Please post info with valid currency only.
 

I know that some people have traveled to Europe one time years ago, and they think that their responses on this board are helpful. Although somethings do not change, prices do. <BR><BR>Please do not post price quotes in currency that is no longer used. For example, posting that a hotel cost 100 DM or a meal cost 20 Guilders or a train ticket cost 30,000 lire is pretty much useless. <BR><BR>Please either convert the amount or don't bother posting. Besides, if a price is quoted in a currency that is no longer legal tender, chances are that the information is pretty old and should be considered dated.

Yes, it is relevant to post a price from a year or five years ago, because you then have an idea of a range--if one hotel was 100,000 lire and another was 400,000 lire you know how they relate to each other, even if the information is old. As for converting the currency, you should do some homework.

Jimbo: If I know the info is fir YOU, I'll post nothing at all. As for everyone else's needs, I'll post whatever I can to help, based on whatever info I have, and truthfully acknowledging its limitations.

So I guess nobody is supposed to quote any prices who hasn't been to Europe in the last couple of months? I haven't been there since last summer, but when I cite prices, I usually date them so the reader can decide for themselves what it might be now. If I know Euros, I quote them, if not, I quote what I know. If you want to convert them, do it yourself, Jimbo, you can use a calculator as well as the person giving the info--people aren't working for you on here, you know, all the advice is free. Believe me, if I see your name, I will never post any advice.

hi<BR><BR>even worse is to quote in USD.<BR><BR>Over the last 20 years USD have varied against the GBP from GBP1 = USD 1.05 to GPB 1 = USD 2.02<BR><BR>Peter<BR>

Posters point to people who are why they do not return or do not post any longer. It is people like YOU who are driving me away. Can't you do ANY of the research? Perhaps we should convert and adjust to take inflation into account as well?

This Fodors board is screwed up. I misunderstood its purpose. I guess that I thought that it was intended to be of use to future travelers. <BR><BR>This thread is a microcosm of the entire Fordors site. This has become one big chat room with idiots responding with dumb-ass comments that have no apparent goal but to obfuscate and annoy.<BR><BR>I noted that all of the posters above have not even listed an email address. (Therefore I will not either) but I assume that is because they are weak people hiding behind anonymity.<BR><BR>I have found this site to be next to useless due to the plethora of useless comments and I will discontinue to post any helpful advice here and I will only post my information at other websites.<BR><BR>Fodors really should require registrations and verify email addresses so that responsible people are involved. That way certain people can be blocked.<BR><BR>By the way, prices using the Euro should be quoted in all countries in Western Europe in which the Euro is the currency. <BR><BR>The parts of “western Europe” that do not use the Euro: are the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway & Switzerland. <BR><BR>Otherwise, quotes in other currency are useless to most.<BR>

Hi<BR><BR>this is my Email address.<BR>Try it !<BR><BR><BR>Peter<BR><BR>

On a somewhat-related note, while prices of most things were posted in euros, we ate at a restaurant in Nice which had their prices only in francs. And, we went to a few CD stores which had many CDs still priced only in francs. <BR><BR>It made me realize how difficult it must be to grow up with a currency your entire life and then switch to an entirely different currency. Can you imagine if the U.S., Canada, and Mexico switched from dollars and pesos to americanos and a movie ticket now cost 37 americanos. I think we'd all be doing conversion into dollars for quite some time until prices in americanos took on meaning. <BR><BR>Anyway, it sure makes it easy for us U.S. travelers that the euro is nearly equivalent to the dollar. It will be interesting to see how it fluctuates over the coming years.

In defense of Jimbo - there are some posters who constantly post the same 5 year old information they feel the need to share. All information has a shelf life - some shorter than others. Quoting a price for a hotel from 5 years ago is not useful - the max time I would quote for prices is 2 years. Yes you want to be helpful (really, I understand) - it is about being timely and up to date. Info about architecture and art is pretty timeless and can always be offered. <BR><BR>Interesting to note that Cheat Sheet has eliminated the western currencies that no longer "exist"<BR><BR><BR>

There will always be a small number of complainers attacking the well-intentioned majority who provide information in response to a need.<BR><BR>When I first became part of this forum, I used to cite a lot more web addresses - - figuring that was one of the best ways to refer people to ever-changing information. I was accused of being an armchair internet-obsessed, never-really-been-anywhere search engine nut.<BR><BR>Memory fades, when it comes to prices, but perception remains valid with changing times. The feeling that a place was a rip-off - - a worthwhile or even an exceptional bargain - - remains useful information, if viewed in the time frame context in which it is offered.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Jimbo: If the info we give does not meet your standards of utility, by all means demand to get a refund of every cent you've paid us for it.

just a week or two ago (see, I can't remember exactly how long) there was a request posted here that people not post recommendations or comments without including prices. Some of us pointed out that we may not remember or may not have written down what we paid for a meal or a room, but we might remember that the food was wonderful,or as Rex says, that it seemed a good value, or a bad value.<BR><BR>And as Christina says, if my last trip to the continent was on or before Dec 31 01, I have no experience with euros yet. As it happens, I was in London in Feb; I still have no euro experience. But I can quite clearly remember or look up in my files which restaurants I loved in Venice last October, and why. I try to provide fax numbers or websites if I can. Price quotes become obsolete all the time, as you can see from any guidebook or restaurant guide, even those that are now quoting in euros. <BR><BR>If information isn't useful to you, feel free to ignore it.<BR><BR>There have been other requests recently that people with long postings use a double return to break up the paragraphs. That one I'm trying to comply with.

Capo: on top of that, anyone over 50 in France still thinks and talks in millions, meaning old french francs. Which were divided by 100 in 1960. It takes about a generation for people to really adjust.

Hey Jimbo, You sound like a sourpuss. Don't worry! You won't need any current info because you won't find anybody willing to share a vacation with you. You sound like a loser. Get off your tush and buy a travel book with "current prices". Or better yet, do your own research and don't bother us , who have better things to do than to make things easy for you, dope!

up<BR>

Jimbo, inflation is also a factor no matter what currency one quotes. This is a universal problem with travel matters, most guidebooks start to be out-of-date with respect to prices almost as soon as they're published. Not only that, but converting as you suggest wouldn't help, because conversion rates fluctuate even more wildly than inflation rates do.<BR><BR>All one can do is as 'x' suggests and use prices as a relative guide only.<BR><BR><BR>