Exchange rates - will they affect where you go this year?

[fatboy b]

With the Euro at parity, how's it going to sway your plans?

Even though the £ has dropped against the $ recently, it's at more realistic/normal level, so it's no-brainer for me to go over there.

What are your plans?

[elster]

With some of the deals tour companies are offering, not really. Except Japan is still quite expensive.

[Bollah]

I'm off to Thailand on Friday, and the baht is 10 less than normal, 50bht instead of the usual 60bht to the pound. Will make things slightly more expensive, but still cheap.

[grumbledoak]

Our only plan so far is an NZ trip, and that still looks ok. But we won't be doing a re-run of our European driving holiday if it stays like this.

[Don]

We had already planned to holiday in the UK this year.

Benefits:

No airfares (£££) or sitting in long haul
No car rental (£££) or driving a stbox (££) instead of a sports car (££££). I've already paid for the one I will be using.
No language barrier.
No visas.

Downsides:

No dirt cheap stuff due to a strong pound. Except...errr..the pound is not so strong.



The UK still has some wonderful places the chavs don't want to go.

[XJSJohn]

GBP has been devalued by almost 30% against the SGD, so i don't think i will bother going back to blighty this year either ....

[anonymous-user]

Europe destinations are off the agenda for me.

We used to go to Portugal a lot & the prices rocketed when they joined the Euro. It was expensive at 1.4 Euros to the £. So now it is out of the question!. It will now cost well over £100 for a half decent meal for 4.

USA is still good value, it was better at $2 to the £ when I last went there, but it will still be cheap compared to UK.

[Silver993tt]

Jimboka said:

Europe destinations are off the agenda for me.

It will now cost well over £100 for a half decent meal for 4.

That's still less than most places in the UK

[Roo.]

Don said:

We had already planned to holiday in the UK this year.

Benefits:

No airfares (£££) or sitting in long haul
No car rental (£££) or driving a stbox (££) instead of a sports car (££££). I've already paid for the one I will be using.
No visas.

Yep. Same here. Going to Yorkshire in July then down to Jersey in August. Was all decided last year not long after getting back from the States.

[Adenauer]

I might nip over to the UK to buy some cheap stuff

[Roo.]

Adenauer said:

I might nip over to the UK to buy some cheap stuff

Don't joke about it. I used to nip over to Calais twice a year for beer, wine and cigarettes. It's cheaper to buy here at the moment.

[anonymous-user]

Silver993tt said:

Jimboka said:

Europe destinations are off the agenda for me.

It will now cost well over £100 for a half decent meal for 4.

That's still less than most places in the UK

OK, it will cost £100 + for the equivalent of a Pizzahut for 4!

[IainT]

2 trips planned so far this year...

1 - Skiing in 2 week's time in France.

2 - 3 week break: Week in Vegas for a mate's wedding followed by 2 weeks in Cancun for my brother's wedding.

We'll probably go skiing i the US in March as well.

The rate changes are making no difference to where we will go, just how much it costs.

[Silver993tt]

Jimboka said:

Silver993tt said:

Jimboka said:

Europe destinations are off the agenda for me.

It will now cost well over £100 for a half decent meal for 4.

That's still less than most places in the UK

OK, it will cost £100 + for the equivalent of a Pizzahut for 4!

5 years ago it cost £80 for 3 adults and 2 very young kids at Pizza express. A few pizzas and a copuple of salads. Mineral water orange Juice etc.

[Adenauer]

Roo. said:

Adenauer said:

I might nip over to the UK to buy some cheap stuff

Don't joke about it. I used to nip over to Calais twice a year for beer, wine and cigarettes. It's cheaper to buy here at the moment.

I'm not joking about it, renting a nice seaside cottage in Scotland for the summer for a few weeks was going to be about €2000, now it's closer to €1200

[Skipppy]

I booked a weeks long holiday to Las Vegas for June this year in September of last year. It will be interesting to see where the exchange rate goes, but i have already paid for the holiday and am slowly putting away cash for some spending money.

I am happy with my plans at the moment.

I would like to go somewhere else in Europe for some sunshine in July / August time, but that will get booked at the last minute if at all.

[mechsympathy]

Don said:

We had already planned to holiday in the UK this year.

Likewise, although if the weather's crap (end of May and sometime in September) we'll be heading south.

[patmahe]

I live in the Eurozone, so I'll probably take a trip to the UK at some stage, probably Scotland and enjoy a good hoon

[rude-boy]

Not really, other than that this year will be quite an expensive one for us as we make the most of the last of the cheap flights and deals about.

Next year will be a bit different though I expect. Lots of things will be determined this year which will be shaping future plans. Some possible options might mean an end to all but LM for 2010 but we will see.

[dazren]

Adenauer said:

I'm not joking about it, renting a nice seaside cottage in Scotland for the summer for a few weeks was going to be about €2000, now it's closer to €1200

Karl, you want to head to the far north west. Bring over the bastidwagon.

In answer to the OPs question, last year I did three european driving trips, this year I am doing one. To make up the deficit, I'll hopefully be doing more UK jaunts in addition to the annual TartanHoon and ManxHoon trips.