5000$ is lots for 3 months, no worries. The biggest expenses are rail/bus passes and accomodation.

Is there any way the US dollar will pick up before x-mas? I am traveling dec 22 to jan 5 and am bummed out by the exchange rate.

This is probably a really stupid question but, does anyone know why the dollar is low against the euro? I thought it would be the other way around…

# sreid + J2C

Unlikely that the USD will pick up soon. And it’s not only the Euro it is low against (also e.g. the GBP etc.).
Greenspan has no interest in a strong USD at the moment.
Bascially the opionions of the "experts" go in two directions for the next future
a) That the rate will stay in the current range (1,25 to 1,35 USD/EUR)
b) That the rate will go up beyond 1,40 USD/EUR in the next 6 months.

Hey
Does anyone know if in the US I can purchase Euros?

A friend reccommended that I purchase them now (I will be travelling next summer) because the rates may go up to 1.70:1

Thanks

Though Europe exporters suffer from such strong currency, it’s unlikely that dollar will grow in the recent future. So it may make sence to buy euro now.
Though $5000 for three months will still be enough

quote:
Hey
Does anyone know if in the US I can purchase Euros?

A friend reccommended that I purchase them now (I will be travelling next summer) because the rates may go up to 1.70:1

Thanks

your bank should have them. I am getting mine at Bank of America.

quote:
This is probably a really stupid question but, does anyone know why the dollar is low against the euro? I thought it would be the other way around…

Why would it be the other way around? Monetary units around the world range in value from very small to very large. Britain also has a larger monetary unit than the US, as do a few otehr countries. The euro, US dollar, British pound, Canadian dollar, and Argentine peso (and a few other monetary units) are abnormally large. At the other end: Japan’s Yen is abnormally small. This alone is in no way an indicator of Japanese monetary/economic performance. Many people make this inaccurate conclusion.

The reason the dollar has dropped against the euro in international markets is for the reason abalada gave you. There are a host of reasons something like this can happen, but in this particular case, the US dollar was manipulated by Washington’s monetary policy (Greenspan) as an economic strategy. The US dollar is also low against the British pound. Part of the reason is in hopes of helping US exports compete.

As both Andrew and Abalada point out, there is no way that in the next month the dollar will regain much of the value it has lost against the euro in the past 3 & 1/2 years. Because the drop of the US dollar against the euro has coincided with a general rise in cost of living in all countries using the euro, expect a more expensive eurotrip in these 12 countries than 5 years ago.

While life in Europe will be more expensive than it was 5 years ago (for anyone coming in on US dollars): 1 month is a relatively short time span. Keep an eye on exchange rates. They shouldn’t change much, but there’s a possibility they may slightly swing in your favor, or to your disadvantage.

I don’t think $5000 USD for 3 months is comfortable. That’s only about 40 Euros per day. Hostels will likely range from 15 to 25 Euros per day.

I agree, $5000 for 3 months would not be comfortable. You would really have to watch where you stay(hostels as opposed to Pensions and Hotels) and the train travel has to be carefully calculated(point-to-point for certain stretches and maybe a 3 country pass for another stretch if you plan to get around the 3 countries a bunch.

It was said $5000 does not include railpass. 40 euro per day for hostels, food and museums fro me seems enough.

In the summer of 2000, $50 bought €58.82. Today, the same $50 will buy you roughly €38.50. It makes an enormous difference to backpackers.

You might be wise to squeeze a few more dollars out of that rail budget; if you’re buying a 3-mo. pass, it ain’t cheap.

Consider a 60-day Eurolines bus pass for 380 Euros; for the other 4-5 weeks, consider scheduling your stays in countries where you could hunker down within a region without moving around too much, or where point-to-point rail travel is inexpensive (Eastern Europe) or where a single-country railpass might be adequate. Also, Germany sells "railpasses" by the day; you can ride local trains all over the place on Sat or Sun or on weekdays within specific regions for a fixed price (21-28 euros.)

Ryanair or Easyjet or other such low-cost carriers might result in big savings too if you can schedule a journey or two in advance. You could, say, fly to London, then book a cheapie flight to southern Europe and work your way back north on the ground.

quote:
I don’t think $5000 USD for 3 months is comfortable. That’s only about 40 Euros per day. Hostels will likely range from 15 to 25 Euros per day.

Keep in mind it int including rail passes, and many times you’ll be taking overnighters. 5G’s is more than enough for 3 months… unless he takes in excess of protitutes/drugs, which can dwindle the funds quickly

Only 40 € a day ??? Except in some very expensive countries, that seems like a very comfortable budget to me. Makes me wonder what people who have no qualms spending that kind of money per day on average on top of airfare (which I assume is not cheap from the US) and railpasses (which I know aren’t cheap) do for a living.

Russ gives good advice. A lot of people on this site seem to think that railpasses are always the cheapest option, when in fact they often aren’t. Of course having an unlimited pass gives you lots of flexibility, and trains are usually more comfortable than busses or airplanes, but you should realise that there are other options.

fyi..airfare was only $525 for round trip. railpass is good for 10 days within a 2mos. period & cost $488. He will have approx. $5000 – $6000 (roughly $65 US dollars per day) spending money which would have to cover food, hostels or B&B’s, museums, and once he uses up all his days on the railpass, I’m sure they’ll have to buy point to point tickets, or fly from point to point using lowcost airlines such as ryanair, easyjet, virgin, etc. They also plan on camping one month out of the 3, so that will save some cash as well. I’m hearing a lot of conflicting opinions on the amt. of money..some seem to think that $5000-$6000 is cutting it very close. We’ll just have to see…thanks everyone!

what Id like to know is why dont i have a parent who is sponsoring my eurotip with $5000!!!!!!!!!!

If he’s camping and mostly self-catering (quite a few campsites have kitchens), he should be able to get around on 20-25 € a day even in most of western Europe, excluding long-distance transport.

I would advice your son to set some of his money (e.g. 500 €) aside for additional transport costs, unless he plans on hitch-hiking; and some for emergencies or special occasions. After that, just divide the remaining money into the number of days of the trip that are left, and don’t spend any more than that per day. In some places that might mean looking a bit longer for the absolutely cheapest place to stay, eating out of supermarkets, not visiting more than 1 museum a day and/or not going out much at night. But that’s not the end of the world, is it?

Whether the 40 Euros per day is comfortable really depends on your interests. If your hostel is 25 Euros (quite possible in some of Western Europe, although admittedly high), and your food budget is 10 Euros (low in my opinion), and you want to take the local bus (say 2 Euros) and see just one paid attraction (say 7 Euros), then you are overbudget. If you also have to do laundry and want to buy a drink, then you will easily go 15 Euros over budget. A 40 Euro budget may mean very limited restaurants, bars, clubs, and attractions. So I still say that 40 Euros/day is quite doable, but not comfortable (at least in Western Europe) unless you are really used to scraping along and don’t mind missing out on a lot.

sreid, i highly doubt the dollar will pick up anytime soon. it’s been doing badly pretty consistently for a while now.

$5,000 should be fine if he’s staying in hostels and not drinking a huge amount.

quote:
This is probably a really stupid question but, does anyone know why the dollar is low against the euro? I thought it would be the other way around…

I think US will keep the dollar weak to improve the balance of trade deficit. Many major American multinational corporations are doing well under this policy, they can export more with favorable forex.
But if the dollar is too cheap, US assets like treasury bills will be less attractive to foreign buyers. There will be an optimum level somewhere.

Visitors to Europe have to do more homework to make their dollars go further. Since dollar is at its weakest level agains te euro, you don’t want to buy a lot of euros today.