and buy something at a bakery to eat in your room. If our hotel doesn't have breakfast, we buy croissants the night before at a bakery while we're buying dessert. Most European hotels we've stayed in have in room coffee/tea. For lunch we'll go to a market and either get pre-made lunch or buy picnic supplies: bread, cheese, fruit. I bring in my own granola bars for afternoon snacks (I have 2 teenagers). American chain food and soft drinks are really expensive. Eat local, drink water. I would love to think that prices will drop if us Americans don't come, but I haven't seen that as I make hotel reservations. Just pray the European central bankers lower rates!

When are you going? I think if you will be traveling around August or later you may see some pushback. However, I don't think things will get better in the near term. Especially if the Fed lowers interest rates.

The U.K.'s second-biggest bank predicts the dollar will fall to as low as $1.57 per euro by June 30 after it breached the bank's previous forecast of $1.52 by March 31.

However the Eurozone growth is beginning to slow and if the US economy continutes to slow, I could see (hope) that they will lower interest rates to bring the price of the EU down against the dollar. However, we will just have to see and wait it out.

Long term trend is not good as long the budget deficits continue to grow AND we continue to lower our interest rates. Too many US dollars floating around the world with no place to go.

I just read an article yesterday about how American consumers are cutting back on driving, eating out, entertainment, etc. but the two areas where they are not cutting back spending is traveling and pets. So it doesn't seem that many people are putting off their vacations because of the weak dollar. I'm not, and most people on this site certainly aren't! My advice - eat one meal a day from the grocery store (we usually do a picnic lunch), walk more instead of taking public transport, and stay away from the shopping districts (my biggest problem).

Ditto Jennifer. The airlines are saying it looks like it will be a good travel season. Guess we just bite the bullet and enjoy. Look for other places to save during the year. Like not driving Johnny to school in the SUV. Oops editorial comment.

Ditto with many of the other suggestions, Georganne. We had to adjust for a weakened $ too but don't worry, you can have a great time without breaking the bank. Food is the first place to cut back - eat out only once a day and read up on good but inexpensive options. There's terrific take-out for snacking and picnics, and equally terrific places to feast your eyes whilst feasting your stomach!

Refill water bottles from public fountains (the water is generally very good in Italy), buy beer and wine at shops vs going to bars, skip shopping as much as possible, and don't sit down to drink your expresso in Italy - it costs more to use a table in most cafes/bars. Walk as much as possible vs taking public transport - you'll really see and enjoy more of local life from on your feet! And there's a lot you can see free, like the oh-so fabulous churches, piazzas and fountains.

Don't change your plans. I follow currency trends and believe that at some time in the summer this trend will actually reverse. Remember, that the federal reserve board is weakening the dollar by lowering rates. When they get near zero there is only one way for interest rates (and the dollar) to go. Up.

Ironically the best thing Americans could do to help the dollar is stop spending money on energy. The price of oil is feeding the weak dollar. As more of the world continues to buck up and spend the amount of money they are on energy then the more the dollar will fall. I say ironically because the travel industry (including the family of 5 who take their SUVs and campers across the country to spend a week at Disneyworld) are the ones who aren't helping the dollar, which is making them have to cut back even more.

The issue is more complex than ONLY energy. But the price of oil is one of the major players in hurting the dollar. If you don't believe me, just look at headlines on any financial news website about what is exactly hurting the dollar.

Definately do your own picnics. We love them.

Do your own self guided tours rather than pay for a guide.

We are planning our trip to Florence, Cinque Terre and then Rome for 3 days each place, April 1-10. I'm trying to finalize my budget so I know how many euro to order before I go.
One thing I must stress (if my Bank of America source is correct)is don't neccessarily bank on the newspaper and xe exchange rate which is currently listed at 1 euro = 1.555160. Usually those rates are listed for extremely large amounts of money being exchanged. If you exchange $ for euro for anything less than like a million dollars, the exchange rate is 1 euro = $1.6184. That really throws my budget off!

I know that food is a hard thing to estimate. We will have breakfast at our hotels in Florence and Rome provided but not in CT. I'm thinking we may sit down to a restaurant one evening in each city. But I still have no idea how much to budget on food per day or even for our trip in general so any info on this would be helpful as well. Sorry for the long post! :)

Misti,
You will be able to save money by using ATMs in Italy to get euro. Buying euro in the US is expensive usually 5% above the interbank rate. See http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624b1.asp for how things work.

We are going to England for 1 week and the exchange rate was 2$ for 1 pound, and we are also going to Germany and Italy for 3 weeks total and the exchange rate we got was $1.43 per Euro. We did this back in September 07 for our trip in May 08. We are still going to have lots of those picnics, do lots of walking and resting often while we do as we are both over 60. We wont buy things to take home for others and we will see less of those things that require a fee to see . Like everyone else though, we will still enjoy our trip that we have planned for. For everyone else, just do less and enjoy the sights.

Nope, if anything, I would expect the value of the euro to increase against the dollar. The international rates are not based on tourism. The Bush administration has wanted the dollar to be week as it benefits large US manufacturers who sell overseas. Two suggestions: stay in apartments and convents, eat pizza and picnic. The second suggestion is: go soon before it gets worse.

Haven't read all the replies here,but we are in sticker shock as well. However, we've turned our cheek (or live in denial) about the cost. One must set one's priorities and only you can do that. I agree about eating "hand food" from grocery stores and staying in the least expensive places you can find that are safe. Afterall, you are there to travel and learn, not hang about in your room. Have a fun trip. The experience clearly outweighs the money when all is said and done. Remember how fortunate you are that you can even consider going in the first place!

Georganne all I can say is with our upcoming trip to Italy in May I could agree with one of my husband's favorite sayings "We're burning daylight".

Something that was brought to my attention today when I was stressing about the rising Euro...
Since the Bush administration was the one to cause the falling American dollar, I'm not going to feel guilty when I take the nice rebate check that all of us Americans are getting from him and put it towards my Italy trip to make up for the added costs this trip is now costing me. How about it?

We actually are spending our stimulus rebate (meant to help US economy) and tax refund in Italy in July. Sorry Bush! I too am VERY concerned about cost of meals and will be packing granola and love to shop the local markets for picnics anyway. I am also working extra, not eating out at home as much, and feel so fortunate to be able to take this trip as a middle class family of three. I see the dollar getting slightly worse and have prepaid for hotels and train tickets.

Smart move Lisa. I only prepaid our Rome hotel and wish now that I did them all. The Rome hotel offered an extra 5% discount, on top of the 5% for RS, if we prepaid. At the time (last Sept), I hesitated but now I'm so glad we did. Saved with the disc. and with the Euro.

If you DO end up eating a meal in a restaurant, make it a big lunch. European restaurants offer great meals at cheaper prices at lunch-time than they do at dinner. If you're in Paris, check the "prix fixe" menus in restaurants, too....set meals with no price surprises. In touristy areas like the Left Bank, they'll offer good prix fixe menus during our dinner hour, then pull them later at night for their crowd of regular French diners. And if you're in Spain, spend a week free at Pueblo Ingles, an English language school that'll put you up for free (great accommodations and meals), and all you have to do is speak English to their students! You'll learn more about Spain and the Spanish people in a week than you will in a lifetime of touring, and make some pretty great friends to boot! www.puebloingles.com

We just spent 8 days in Italy and managed to stay in our $3000 budget by renting an apartment, using public transportation, eating breakfast and dinner at the apartment and mostly packing picnic lunches. we went out a few times but we had a great time. By the way, that $3000 was for 5 of us!!!!!

I would agree with Janet -- it was far more cost effective staying in apartments. The rent was cheaper (especially in Venice), we had more space and we could bring back leftovers from dinner for lunch the next day. Also, we found that a great amount of fun was to be had by shopping for our food each day! We never cooked extravigant meals, but it was lovely to wake up & make our own coffee in our own time every morning.

Deborah
Oakland, CA

My suggest is to try camping. You'll notice from my address that I live in Europe, but I'm paid in dollars so I have to really watch the money. We are doing a 9 week trek across Europe this summer and are going to camp the entire time. We have a car which makes it easier for us, but for a camp site we'll pay between euro 8-15/night. We also have a camp stove for cooking our meals. My favorite thing to do is to walk around new towns or go hiking - all cheap to do.

Prices are much better in Eastern Europe although the dollar is causing it to be more expensive too. Hungary is a good value as is Romania. Neither are on the Euro. Bratislava, Slovakia is sort-of expensive (although much cheaper than Vienna) but rural Slovakia is still a bargain. RS doesn't say much about SVK, so do a google search on High Tatras or Slovak Paradise for info.

Happy Travels,
Ann

I am currently right in the heart of Sorrento Italy with my daughter. We've been here for a week and the cost could be shocking. We've managed by visiting the local supermarket. When we did eat in restaurants we have chosen to eat our mid day meal in the restaurant. We've ordered pizzas which are HUGE and had them box up the leftovers for us. We then had the pizza as a picnic in the evening with wine which is very good and inexpensive. We also found the cost of taxis to be prohibitive and immediately learned how to take busses wherever we want to go. My advice would be to do these things and find a local laundromat. Plan on spending a LOT of money. Whatever you spend in euros will be at least half again as much in American dollars.

We returned from a week in Venice (with some side trips), and were pretty shocked at what we'd had to spend for food. Our plan was to enjoy the breakfast that came with the hotel, have lunch out and then gather things fruit, pastry, cheese, etc) to eat in the room in the evening. We were in Venice when the Euro and fees were at their highest--about 1.60. I am a pretty frugal person, and after a couple of lunches at cafes, and eating simple stuff--a plate of meatless pasta, a salad, and con gasse water x 2--cost E36! Venice is really high. It wasn't until the end of our trip that we started to discover slightly less expensive places, such as cafes near the university. As a rule, though, we've found meals out in smaller towns, such as Padova, to be less costly--we had our nicest meal there, and it came to E28 (one of the rare times I charged it--$45 on my credit card bill, still twice as much as I would pay for a similar meal back home.)

Linda said, "We've managed by visiting the local supermarket....we have chosen to eat our mid day meal in the restaurant...We then had the pizza as a picnic in the evening...and immediately learned how to take busses wherever we want to go."

All advice straight out of the Rick Steves philosophy for travel in Europe. With the high Euro, I would think this should be boom times for Rick Steves, Inc. He's the expert on enjoying Europe without having to sell your first born.

Lots of great advice here. We are facing the same problem for our trip in June. One thing I did to hopefully save a little is contact all the hotels and ask them to charge in full for your room now. Many prefer cash when you arrive, but if you ask, giving the weakening dollar as a reason they will usually charge it for you. Be sure and let your credit card company know ahead of time that you will be getting those charges otherwise they may put a stop on your card from all the international activity. Good luck.

The only cheap way left may be to cruise.

Wow! What a great post and excellent responses. I've just started to finalize our budget for our June trip to Rome, Assisi, Florence and Siena. I am very anxious about making sure that I've thought of everything when budgeting (accomodations, food, ground transportation, fun money). All our reservations are made for sleeping and I've reserved and paid for five museums. I also thought a lot about food and am excited to try the markets instead of the restaurants. The suggestions here are great for food shopping. And I guess I'll have to give up my dreams for an extra special momento (table linens, leather, glassware, art). After all it's really about experiencing the culture past and present. One thing I am going to do is a travel journal and I'll start at home with passages describing the anticipation of the trip. That will be our momento.

That is right Ron! My husband & I planned a 17 day Italy trip with reservations in all cities. About 4 months ago we changed it to an eleven day cruise on Celebrity out of Rome. We will still be in Italy about 5 days prior so will get to see Rome and it's surrounding areas. After reading these postings, I am so glad that we did which saved us about $2000.00 along with paying everything in American Dollars.

On XE.com you can buy Euro's and have them in 2 days. The rate is better then all the local banks.
Has anyone used this service?
Leaving in 10 days, Barcelona then Tuscany.

The effective rate, delivered, on XE 5 min. ago was 1.66. I think you can do better just using your ATM card in Europe.

Georganne, I tend to take the position that there's nothing one can do about the exchange rates (or the price of airline tickets and fuel surcharges), so I don't worry about them. If the rates worsen a bit, there's usually some way to offset that to some extent, such as eating less in restaurants, using public transit instead of a rental car, or staying in a Hostel rather than a Hotel (as the others have suggested).

I'm at the age now where my health could start to deteriorate. A few years ago I suffered a fairly serious leg injury and that was a huge "wake up call" for me! I figure if I want to see Europe I'm not going to let the exchange rates hold me back.

Good luck with your travel plans!

My wife and I postponed our 25th wedding gift to each other -trip to Italy [Rome, Assisi, Florence]this summer because of Dollar/Euro. Hopefully, we'll be able to afford it next year. Is that wishful thinking?

Tony

I don't see the dollar getting much stronger anytime soon. If you want to save another year that is one thing, but I would not put off a vacation this year hoping that next year will be much better. You can always find way to save a little here and there. However, I don't see the Euro going back down to that 1.20 level or even 1.30 level anytime soon.

From the time we first starting planning back in Aug. for our 13 day May trip to Italy, the euro went from 1.36 to 1.56. That jump scared me too but what could we do. But believe it or not, that jump only brought the trip up another $500. We originally figured the trip to cost $5,500 for me & my husband. Upon our return, we calculated that the trip cost us $6,000. Really not that bad and worth every extra penny. So glad we didn't back down and cancel. We just followed all of RS very smart suggestions.

The quicest and best is the ATM. Make sure you notify your bank prior to leaving so you are not blocked.

My husband and I are going to Europe for the first time in September and we too are concerned about the expense. Two weeks ago, though, we sadly experienced how short life really is. My sister-in-law was going home from work and was instantly killed in a car accident - she was only 47. When something likes this happens it really makes you stop and think that you could wait until things are better, but it could be too late. Of course, we still are going to be smart with our money and there are so many great suggestions here on ways to save money, espeically regarding food. I didn't realize that food was so expensive. Does anyone have a recommendation for a reasonably priced hotel in Florence? I've looked into most of them that were recommended in Rick Steve's books, but haven't found one yet. Thanks for everyone's helpful suggestions - this is a great resource!

Sharon, I stayed at Hotel Aldobrandini and had a very enjoyable stay. It's an easy walk (perhaps 10 minutes?) from Firenze S.M.N. station and the owner (Ignazio) was very helpful. I believe it's listed in Rick's book?

Happy travels!

Thank you Ken, I have booked a reservation at the hotel you recommended. It's just what we were looking for! On TripAdvisor.com there was a comment that this hotel was in Rick Steve's 2007 book, but not his 2008 book.

Sharon, fantastic, I'm glad you found a Hotel! I have a few more comments, which I felt would be better posted here rather than sent as a PM as they might benefit others.

The fact that the Hotel is no longer listed in Rick's book doesn't indicate that it's no longer "approved" (or whatever). I noticed that one of my favourite Hotels in London isn't listed this year either, and I contacted the RS office about that. As I recall they said it's still recommended, but I gather that some of the listings change from year-to-year.

As I indicated, the owner of the Hotel was wonderfully helpful. You might ask him whether he still recommends the restaurant Il Grillo Parlante to his guests? I ate there a number of times, and really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere.

When you arrive at the large wooden doors of the Hotel, ring the buzzer for access. Note that it takes a few seconds for the hydraulic mechanism to open the door (don't bother trying to push the door open). Once inside you'll also have to go through a barred gate, which is also controlled electrically. There's a small "beam me up Scotty" elevator right after you go through the gate, or you can take the stairs to the second floor. It's a very secure Hotel!

There's often a large street market in the plaza outside the Hotel during the day. Be sure to wear your Money Belt! I found it easy to walk from the Hotel to the Museums, to the main Piazza or wherever. If you need reservations for the Uffizi or Accademia, you might ask Ignazio; he made the reservations for me by phone (try to get them early though, as they might be busy). One of the Museums (Accademia, I believe) doesn't allow bottled water, so keep that in mind.

Hope this helps. Happy travels!

Sharon , I am sorry about your SIL, and its a hard lesson to learn. Do stuff when you can,, don't wait for the perfect time..
I work in a place where many of our clients are " mature" and I cannot tell you how many times couples tell me they put off travel ( till the kids were grown, till the kids were out of college, till the kids children didn't need sitting anymore, till the house was paid off, till retirement, till this and that) then unfortunately one or both of the " mature couples" health then starts to fail,,, so now they have the money and the time,, but they have lost the ability..

As pointed out, we are all freaking out about the euro, but really is the extra 500 or even 1000, dollars going to matter 5 yrs from now,, when perhaps you have other reasons you can't travel,, heck no,, it won't.
Save a bit harder,, it can be done you'd be surprised what you can save if you really really try.

I agree with the prior comments. My wife and I stayed at bed and breakfasts so had our breakfast covered and ate awesome panini's from the street for lunch. We made it a point to always have a nice sit down dinner because after all, it is italy, and they are known for their food. The reality is that we just got back from a week in NYC and this cost us way more than Italy and for worse food. In Rome, we could eat a fabulous dinner for 2 with excellent cheap wine and dessert for about 1/2 of what we would pay in NYC. If you're going to England, don't waste money on food but in Italy, you must!