The Effect of Exchange Rates
Posted on: Thu, 2007-04-26 06:48
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The Effect of Exchange Rates
For Americans, travel to foreign countries is becoming a lot more expensive. The British pound is now worth $2.00. The Thai baht, which had a rate of 37 to the US dollar at the end of October, is now trading at 32 to the dollar. That's a 13.5% increase, or loss of buying power, in just six months. Add inflation to that, and I now understand why so many people are telling me that it is now cheaper to travel in Malaysia.
The falling dollar, combined with strengthening in other currencies and inflation, makes it difficult to judge how much a trip will cost when you are planning it.
Yeah, tell me about it. Its the result of the politics of the Bush Administration that pumps billions into useless wars while the economy suffers and the foreign deficit goes through the roof.
Unfortuantely there is not much one can do about this. It means I will have to pay more on my next trip, but hopefully it also means that our goods have become cheap enough for export to go up.
Unfortunately I wanted to visit Europe again. Maybe I should go somewhere else. Many countries have their currency tied to the Dollar one way or another.
I read recently that Albania is cheap!
I was sitting around the guesthouse last night talking to other people who spend all their time traveling or working in inexpensive places, some going home once in a while to earn some money. Someone pointed out that at some point there may be no good places for us to hang out. Cheap (my little cell is less than $5 per night), interesting, nice people, relatively safe, fairly stable, beaches not too far away, reliable electricity, adequate water with safe water available, plumbing. All those places are getting more and more expensive. So the younger ones are worried that in 20 years, living like this won't be possible.
Apparently a lot of people who have based themselves in Thailand are moving over to Cambodia.