Comments on: The State of the Travel Dollar, Summer 2009

By: Bilety lotnicze

Bilety lotnicze — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:54:09 +0000

Indeed our currency (polish zloty) has been getting stronger v the dollar. Last year it was 2 pln for 1 usd, just 4 months ago it was neary 3,9 pln for 1 usd – now its back to 2,99 for 1USD. Maybe when it gets back to 2pln/1usd it will be worthwhile to fly to the usa for the weekend to do some shopping for electronic goods again. For wireless headsets for our call centre I paid in the usa 20% of the asking price in poland 1 year ago. 150 usd vs 900 usd…..

By: tim

tim — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:56:01 +0000

Thanks for the update from ground level Steve. $20 for a private room in a major city still sounds pretty decent (I think we paid $18 when we were there three years ago, in San Telmo), but you’re not the only one to point out that inflation has been getting ugly there. Many see another big crisis on the way that will plunge everything into chaos again. I’m surprised the hotels and restaurants are still that busy though, despite the global economic crisis.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:23:55 +0000

ooh i’ll have to disagree with you on argentina tim…sure the dollar is now worth 3.5 ar pesos, but inflation is still out of control here. i’m in buenos aires right now, just came here from tucuman, and everything from hotels to restaurants to grocery store items are considerably more expensive. wayne bernhardson’s otherwise well-written book from late 2007 isn’t even remotely relevant anymore when it comes to price – you can pretty much double the cost of anything he lists, in terms of us dollars.

at this moment i’m in the cheapest hostel with a private room i could find – it’s 20 dollars a night in microcentro, and i doubt i’ll sleep much with all the street noise right below my old non-sound-proof window. tomorrow i’ll probably break down and get a hotel off hotels.com for around 50 bucks.

last night i had an excellent seafood dinner, from a restaurant wayne recommended, but it wasn’t in the 10-12 dollar range….with the cheapest, smallest wine choice my bill was 82 pesos, or about 22 dollars. just because we’re getting 3.8 pesos to the dollar instead of 3.1 pesos, it sure doesn’t amount to any better purchasing power.

By: Rainbowsurfer

Rainbowsurfer — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:03:44 +0000

What about the good old UK.

The Pound may have gone up recently but it’s nowhere near the £1 to $2 mark it was early last year.

And you know the beers better here.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:42:24 +0000

I can’t believe that the Indian Rupee is so much better than when I was there in 04 — I was getting around 39 to the dollar, now it’s in the high 40s. Tempting tempting…

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:43:25 +0000

Seriously. The beer in South Korea is terrible. It’s still slightly better than soju, though.