diane

I recently posted on a thread about hotel prices some sample hotel prices from my first trip to Europe in 1964: $3.40 for a large room in an older hotel near the Sorbonne in Paris and $6.60 for a B&B in London near the British Museum, which we thought was outrageous since we had been paying between $1.50 and $4.00 as we drove all over Europe for 12 weeks. When we got back to New York, we had to drive back to Arizona in the little red MGB we had purchased in England, and I believe we usually spent $10-12 for motels in the U.S. Since I wrote that entry, I've been thinking of how erratically and inconsistently prices have gone up in almost 40 years. <BR> <BR>Prices in London have multiplied by 10 or more--I imagine you can still get a run-of-the-mill B&B near the British Museum for $60-80. Prices in Paris have probably multiplied by 15 or 20. Oh, I should explain that most of our rooms in 1964 were without a private bath; we were young and impecunious and thought nothing of traipsing down the hall to the loo! In fact, we stayed at one cozy room in the eaves of a gasthof in Switzerland where we had to climb down a ladder to get to the bathroom! <BR> <BR>But what has happened to airplane tickets in these years. It seems to me we spent $315. each for our plane tickets NY to London, and that was for a charter flight arranged by the U. of Arizona. A regular ticket would probably have been $400-500., not much below today's bargain fares. Imagine if air fares had multiplied by ten! Even the full, non-discounted fares haven't done that. Think of all the anger and frustration over narrow seats, no leg room, late flights, etc. I think we get what we pay for! <BR> <BR>I'm a college teacher, and my salary at the U. of Arizona in 1964 was $5000. a year. We felt rich enough that in one year we saved enough money to go to Europe for an entire summer (by living exactly the same as we had the previous year when our combined salary was about $2000). My salary has multiplied by 10 (and a little more), just like the hotel rooms. <BR> <BR>What about gasoline? In Arizona in the 1960s we were paying about $.27-.28, as I recall. If gas prices had doubled, we'd all be paying close to $3.00 per gallon by now, but we're paying from $1.27 (southern Wyoming on my vacation last week, although it was $1.75 in the Tetons) to close to $2.00 in a few spots. In Maryland where I now live it's between $1.50 and $1.80. So gas prices have multiplied only from about 4 to 6 times. Why do we squawk so much when our gas prices multiply by 5 but our salary multiplies by 10 or more? <BR> <BR>Any comments?

Capo

Excellent comment, Diane. An airplane ticket today, if it kept pace with other travel-related prices, would cost a lot more. As it is, I think they're an amazing travel bargain. If people want more leg room and better food, nothing is preventing them from paying more money for these amenities and flying first class.

Joan

Neat thread to explore: in 1975 my sister and I put a maximum of $10 (Cdn- which was about par with US$ then) a night on our accomodation at hostels, pension, small inns and even a convent or two for our European Adventure France, Holland, Germany, England and Scotland). We did just fine on that budget which included breakfast most of the time. My daughter and her pal just repeated that big adventure this summer and THEIR combined nightly budget was $50 (Cdn- now approx 75) per night but they were pleasantly surprised to discover that suburban and small town accomodation could often be had for half that! However, they decided to avoid Britain on the basis that it was too expensive...not too different from Diane's experience, of 37 years ago. The big differnce for them versus us was that they were forbidden by both parental authority and common sense from hitch-hiking. My sister and thumbed rides all across Europe back in those more innocent days. Our Eurailpass was an indulgent luxury and hardly used: their's was a necessity.

Betty

In the summer of 1972 a friend and I went to Europe for 7 weeks. We had a charter flight to Amsterdam (I think from Philadelphia, but it might have been NYC), picked up a car (DAF), drove through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium and back to Amsterdam. We had no reservations, just stopped where the spirit moved us, staying in pensions, small hotels or B&B's. Total expediture... about $1000 each! (But then, that was about 1/5 my year's salary at the time.)

Ursula

In 1980 I went from Zurich to New York for the first time and paid around CHF 1.000.-(apex tariff return!). That was really a lot those days. <BR>Now, Swissair offers ZRH-NYC for some CHF 600.- rt. A flight within Europe, especially the ones to the North, such as the Scandinavian countries, costs a lot more with a regular tariff. <BR>As a consequence, a lot more people travel to the US or to Asia, because it's almost cheaper than spending holidays in Europe.

StCirq

Interesting thread. I'd say that prices have gone up a lot more in London than in Paris, though. I really don't think you can get a run-of-the-mill B&B in London for $60-$80, more like $120-$150 in my experience, whereas in Paris you can find a perfectly good room with bath for $60-$80. Of course, I don't know London as well as I know Paris, so perhaps I'm "out of the loop." You're right about airline prices, though. If they'd gone up commensurately, I doubt there'd be a Fodor's Europe board.

diane

Of course I meant to say "If gas prices had multiplied by ten"! We went to London and Paris last summer, and in London we stayed in a somewhat seedy but large (!) room with a private bath for about $100 a night. It was close to the Marble Arch tube stop, and I was assuming that unassuming B&Bs near the British Museum would have been a little cheaper. I don't really know. We were lucky in Paris--we have a nephew who lives there, works for GE in Versailles--and we were able to stay at his apartment near Monparnasse Tower. So I really don't know what hotels cost in Paris these days.

Maggie

StCirq, Diane said she paid $3.40 in Paris and you said an inexpensive room can now be had for $60.to $80. That's multiplying Diane's cost by 20. If you multiply the $6.60 B&B by 20, that would be about $130. I *know* I've seen B&Bs in London for under $100. These are just two specific examples, not averages, but certainly the prices have gone up tremendously in 37 years. Diane, you said "about $100" for last year but you were very specific about 1964. Are you losing your short-term memory?

Elizabeth

1967......bought a one-way fare to Lisbon from Toronto for $250 Canadian.........spent 6 months travelling alone and hitch-hiking. I remember one hotel particularly in Estoril outside of Lisbon. A whopping $3.68 a day, with three meals and a wonderful view of the ocean. In Germany, would buy a beer in the local establishments and got free lunch for 40 some cents. In London, a small hotel near the Brompton Cemetary, set me back a whole $4.50 a day. Went with $1000 dollars and worked my way around. Returned home to Canada with $32 and A Million Dollars in experience.

diane

Maggie, sometimes I feel as though I'm losing my marbles, but my short-term memory is still OK. In 1964 we were travelling with EUROPE ON $5 A DAY--yes, it really was $5 then. We wanted to see if we really could keep to $5 a day; besides, we had 12 weeks worth of travellers' checks, we hoped, and very little emergency money beyond that. Credit cards were rare then--I don't believe we had one. So. . . we <BR>kept our expenses in a little book, with columns for lodging, food, travel (gas, oil, tolls, etc.) and miscellaneous. Each time we left a country (we covered at least ten), I added up all the expenses and averaged them. Our total for all of Europe was approximately $7. a day--for the two of us! We bought very few souvenirs. Whatever we bought had to fit in the trunk of an MGB along with our luggage, pup tent and two blankets. Spain and Italy were the cheapest countries; Denmark and England the most expensive. I think we paid about $1.20 a night a couple of times in Spain. <BR> <BR>How do I remember this? For one thing, the little book is a treasured souvenir. In addition, last summer we went to England and France accompanied by my sister, who had never been there before. I got out the book and showed it to her, and we exclaimed and commiserated over the low prices. On later trips it was not so urgent to stick to a strict budget. I've kept no records. I THINK we paid about 80 pounds for our room in London last year, but I can't remember what that was in dollars. If I decide to stay someplace that I consider a little on the expensive side (for me--dirt cheap for some of you), I conveniently never do figure out exactly what it costs in dollars. Away it goes, down the "memory hole." <BR> <BR>Thanks for asking--it has been fun to reminisce. Now, does anyone have any comments on the cost of gasoline?

topper

To the top for Diane.

Elizabeth

Diane: I splurged and rented an old 1954 MD TD (or TC) and drove around Switzerland and Germany......I certainly do remember, but why?......it just sticks in my mind. 25 Cents(Canadian) a Gallon (4 Litres maybe).......but can`t remember what I paid to rent the car. And lunch was never more than a dollar. <BR>

Art

My wife and I traveled around southern Europe in 1968 for 2 months on a $7.50 per day budget. We saw Salzburg, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome, Pisa, the French and Italian Rivearia’a and much more. <BR>Airline tickets have not gone up as much but definitely gone up. With pilots making in excess of $200,000 and airplanes costing in the Billions of dollars, they had to. <BR>When you mention that we also make 10 times as much now, you are referring to Gross. If you look at net pay (I pay almost 50% in all of the various taxes and I am not rich. I just clear the 6 figure income. Than if you add all of the various sales taxes $.28 for gasoline, $.48 for diesel, the compounded sales taxes it climbs well over 50%. Regardless of what governments claim, they encourage inflation as it puts more money into their coffers. The people that lose are we citizens. Taxes are way to high and climbing. It used to be that the airfare was most of the cost as you could travel so inexpensively in Europe. Now the airfare is the smallest portion of your cost. <BR>

diane

BYW, the MGB cost $2000. We saved up enough money for the 12-week trip in 1964, including the airfare, but we had to borrow money to buy the car. That's the only money we ever borrowed until we bought our first house a few years later. We have never borrowed to travel, and we alwyas pay off our credit cards in full when we received them. We don't take trips we can't afford. <BR> <BR>My question about gasoline is, why do Americans complain so much about its cost? Many people pay more for a gallon of WATER than for a gallon of gas! Anyone who has been to Europe knows how much more gas costs over there. What does it cost elsewhere in the world?

diane

Now everyone can try to figure out what BYW means! Sorry, I meant BTW.

Ted

My neighbor's son who had lived in Venezuela said gas there was about $.10 <BR>a gallon! Isn't Venezuela a member of OPEC?

Stella

Diane, you quoted "memory hole"--any particular reason? It sounds familiar. <BR> <BR>Regarding the comment about rooms without bathrooms, has anyone stayed in a room where it looks like they have taken part of the room and stuck a little bathroom in it? Do they still have hotels that don't have private bathrooms? (I'm sure they do, but nice ones I mean).

diane

I quoted "memory hole" because it sounded familiar to me too. I felt as though I was plagiarizing when I typed it without quotation marks. I believe it comes from Orwell's 1984.

tommy

interesting old thread - any new comments?

diane

I enjoyed rereading this old thread. What are this summer's prices? What are now the cheapest countries in Europe to travel in?