The LA Times is reporting that the average cost of a hotel room in New York is $240 a night and that a 3-star is running $600 plus 13.6% tax. I certainly haven't spent this amount in Europe lately, even with the crappy exchange rate.

It wasn't too long ago that i was bragging that traveling to Paris was cheaper than NY. Some on this board were talking about buying European property because it was so cheap. I'm all for cheap (inexpensive), but the pendulum (sp?) swings.

Everybody's circumstances are different. A few years ago, travel from the U.S. to Europe was a great bargain. People who had always thought a European vacation was out of their reach became able to travel to Paris and London and Rome. Some of these people saved all their extra cash, researched the bargains, stayed in the two star hotels, and ate cheese and baguettes on the park bench.

Why are some of those who are more fortunate, who have sufficient funds to travel despite a fifty percent increase in dollars in the price of a hotel in Paris since 2002, so quick to label those who are watching their vacations slip out of reach as "whiners"?

I have avoided responding to these threads up until now, but I just don't get the lack of tolerance for people who are unhappy about the increasing cost of European vacations. I traveled when I got a euro for 87 cents, and I am planning more travel now, and the price of meals and hotels has gone up in euros, not down. The original post may sound good in theory, but it does not reflect my experience at all. Prices in euros have stayed the same or increased while the dollar has gone down, and in real terms vacations are indeed more expensive.

Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Central America we are waiting for you.
Maybe a trip south will be more economical... US dollar still has a strong bying power.

We've made 7 or 8 trips to Europe in the past 5 years and we love it. I guess we can't justify what western Europe costs. Even eastern Europe is getting more expensive. My son was in Warsaw, Poland last month (not his first visit there) and he said it is now as expensive as the US. This month we'll be visiting Mexico where we've never been. The number one reson we are going to Mexico is the decline of the dollar.

If I were forced to pick one post that best reflects my thinking, it would be Marilyn's. I would add (and bet that she agrees) that selecting a less expensive place to visit is a reasonable alternative.

Nikki, I haven't noticed that people are "so quick to label those who are watching their vacations slip out of reach as 'whiners'?" I also haven't noticed those people as whiners. However, I have noticed the people who are complaining about the changing value of the dollar. Indeed, those complainers are whining when neither complaining nor whining is constructive.

ira, you used the example of flying from Atlanta to Sacramento as not much less expensive than a trip to Paris. I am planning a trip next May. My initial thinking was France. Then I decided to take advantage of the better valued dollar in Croatia and made another change to Turkey. Now I have changed the trip to Santa Fe, a place we have always wanted to visit. We can get there in a LOT less time, with absolutely no jet lag on either end of the trip, and based on my initial research for appreciably lower total cost than any of the other places. (We live in DC.) And that leads me to my last point ...

The one point I really don't understand is why Americans, of all people, don't simply travel within their own country or a bordering country such as Mexico or Canada (where the dollar is still relatively stronger) if they feel they don't get enough bang for their buck in Europe. There is a whole world out there including a vast U. S., which has incredible diversity, some of which simply isn't to be found in Europe.

In reply to:

"The one point I really don't understand is why Americans, of all people, don't simply travel within their own country or a bordering country such as Mexico or Canada (where the dollar is still relatively stronger) if they feel they don't get enough bang for their buck in Europe. There is a whole world out there including a vast U. S., which has incredible diversity, some of which simply isn't to be found in Europe."

Actually, many do. Those who travel to Europe in any given year are a relatively small minority of the U.S. population and many of them travel within the U.S., Canada and/or Mexico as well. The great majority of U.S. citizens do not hold passports.

Mike, I'm flattered, and in turn, I will agree with you that the world is a very large place. Whatever you love about Europe -- cuisine, history, art, architecture -- there is plenty of it elsewhere.

Maybe you won't like Vietnamese food as much as Italian, but you won't know unless you try. There is art and architecture in SE Asia that rivals the best of anything in the world -- Angkor Wat is probably the single most astounding place I have ever been.

If you love to wander around the hill towns of Tuscany, let me tell you that Mexican towns like San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, and Taxco have a similar charm.

And if shopping is your thrill, it doesn't get a whole lot better than Hong Kong and Bangkok.

Note that these places are all a lot less expensive than Europe and the dollar is a lot stronger. I'm not saying NOT to go to Europe -- we will be going in 2005 no matter what happens to the dollar. But if the weak dollar is cramping your style, then maybe it's a good opportunity to explore some of the rest of the world. You never know what you might discover!