How to stretch the dollar to cover a European trip

By Laura Bly, USA TODAY 12/16/2004

The U.S. dollar's relentless slide against its European counterpart � it has dropped about 40% over the past three years and is expected to fall even further in 2005 � would appear to make all but the most ardent Europhiles think twice about crossing the pond for a hard-earned vacation.

But "in the overall scheme of things, a falling dollar is more of an annoyance than a trip-stopper � at least for middle-class and upscale travelers," says Durant Imboden of EuropeForVisitors.com.

"Think about it: You're a couple, and you've budgeted $4,000 for a week in Paris: $1,500 for airfare and $2,500 for expenses on the ground. The dollar falls, and what happens? Your total trip cost goes up from $4,000 to $4,500.

"It's hardly enough reason to skip Paris, France, in favor of Paris, Kentucky."

D'accord, Durant. But that said, there are plenty of ways to wring more value from a muscular euro. A sampling of strategies:

�Be willing to bundle up Though winter fares to Europe are higher this season than last, "off-season travel saves you about 50% on your flight, (and) that more than makes up for any loss in your vacation dollar's buying power once you arrive," says European travel guru Rick Steves, whose RickSteves.com site has "Thrifty Fifty Travel Tips" to stretch your dollar.

�Book a package, but watch for currency surchargesand other catches. An all-inclusive package can save substantially over the cost of airfare and hotel alone, but the deals may lose some of their punch if you pay now and are hit with a currency-related surcharge before the actual trip. Some companies, such as Trafalgar and Grand European Tours, guarantee prices once a qualifying deposit is made. Others pledge not to raise rates but require payment in full upfront, while still others � including Cosmos, Globus and Monograms � reserve the right to charge more if the dollar takes a swoon.

What's more, "some tour companies have scaled back the number of days in their European tour so they could still offer it at the same price. Kind of like making the candy bar smaller and hoping that nobody notices," says Tim Leffel, author of The World's Cheapest Destinations (blogs.booklocker.com/travel).

�Go by sea. "We're calling Europe the 'new' Caribbean in the sense that it's become an all-year-round, all-type-of-traveler destination," says Carolyn Spencer Brown of CruiseCritic.com. Cruising is "absolutely the most affordable way to take kids to Europe," she adds, because most travel costs are locked in before you leave. Among the current offers: Trafalgar's $250 per person discount on 13 European river cruises, for air/sea bookings booked and paid for by Dec. 31.

�Check European Web sites. According to a recent study by Consumer WebWatch, an online offshoot of Consumer Reports, travelers can land significant deals on airfares, particularly those within Europe, by buying them on European versions of popular travel booking sites. In test runs made this summer, Belgium-based TravelPrice.com offered the highest percentage of lowest-price fares, at 49%. Other top performers included U.K.-based Opodo.com, Expedia.com of Germany, and AirStop.com of Belgium. Other promising options: Skyscanner.net and Mobissimo.com, two travel search engines that gather fare results from several European sources.

�Live like a local. "My best advice? Rent an apartment/chalet/condo and do your own cooking ... at least some of the time," says Robert Bestor of Gem�tlichkeit (gemut.com), a travel newsletter for Germany, Austria & Switzerland. Earlier this month, he rented an apartment from Drawbridge to Europe (drawbridgetoeurope.com) in the Bavarian alpine resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The cost is $938 a week in summer for "about 1,000 square feet in a residential area a two-minute walk from the center of town, (and) a great wide balcony with mountain views."

�Use public transit. "In the past I'd spend $50 for a taxi in from airports. Today, with my new dollars, that $50 ride is up to $65, so I catch the shuttle," Steves writes from Norway. There, the kroner has gained 8.3% against the dollar this year and, he reports, "even the tap water costs money � but $1 rather than $5 for a Coke takes the sting out of eating out."

In Oslo, "the taxi in from the airport costs $100. Smart travelers catch the shuttle train, which costs $15 with a departure every 10 minutes zipping non-stop to the Oslo Central Station, landing an easy walk from most hotels."

�Head east. "Exchange rates all across Europe have moved more in lock step with the euro since the new members were inducted in May," Leffel says. But "the remaining bright spots are Bulgaria, Latvia and Turkey." Still, he adds, "you can eat, sleep and travel comfortably in Eastern Europe and Turkey for half or less what you'd spend in the EU countries," particularly if you travel independently and use cheap local transportation to explore beyond the capital cities