How is the weakening of the American economy affecting your travel plans???
Mar 1st, 2003, 10:34 PM
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How is the weakening of the American economy affecting your travel plans???
Am I alone in scaling down my travel plans this year due to the Bushed American economy??? Unless I can hope a free ride on one of Dubya's missiles, I am in much worse shape this year than last as far as my travel budget goes.<BR><BR>Last year while I was able to visit South Africa, Zimbabwe, Guadalajara Mexico and Chile, this year I will be lucky to take one vacation. I was hoping to get to both South Africa and Italy this year but it looks like I will have to pick between the two.<BR><BR>Additionally, while last year I had a pretty open budget, this year I have really had to shop around for my accomodations.<BR><BR>The US Dollar is down 24% against the Euro in the last year and down a whopping 41% against the South African Rand in the last year. Maybe I should be opening a B&B catering to Europeans, South Africans and American missile manufacturers???
Mar 2nd, 2003, 02:33 AM
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This seems like a perfectly legitimate travel question. I too have canceled one usual trip for economic reasons.<BR>For our longer trip in the fall, I'll be using FF points or looking for a really cheap fare. It used to be nice not to have to quibble over room rates, but now I am looking to cut what we pay be at least 1/3 and use the savings for meals. And no souveniers will be purchased. Since we can no longer lock our bags that is probably just as well.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 04:48 AM
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If this is a legit question - and not a rabble rouser - I'll put in my answer. Sure the economy is slow right now and I'm retired- BUT ain't NO WAY I'm going to stay at home and bite my nails and listen to endless spins on TV. I'm 66 - time's a wastin' - and I'm going to make every day count! <BR>When I wake up - I hope to rejoice in the fact that I have another day ahead of me - and it's my choice how to live it. I guess I really do subscribe to the belief that we enter this world with nothing and we aren't taking anything with us! So I plan to enjoy as much as possible for as long as I can and not worry about money. My gosh - any one on this forum has enough money to travel in some form or another! HOW LUCKY WE ARE.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 05:01 AM
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Legitamate question, legitimate answer:<BR>My opinion is that we will simply have to adapt to the situation, instead of 5 star hotels we will have to choose 3 star, instead of business class we will have to sit in economy, instead of a bottle of Brunello it will have to be a Chianti, No way though that I will be staying at home!
Mar 2nd, 2003, 05:03 AM
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Well, the exchange rate is suffering for my trip to Europe for two months this summer, but I'm sticking with it. I'm looking for a few ways to save some money, but that's not new. I found an apartment for a full week in Garmisch for less than I was going to pay for four nights in a hotel there, so changed my itinerary to take advantage, for example.<BR><BR>But I can't believe the deals that are available -- maybe "thanks" to the sagging economy, so it can work both ways. I'm sharing a New York apartment with friends and so have a lot of use of it over the next year -- and that's figuring heavily in my travel plans. Just this morning I go to the American Airlines website and find round trip flights from April to Septemeber from Ft. Lauderdale to LaGuardia for a total of $125!!! Now that's hard to pass up, especially now that I have that apartment availability in NYC.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 06:05 AM
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Not that much, vacation bugdeting is a high priority in this household, thank God.....still like to do 4 major trips a year,,,,2 in US and 2 in Europe... try to cut down on other less essential items.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 06:44 AM
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The drop in the US dollar may affect where I stay in Dubrovnik this year but besides that I'm traveling a bit more than last year. Domestic flights are an incredible bargain right now - I got a rd trip, direct from NYC to LAX for $260. It's strange though - unemployment in NYC is 8.4% and yet studio apartments are sellling for $250,000 and new restaurants are opening with double digit appetizers that harken back to the miniscule nouvelle cuisine era.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 06:54 AM
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The pending recession is not affecting my plans for this spring too much--I have paid for the most expensive parts of my trip (plane, car) upfront, spreading the expenses out over a three month period, so that the only bills I'll have to worry about after the fact will be for hotels (dining and shopping--and even some hotels--will be cash).<BR><BR>This year we upgraded a bit from our usual budget hotels. As I watched the usual indicators--price of oil at $69/barrel, unemployment rates, stock market, power of the dollar, consumer confidence at a 10-year low--I started to feel a little shaky about this. Then I decided that since there's a possibility that the economy may be so bad that I won't be able to take a trip like this for a long, long time, I might as well really enjoy myself this year. Woo-hoo.<BR>
Mar 2nd, 2003, 07:09 AM
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The weakening of my personal economy is affecting my travel plans. To the extent that my income has been reduced 20% and my retirement fund has been eroded 20% and that this is related to the American economy, you could certainly say it affected my travel plans.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 07:32 AM
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Come on now Degas...lighten up! I am sure that you NEVER took a stab at Bill Clinton, throughout his eight years, right???<BR><BR>I am kind of pushing the envelope this year with my travel plans for a vacation that I probably really should not take given the uncertainty of the American economy.<BR><BR>Personally, I have saved a tremendous amount of money by scaling back from $1,000+ per night private game reserves to game reserves that I found through extensive research that are half the price. I also have saved 50% or more on my hotels buy buying them in an auction on www.luxurylink.com, a website that mostly only sells 5* accomodations throughout the world.<BR><BR>The same hotels that I stayed at last year, in junior suite rooms that I stayed at last year, would run me an average of about $400 per night. However, I was able to get these same rooms for an average of $150 per night.<BR><BR>Before any blasts me, it is all an economy of scale. While I didn't think twice about spending about $12,000 on my African holiday last year, I have had to really be creative to get my African holiday in this year for about $8,000 (a 50% reduction despite the dollars 41% loss against the rand...and I am not even David Copperfield!!!).
Mar 2nd, 2003, 07:36 AM
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Ooops, I grew up under Bush Sr.'s education plan...$8,000 is only 1/3 less than $12,000. Still a great feat to have an equivalent vacation for 1/3 less while the dollar has declined 41% against the South African Rand.<BR>Had I known of that website last year, I am sure I could have saved $3000+.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 08:20 AM
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We plan long-term for our trips, and budget accordingly. We originally thought we'd splurge more on hotels this year, but have decided to go the opposite direction. We're keeping lodging costs down at the 2-star level as we know meals will cost more (relatively...however it is still possible to have exceptional meals in France or Italy at about 70-80% of the cost of "everyday" dining out in DC or NYC)
Mar 2nd, 2003, 09:04 AM
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I think most of the readers on this board are middle to upper class so it isn't a true reflection of how hard normal working class Americans are being hit by the economy.<BR>That being said, our travel expenditures are probably the highest this year we've ever spent. Since 911 we've adopted more of a "you only live once attitude". Like many others we lost about 30% of our savings in the stock market. Any money you try to save now is at incredibly low interest rates so I guess we're slacking off a little bit and just relaxing and enjoying life. <BR>Things must be pretty bad because as of now a tour we're taking this summer so far only has 4 other people registered. Probably due to fear of war/economy reasons.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 09:56 AM
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This year we have planned several small trips most to the Pacific Northwest including Vancouver. We had a great three week trip to Italy last year. The economy makes me nervous as does the state of the world. So..it's close to home for awhile.
Mar 2nd, 2003, 10:38 AM
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It looks like that I will be eating a Lots of baguettes in Paris!!!!They are cheap and tasty..... anyway, after spending a month in Europe, Paris will be our last stop, and by then who can afford restaurants, especially now that the dollar is so low? But like the french say;" Je M'En fou" and I am going to have a great times anyway, visiting again all the places that Ilove...
Mar 2nd, 2003, 01:04 PM
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It has affected has negatively as my husband was out of work for all of last year. So instead of going to Spain for 3 weeks this year, we will try to go to Amsterdam for a week. <BR><BR>We're hoping things will pick up next year.
