In case some of you have not seen this, I thought I would post this article on ways to stretch your dollar as it seems so many passionate travelers are looking for ideas in this area.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/tr...mp;oref=slogin

Hi W,

Read the article.

Maybe it is useful for people who have no time or interest in planning their own visit, but I can certainly do 7 nights in London and Paris (with Eurostar connection) for under $1999 pp.

As for paying for European airlines in USD....hasn't the writer heard of Dynamic Currency Conversion?

I'll stick with advice from this Forum.

Thanks WTnow. As a Canadian when our dollar was low against the American dollar we learned to stretch our travel budget - now that our dollars are almost at par I feel I'm getting a great deal no matter when I travel.

Ira, I agree that not all of the ideas are for everyone, but thought some might miss this and find some value in it. Most are not for us, but then our trip is quite unique.

I think the best way to save money is to stay longer, but not everyone can do that. Living simply also helps, but some prefer to splurge.

Staying in rural areas or places that are less touristy helps too, but many are bent on spending all their time in the most expensive cities.

I hate the crowds from cruise ships that swamp small cities like Dubrovnik and Mykonos, but some like to be in wall to wall people and enjoy that type of travel.

There are many ways to vacation and travel, everyone must pick what works for them. I don't see just one kind of traveler on this forum or one mindset, but many and extremely varied.

Here's an article from Travel + Leisure on the same theme:

http://www.travelandleisure.com/arti...e-trips-europe