Comments on: Stupid Dollar.

By: Omar Cruz

Omar Cruz — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:55:00 +0000

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:08:00 +0000

Katie, don’t kid yourself. You weren’t staying at 4 or 5 star hotels at that rate in China. I go to China constantly for business and know it well, in fact I’m in China now and for the next two weeks. I’m aware that your tour operator probably told you they were 4 or 5 star hotels but they weren’t. We do stay in the 5 star hotels and even with our corporate discounted rates (which are very discounted compared to the other rates since I work for a large international bank) it costs at minimum $300 a night at the good hotels, and usually more. Then when you factor in the taxes and incidentals it’s at minimum $400 a night.

The term 5-star hotel is thrown around a lot when it shouldn’t be. I’ve seen hotels that are equivalent to the Ramada being called 5-star hotels. The 5-star hotels in places like Beijing, Shanghai, etc. are St. Regis, Four Seasons, etc.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:01:00 +0000

My friends and I just went to Costa Rica for a week-long trip… we stayed in amazing hotels (that would cost over 300/night here in the States), did adventurous stuff like white-water rafting and horseback riding, and ate and drank to our hearts’ content… total cost of the trip per person? 1000. Including airfare. Central America is definitely the way to go!!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:16:00 +0000

Oh, when I went it was actually $1.40. My bro told me it was $1.60 in Italy, but maybe he was wrong. I’ll check the exchange rate and fix it. Thanks!

By: SFGal

SFGal — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 08:23:00 +0000

The dollar is totally sucking right now. It’s nice to know that there are still affordable places to travel outside of the US, but I wish the dollar would pick up again so traveling to Europe might be fun instead of painful.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:18:00 +0000

$1.60 for 1 Euro? I think you went to a bad currency shop! The Euro only recently touched $1.50, and the currency shops don’t usually jack rates up that much. From an ATM would have been the best rate, of course.

And I recently booked a flight to Switzerland over Christmas for only $550! But you’re right, it’s usually hard to find airfares to Europe for less than a whole vacation in Mexico.

By: Katie

Katie — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:41:00 +0000

I did a 15-day tour to China last year for about $2,700.

That included round-trip airfare from Chicago, 4 or 5 star accommodations in every city, all flights/tour guides/admissions/buses/boats within China, and most meals.

This year I went to Europe.
It was half as long, I barely ate any meals, I stayed with a friend and in a hostel. All for the price of $2,000.

Both trips were amazing, but China is definitely the better deal right now.