We weren't imagining the increased costs after the euro came along...
http://www.iht.com/articles/110205.html

Wow, 50% in a year is unbelievable. My trip seems to be getting more and more expensive by the day but I feel sorry for people who have to live with this every day. As if European taxes weren't enough...

My family in Europe saw the huge difference in prices since the Euros conversion.. The only ones that are laughing all the way to the bank, are the merchants....

This has been all over Europe not just Italy. We went to a shop near Florence just before the Euro took over and just after. The prices had doubled. My family in Italy has been complaining about the prices ever since. What they did is instead of changing the price of something that was 2,000 lire to 1 Euro they just changed the price to 2 Euro, thus doubling the price. Greece, Germany, etc. are complaining about the same.

It's a big problem in Holland, as well. Many people are coming to the Dutch West Indies, from Holland, since the euro was introduced. They say they just can't afford to live there any longer.

Sounds like the Brits and other countries rejecting the Euro are the smart ones...

My little sister lives in France, and told me that she is seriously considering to move out to one's of the islands in West Indies, Guadalupe or Martinique.She said also ,that the quality of life in France is not what used to be, and other Europeans with moneys are literally buying out South France. She lives in Mejannes Le Clap, a cute village 30 kms from Uzes, anyway , the Frenchs in the village, are a minorities now, the dutchs and the Belgians owns almost every house there.

I definitely noticed price rises. It is incredible...

Kismet, you can let your sister know that I was on the French side of St. Martin yesterday and the euro and dollar were one to one. I was amazed.

Eating out is also getting expensive. Returned from Northern Tuscany last week and found the eating out to be not the inexpensive experiance it once was. While still cheaper than London, where i live, it was not that far off. But saying that the food was worth every €.

I will let her know..Thanks Statia.. By the way, how is the weather there normally? Very humid? It must be scary during the hurricane or typhoon season!

When we lived in Taiwan for a couple of years, the weather was extremely umid, but we were lucky and while we were there we did not have any violent typhoons .Thanks Heaven for that...

Kismet, the weather is quite balmy year round. Not much humidity, but then again, I'm from Houston, so maybe my opinion shouldn't count....ha. The temps average 85 year round and there is always a nice trade wind. My husband always says we have two types of weather here...good weather and really good weather.

However, yes, hurricane season can be difficult to deal with, at times. She can get a lot of info on the web if she's interested. Good luck to her!