Hi all,

The Euro is down to $1.42, and the GBP is down to $1.80.

Good time to visit Europe.

We canceled our trip for dd and I to go to Europe and I am okay with that.

We are going as a family (5 of us plus one friend) to Paris in December. Airfare long ago booked and the apartment paid for - so we are going. What we did do was cancel an overnight in London in the middle of the trip.

afterall, I believe Lauren was simply trying to keep the discussion focused on the impact of the economy on European travel plans -- an appropriate topic for this forum -- rather than having it devolve into an argument over who in the administration is to blame, which candidate will save-destroy the economy, etc (which would obviously make it a more Lounge-approrpriate topic). And so far, the other posters have followed suit.

Paris has reported a slight drop in American and Japanese tourists this year, but the mainstay of British and German tourists has increased slightly so figures are pretty much stable... so far. In most other parts of France, tourism has been up around 5% this year.

Even before the events of the past fews days, though, it was predicted that rates in the high end hotels will drift down slightly in 2009, based on studies of hotel occupancy in various categories this year. Budget hotels are still going strong, as they always do.

We are going to Germany soon, there have been moments of doubt, but I've decided to trust. I have vacation time that I must use, hotels and air are paid for so there is no point in worrying.
We are blessing our travel opportunities and money.

I was in Spain the last week in April and 1st week in May. From our guides I heard the same concerns we are having. One guide in Seville told me she and her husband had to take separate vacations. While one stayed with the children the other one traveled and vice versa. They could not afford a vacation for the whole family at one time.
Saw a march in Madrid protesting their government due to finances.
This is not just a US thing. We have lived very well(not every one)
in this country especially some of us retirees who have been able to travel to Europe and Asia every year. I am a retired teacher and now I am beginning to wonder if I can afford to continue this wonderful experience.

Our Oct/ Nov trip is still on. The tickets were with FF miles and the apt is paid for.

We were planning on London in March and will still go if I can get a decent fare. I checked BA this morning thinking I'd book 1 free ticket and buy the other. I almost fell out of my chair when the "free " ticket came back, 50,000miles PLUS $540.00! The lowest coach fare was $1000.00

avalon - that is very high... I saw some great fare recently for London in March...trying to remember where?

We are still going to San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco next week, then I will continue on to Hong Kong. So far so good.

However, my husband wants to wait and see what happen before we continue making reservations for our annual trip to Europe. We were planning a six weeks trip but we will probably shorten it by two weeks. I am working very hard to make sure we don't have to cut our vacation short, but sometimes you just don't have any control.

Those free FF tickets are starting to become not so free. I'm not sure if this is germane only to Continental, but apparently it costs more in taxes to fly into the UK on FF tickets than other spots in Europe. Last year we flew biz class to London and paid the FF miles PLUS over $400 in taxes for 2 people. This year same thing, FF tickets to Paris and paid less than $194 for 2 people. When asked for and explanation, Continental told us that that the UK taxed FF tickets higher than France or Italy (not sure what other european countries). So that was that, we no longer fly through London for any reason since we exclusively fly on FF tickets, it's a waste of money. I'm VERY pleased to see the dollar/euro situation has changed in our favor just 3 weeks before we leave! I hope it's a downward trend for our sake!

Karameli, thank you very much for defining what I meant for the benefit of the poster trying to provoke a non travel-related turn to the discussion.

Yes, I don't want this to devolve into election wars because who is to blame is not travel related and somewhat irrelevant. What is relevant is the impact this crisis will have on tourism as people hunker down to see what is going to happen. Having seen my SEP IRA go south in the last few days makes me very nervous.

I have no plans to curtail my travels. My forthcoming trip to India was paid for long ago, my pocketbook wasn't tied to the stock market, and my business tends to do best when the economy tanks, so I haven't been much affected, at least not yet.

I'm probably going to put off trying to sell my house for awhile though and rent it instead. And I'll be making small cuts here and there where I can just to be prudent, which I need to be at my age anyway.

Still leaving for Paris on Thursday if I can get to the airport (we have no gas in Atlanta...bigger problem). Now, if the Euro continues to slide for the next few weeks, I'll be very happy!

>>>Nope, not at all. I have no investments,<<<

Amen to that, we don't have any either!

StCirq, despite what you say, if you have a house, money in the stock market, money in a bank, etc., we have all seen a reduction in our assets in the past few months.

No one of us is unaffected by these developments. Wherever your money is (unless it is under the mattress), you are affected.

Losses in value of the 401K and mutual funds only really matter when you have to sell and take money out. We are still living from a paycheck and a retirement, so we are going to Germany in December.

For folks who are living off their savings this must be a dreadful time. I suppose to many folks the loss of travel opportunities is less than their most critical worry.

We have become a one car family (vs 2) recently to save money and increase the portion of our income available for nice-to-have items like travel.

Always looking for trade-offs.

Regards, Gary

No investments???...and what do you think a house, a 401K, a job are....? One way or another we are all investing time and/or money and gotten some raw deals lately. ALL OF US.

<<... no investments... I rent... so I haven't lost anything...>>

Where do you keep your money? Under a mattress?

No matter the market there are HUGE advantages to owning property and especially your primary residence.

If you don't own property, and are paying rent so that your landlord can, you are paying much more dearly than those of us who bought a home at a price we can afford at a low fixed rate.

Owning property will prove out the best "investment" over renting every time.

Anyone who thinks they are not affected by this crisis has his head under the mattress.

LaurenKahn1 wrote: "Anyone who thinks they are not affected by this crisis has his head under the mattress."

Even the originator of this thread has been drawn away from discussion of travel in Europe.