Any US Residents Now Considering Foreign Travel with Rise of Dollar?

[SelectSys]

Just 2-3 months ago I had written off most areas of the world as possible near term travel destinations due to the low dollar. Now it is rebounding almost everywhere except Japan. Some areas such as Australia are way off their highs. Even the Euro has fallen quite a bit. With oil prices falling as well it maybe that airline prices will finally fall back a bit as well making it more affordable to travel.

 

What do you think? Are any of you starting to think again about international travel? Where?

[ChevyCruiser]

Not to sound jaded, but we pretty well go where and when we want without thinking about the exchange rate. May not be the smartest thing, but being retired with just so many years left to "get out there" we figure we'll have more regrets about what we didn't do than what we did.:)

 

That being said, a stronger dollar is always welcome when traveling abroad.

[jaw62901]

Our deciding factor when we recently booked our 9 day/10 night Southern Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Jewell sailing 1/9/09 was the great deal we got and not the dollar being worth more. Don't get me wrong you won't hear us complain about the dollar being higher because that means a little extra spending money.

[kitty9]

I don't think the low value of the dollar has impacted travel for the past few years. I think the main problem is airfare. The fuel supplements on flights are insanely high, some as high as $400 to $500 per person, per way. This, along with continued uncertainty about the stock market will cause many people to re-think more exotic cruises.

 

BTW, the value of the US dollar isn't an issue for Caribbean cruises, just for European cruises where the US dollar's value has taken a great hit against the British Pound and the Euro

[paul929207]

We already had several trips planned to different parts of the world.

[travelntreats]

Our deciding factor when we recently booked our 9 day/10 night Southern Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Jewell sailing 1/9/09 was the great deal we got and not the dollar being worth more. Don't get me wrong you won't hear us complain about the dollar being higher because that means a little extra spending money.

This cruise really has nothing to do with the value of the dollar regarding exchage value. Your ports of call all will accept US currency w/out exchanging. The OP was speaking more about european cruises and land vacations I believe.

[chasetf]

Just 2-3 months ago I had written off most areas of the world as possible near term travel destinations due to the low dollar. Now it is rebounding almost everywhere except Japan.........

Even Japan is down......Yen is trading today in the 93-94 range......;)

 

 

[Spikesgirl]

Just 2-3 months ago I had written off most areas of the world as possible near term travel destinations due to the low dollar. Now it is rebounding almost everywhere except Japan. Some areas such as Australia are way off their highs. Even the Euro has fallen quite a bit. With oil prices falling as well it maybe that airline prices will finally fall back a bit as well making it more affordable to travel.

 

What do you think? Are any of you starting to think again about international travel? Where?

 

Actually we never stopped doing international travel. We just got back from Tahiti and have another one booked for the Amazon, plus a land/river cruise planned for Egypt, a culinary trip to Spain, and some sort of trip to Western Samoa all on the books. There just too much to see and do in this great big world to miss.

 

Not to sound jaded, but we pretty well go where and when we want without thinking about the exchange rate. May not be the smartest thing, but being retired with just so many years left to "get out there" we figure we'll have more regrets about what we didn't do than what we did.:)

 

This is our philosophy entirely. We are able to travel now and some day that might be beyond us. My DH calls these 'banked memories' and says that all our travels today will be our memories in the future. We are fortunately that we have no debts hanging over our heads, our money in secure CDs and several retirement funds awaiting us, so we shall continue to travel as long as the bodies hold up. Life is too short to watch it go by.

[BruceMuzz]

I just got back from Germany.

It never occurred to me to consider STOPPING international travel, so I won't have any problems starting up again.

I'm visiting Japan for the Lunar New Year.

 

By the way, the Japanese Yen at 93-94 is down in numbers - but up in value - compared to the US Dollar. The Yen has traded in the 110 range against the US Dollar for many years now. Anything Japanese just got 15% more expensive for those of us with US Dollars.

 

If a currency exchange swing is a deal breaker for your vacation travel plans, it might be prudent to consider a more affordable way to take a holiday. These sudden and unpredictable currency swings are going to be with us for quite some time.

[sail7seas]

Germany is headed for very deep recession.....as is Great Britain. Both countries made that announcement this weekend.

 

Global economy....... It is more than lip service. Wall Street sneezes and the whole world catches cold.

 

We have no plans to travel to Europe and won't be making any in the foreseeable future.

 

Gratefully we have done a huge amount of foreign travel in past years so lots of our curiousity and hunger to see and do have been sated for the near future.

 

We will be traveling domestic, Caribbean, Canada....... close to home. We have a number of cruises booked that we fully intend to go forward on and probably will book more soon.

 

We're Americans.

 

[bqkali]

We booked airfare to Spain in June for a trip in April 2009. At that point, the euro was about $1.60 and we budgeted our trip accordingly. We are still planning on going, with the same total budget. If the euro stays at it's current rate, that gives us about $400 in "wiggle" room for nicer meals, souvenirs, etc. :) So it hasn't changed our plans, but the extra spending money will be nice. Maybe we will even come home with a few extra dollars (yeah right!!)

[SelectSys]

Not to sound jaded, but we pretty well go where and when we want without thinking about the exchange rate. May not be the smartest thing, but being retired with just so many years left to "get out there" we figure we'll have more regrets about what we didn't do than what we did.:)

 

That being said, a stronger dollar is always welcome when traveling abroad.

 

Makes a lot of sense to me. Sometimes time is more important than money. One of my resolutions at a recent birthday was to no longer wait on doing things that I truly wanted to do.

 

Even Japan is down......Yen is trading today in the 93-94 range......;)

 

 

 

As BruceMuzz indicated, this chart shows that the US dollar is worth significantly less than just a couple of months ago. As a result, Japan is more expensive for US visitors.

 

..

It never occurred to me to consider STOPPING international travel, so I won't have any problems starting up again.

... If a currency exchange swing is a deal breaker for your vacation travel plans, it might be prudent to consider a more affordable way to take a holiday. These sudden and unpredictable currency swings are going to be with us for quite some time.

 

I hadn't planned on stopping traveling either. It just makes sense to me to look at relative costs when considering where to go next. Fortunately or unfortunately my list of places to go is long and exchange rate is one of the factors that I look in determing where to go next. For example, now that the AUS$ is down so much, I am more inclined to go back than I was when the US$ and AUS$ were at parity.

[Oceans&Rivers]

As BruceMuzz indicated, this chart shows that the US dollar is worth significantly less than just a couple of months ago. As a result, Japan is more expensive for US visitors.

 

That might help tourist-oriented businesses in Hawaii and on the West Coast of the U.S., which are favorites of Japanese tourists. :)

[SelectSys]

That might help tourist-oriented businesses in Hawaii and on the West Coast of the U.S., which are favorites of Japanese tourists. :)

 

I certainly hope so. My brother who has a car rental company in Orange County has told me that foreign visitors have driven his business for the last 18 months. With the fall of the Canadian, NZ, and Australian dollars something needs to fill the gap.

[Oceans&Rivers]

I certainly hope so. My brother who has a car rental company in Orange County has told me that foreign visitors have driven his business for the last 18 months. With the fall of the Canadian, NZ, and Australian dollars something needs to fill the gap.

 

I hope someone Japanese is reading this!

[ChevyCruiser]

Makes a lot of sense to me. Sometimes time is more important than money. One of my resolutions at a recent birthday was to no longer wait on doing things that I truly wanted to do.

 

 

A good friend told me something years ago that really stuck with me. He said "You never see a U-Haul truck following a hearse"

 

We too worked hard, saved hard, and just before we retired we moved everything into secure investments/savings accounts that produce a steady income stream. I don't want to say it too loudly, but the so-called recession that the media has whipped up is actually helping us. Gas prices are down, winter heating fuel is down, and travel bargains are to be found.:D

[sail7seas]

Makes a lot of sense to me. Sometimes time is more important than money. One of my resolutions at a recent birthday was to no longer wait on doing things that I truly wanted to do.

 

 

A good friend told me something years ago that really stuck with me. He said "You never see a U-Haul truck following a hearse"

 

We too worked hard, saved hard, and just before we retired we moved everything into secure investments/savings accounts that produce a steady income stream. I don't want to say it too loudly, but the so-called recession that the media has whipped up is actually helping us. Gas prices are down, winter heating fuel is down, and travel bargains are to be found.:D

 

 

 

Of course, interest is also down. Few investments are paying much. They said on Fox this morning, the Fed will probably drop interest to 1 %. Even CD's and savings, while Safe, will not be paying much.

 

Good on the person who put a chunk of cash into a ten year CD. Probably was considered hugely conservative at the time, but now........

 

 

Being conservative is not such a bad thing. ;)

[caneable]

Exchange rates come and they go. This summer we were living the life of Riley on $2=£1, now things aren't so rosey. But so what, the world is a great place so we'll be in CA next year sub $1.50 probably. If you're lucky enough to have the time to travel do it now, cos you can't bank it for later!