Dollar Power: Livin' Large on Smaller Bucks
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| The cost of a two-and-a half course dinner in Nice? $50 with wine and view. |
By Rick Steves
True: Our dollar buys about 20 percent less today than it did a year ago. But, remember that that statistic is measured against a high spike on the dollar's value — psychologically maximizing. Regardless, budget options are more important now than a year ago for American travelers.
Here are some recent costs for me: Two-and-a-half course dinner (we split the lemon tart) on the beach in Nice during a sunset — $50 for two. (That included a fine bottle of Bandol — my new favorite red wine on the French Riviera — the waiter steamed off the label for me and it decorates the inside cover of my guidebook). A room with a balcony in Villefranche-sur-Mer, overlooking the bay of Antibes counting the world-class yachts bobbing in the harbor — $75 for the double. (In my research, I found that hotels mindful of the higher cost of travel and the sluggish global economy are generally holding 2003 prices for 2004.) A public bus ride around most of Monte Carlo's Grand Prix circuit (all prepped for the big race) — $2. Private time all alone with the best collection of Marc Chagall paintings anywhere in captivity — $6. A zippy ride on Copenhagen's new subway from the airport to my hotel — $3.50 (faster than the $30 taxi equivalent). A healthy salad bar dinner surrounded by healthy Danes — $10. Is Europe more expensive than last year? Sure. Is it a good value? Absolutely.
All over Europe, locals also are enjoying themselves in a world where things just cost them a little more, too. They are still reeling from the jump in prices that came with the switch-over to Euros. In Spanish restaurants, people ask for tap water rather than order bottled water. In Italy people are filling up on cheap anti-pasta buffets.
And life is more expensive even outside Euro-land. In Copenhagen, buses go every
three to four minutes now as fewer people can afford cars. In Copenhagen I saw countless young people drinking beer in public places — but it's not alarming if you understand the reason. Beer in bars is just too expensive for many here in Scandinavia. So, people buy their bottles for the equivalent of $1.50 from a kiosk rather than $4 or $5 in a bar — and sit with their friends on pedestrian squares or along canals. On my way back to my hotel, I passed a happy gang of six wheeling a case of beer down to the park.
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