Is the plunging u.s. dollars becoming a problem for your travelling experiences?
Dec 9, 2006, 11:27 am
#61
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All my time in Europe - 2 - 4 months per year - is for business. I learned the hard way to insist on my fees being stabilized by being paid in US dollars. Each of my project lasts four years.
When the Australian dollar plummeted in the late 90's, I gave some ground to those who were paying the fees. It did prevent a renewal, though, as they could not afford to pay in US dollars and I could not afford to work for what they could pay.
In Europe, I work in partnerships. So my line item fees are paid at the moment in cheap US dollars leaving more CHF and Euros for a later split as profits. Good for me both all ways: stable base income, better profits when the dollar slides.
The part of my stays there most like that of a tourist have to do with my own retail purchases and daily expenses. For that I have created a small pool of funds there so that some local currency stays as local currency.
Penny ante hedge funds, I suppose you could say.
Net: a falling dollar is good for me.
When the Australian dollar plummeted in the late 90's, I gave some ground to those who were paying the fees. It did prevent a renewal, though, as they could not afford to pay in US dollars and I could not afford to work for what they could pay.
In Europe, I work in partnerships. So my line item fees are paid at the moment in cheap US dollars leaving more CHF and Euros for a later split as profits. Good for me both all ways: stable base income, better profits when the dollar slides.
The part of my stays there most like that of a tourist have to do with my own retail purchases and daily expenses. For that I have created a small pool of funds there so that some local currency stays as local currency.
Penny ante hedge funds, I suppose you could say.
Net: a falling dollar is good for me.
Dec 9, 2006, 3:35 pm
#63
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: DCA
Posts: 3,395
The dollar's plunge has led me to reconsider the European mileage run/mini-vacations I was planning on taking in the spring. I think instead of two long weekends in Europe I will probably go to Hawaii (basically the same distance , a little longer actually to HNL than FRA from DCA) for one and AMS for the other.
Dec 9, 2006, 3:49 pm
#64
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Dec 9, 2006, 4:43 pm
#65
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Oslo has some of the most expensive costs around. However, accomodations, transportation and groceries are reasonable enough (compared to life in NYC) so that may helps offset some of the sticker shock. (Oslo being overpriced was the case even before the dollar took the plunge these past 5 years.)
Jul 31, 2011, 3:39 pm
#68
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Canada
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Being Canadian... I'm doing my best to spend as much in your country in order to help your economy out as much as possible. 1.06 CDN is much better than .70 a few years ago.
So I would assume it must have some positive impact on the tourism side.
So I would assume it must have some positive impact on the tourism side.
Jul 31, 2011, 4:10 pm
#70
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Nice theory but the U.S. doesn't have enough domestic manufacturing capacity to take advantage of a devaluing currency. Cost of imports and raw materials will start to rise (as if they haven't already) and the only beneficiaries will be the U.S. multinationals bringing home their foreign earnings.
Aug 1, 2011, 8:32 am
#71
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central Texas
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We started traveling to Europe every year back in 2004 (after sporadic trips, interrupted by children and work, in the 80s/90s). In the time frame, the dollar has ranged (compared to the Euro) from about .80 down to .70, at the low end now, but apparently going up a bit in value. Obviously, many prices in Europe have risen, but that's been true in the US when it comes to travel, vacations, resorts and luxuries. Lately, at least based on vacations in Spain, 2010, and Ireland, 2011, prices, other than perhaps for food (and we're not luxury diners) have been flat.
Onb the other hand, air fares are and have been quirky. I recently purchased 2 Y's, CO: AUS/LHR for October travel, $615 each, "all in". I looked back to 1983, when we took our daughters on a 30 day jaunt to Northern Europe, IAH/AMS, $630 for the adult "Ys". I suspect there are not as many "good deals" around these days, but it seems almost weekly i receive offers for short weeks, hotel + air (from BOS, NYC, ORD), in Ireland for less than $800.
Of course, much has to do with personal perspective, likes and dislikes. We once lived in Florida (and now live in a land of brief and fleeting Winter), so tropical paradises are never quite up to their billing, while Hawaii, for all its beauty, was over-populated by both locals and tourists with whom we really didn't want to spend our vacations. Other than gambling (of which my favorite sort is college football, with plenty of opportunities close to home), my question about Las Vegas is "Why?" Even a rainy day in Paris outscores a week in Vegas, and lately the place looks as if the International Conclave of Freaks, the Freakish and the Glaringly Inconsiderate had been transported en masse to wander its streets.
It looks as if the US's and EU's fiscal states are in a joint decline, a sort of parallel slide down what we hope is not a slippery slope.
Onb the other hand, air fares are and have been quirky. I recently purchased 2 Y's, CO: AUS/LHR for October travel, $615 each, "all in". I looked back to 1983, when we took our daughters on a 30 day jaunt to Northern Europe, IAH/AMS, $630 for the adult "Ys". I suspect there are not as many "good deals" around these days, but it seems almost weekly i receive offers for short weeks, hotel + air (from BOS, NYC, ORD), in Ireland for less than $800.
Of course, much has to do with personal perspective, likes and dislikes. We once lived in Florida (and now live in a land of brief and fleeting Winter), so tropical paradises are never quite up to their billing, while Hawaii, for all its beauty, was over-populated by both locals and tourists with whom we really didn't want to spend our vacations. Other than gambling (of which my favorite sort is college football, with plenty of opportunities close to home), my question about Las Vegas is "Why?" Even a rainy day in Paris outscores a week in Vegas, and lately the place looks as if the International Conclave of Freaks, the Freakish and the Glaringly Inconsiderate had been transported en masse to wander its streets.
It looks as if the US's and EU's fiscal states are in a joint decline, a sort of parallel slide down what we hope is not a slippery slope.
Aug 1, 2011, 9:35 am
#72
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Illinois-downstate
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Mr sim510 and I travel to Switzerland twice a year. We've seen the dollar to CFr go from $1 to 2.50 to $1 to .78 ! It means that we find cheaper hotels and dine a little less fancy. Lots of meals in our hotel room with wine/cheese/cold cuts and salads from various deli stops. But we will continue to fly back to CH as long as we are physically able! Prices for flights have not changed all that much. We can still get a r.t. ticket from ORD for under $1000 in y class, non-stop, on SWISS.
Aug 1, 2011, 10:51 am
#73
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Nice theory but the U.S. doesn't have enough domestic manufacturing capacity to take advantage of a devaluing currency. Cost of imports and raw materials will start to rise (as if they haven't already) and the only beneficiaries will be the U.S. multinationals bringing home their foreign earnings.
