Peter_S_Aus

We found that stuff costs about the same in Italy as in Australia – without conversion.
So if it costs one dollar in Aus, then it would cost about one Euro in Italy. Coffee in Melbourne is around three dollars, in Venice it ranges between 2.50 and 3.50 Euro.

We figured that if the number on the price tag was that same as in Aus, then the price was probably about right. We budgetted in Euro for Italy.

november_moon

This is really interesting - I like learning about how other people's brains work.

A funny thing about currencies with a large differencial - like the Indonesian Rupiah compared to the US$. Last summer the exchange rate was about 9500R to 1US$ and while we were in Bali, I became a total cheapsake. My husband and I had many conversations that went something like this:

Me: They want 100,000 rupiah for this?
DH: Ummm...that's only like 10 bucks.
Me: Oh, yeah. I guess that is reasonable then.

yk

Exactly, november_moon. We were in Budapest's Central Market Hall for lunch. The sausage + sauerkraut plate was 800 HUF. 800?!?! Oh, that's $4! Yes, we'll have one please.

november_moon

yk - so I am not the only one

Canada_V

(geek alert...) We had an overall budget for our trip in CAD. I made a database (there was the geek sighting!) and set it up so that I put in the prices of things that we knew we would do or need (including airfare, accomodations, Paris museum pass, specific attractions like the bike tour, estimates of metro passes etc). I didn't include groceries or gas for driving for the week we had a car, figuring they would sort of balance out with what we would have spent at home, give or take. Whatever was left from the total we converted and divided by the number of days we were there, to get a rough amount in Euros we could spend each day and stay in budget. Then when we were in France, I was the 'money holder' and as long as it seemed we weren't killing the budget overall (not neccesarily day by day) we stayed thinking in Euros, and comparing things relatively (i.e. does this 10E menu look twice as good as this 5E sandwich) rather then vs what they would have cost at home. Because that at home sandwich wouldn't fill me up when I was in Paris!

We aren't big shoppers, so there weren't many 'is this a better price then we could get at home' kind of comparisons - except for the Harry Potter books we bought - which were cheaper in Paris then in Toronto!

StCirq

In countries where I speak the language and think in that language, I "think" in euros. Anywhere where I am not fluent, and anywhere where I'm not familiar with the currency, I automatically do the conversion in my head. If it's a hard conversion, I practice beforehand so I know, e.g., that X no. of rupees = X no. of dollars.

missypie

I do exactly what some others here do. I convert to dollars when I'm shopping, but don't convert for food. (If that top at H&M costs $50 because the dollar is bad, I'm sure not buyng it.)

Food costs what it costs and they aren't going to lower the price just because the dollar is low. When we went to Italy, I was pretty obsessed with not spending more for a meal there than we spend at home and we ate a lot of below average meals. In Germany (last summer when the dollar was at an all time low) I looked for restaurants that were moderately priced in comparison to the other restaurants.