Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct 1 us dollar = 102.29 yen today ... *urgh* I am cancelling my trip to Tokyo until the economy turns around and our dollar is worth more. Even US destinations are getting out of hand. This past Dec/Jan I was in Key West. The prices were very high. The check-in counter said they are catering to the European market. And it was true. There were so many europeans. It reminded me of how the US tourist go to Mexico. The US is the European Mexico right now .... The rates at WDW still keep going up too. At what point are the average US tourist "tapped out"?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>The US is the European Mexico right now ....<<< Yep, it is. Everyone questioned us for staying at the Grand Californian on our last trip. But the price was $400 a night including passes for 3 people. Well to compare, the DLH in Paris (which is a far lesser hotel in my experience) is asking for $1000 a night for the same. Dinner at the Blue Bayou was not much different cost wise than dinner a Pizza Hut for us. And my $700 suits would have been about $1700 here. Not to mention we rented a caddilac for what we would pay for a Honda Civic here. And that it costs $140 to drive 350 miles here due to fuel differences. On our 3 week trip to California, we lived a luxury lifestyle on a moderate budget!
Originally Posted By Mr X **I am cancelling my trip to Tokyo until the economy turns around and our dollar is worth more.** Are you serious!!?? <==bursts into tears.
Originally Posted By barboy "1 us dollar = 102.29 yen today ... *urgh* I am cancelling my trip to Tokyo until the economy turns around and our dollar is worth more." ----not attacking you specifically but more that prevailing notion I see floating around. Why should this currency change dramatically affect so many prospective travelers? The difference between Y110 and Y100 would not impact someone looking to drop $4,000 inside Japan very much, certainly not enough to cancel a trip. I could understand if one were putting in for some big ticket items like high end jewelries or real estate because even the slighest currency fluctuations could mean many thousands of dollars. I could also understand if someone suddenly cancelled or quickly assembled a trip if the fluctuations were very dramatic like from Y110 to say Y75 or the reverse but that, at this time, is quite unrealistic to see such changes.
Originally Posted By Mr X Barboy, you really think that's unrealistic? The yen dropped just in the past three months from as high as ¥120 all the way down to ¥95...and the dollar is showing no real signs of "shoring up". You're correct that 10 yen may not be all that big a difference, but 25 is sure getting there, with the possibility looming of further drops. It can certainly affect a vacation budget, that's for sure!
Originally Posted By Mr X Put it this way, barboy, what we've seen recently represents a full TWENTY PERCENT decline in the dollar vs. yen, and if it sinks on down to 80 (which many experts are predicting before we're "done") that's ANOTHER twenty percent from here. You don't think that sort of a difference would factor into vacation budgets? If not, I suppose I would guess you are rich enough to not really need to worry whether or not your vacation just got 40 percent or so more expensive!
Originally Posted By trekkeruss The 25th anniversary of the resort only comes once. I'd raher go and find creative ways to save money than not go and hope for the dollar to recover... who knows how long that will take?
Originally Posted By Mr X Well, that's understandable Russ. But I can also understand people who are choosing to remain domestic for now, since traveling abroad is so much more expensive than it used to be. For the same reasons, it now makes much more sense for me to vacation in Hawaii or California than anyplace in Japan. Yippee!
Originally Posted By SuperDry I was going to suggest that Americans could also go see HKDL, since Hong Kong has a fixed exchange rate with the USD that hasn't changed in 25 years, but then I realized that they'd get short-changed anyway
