Is the exchange rate an important consideration......

......As to whether you travel? I was getting spoilt and thinking of the many trips I could plan for, when the Aussie dollar was climbing but now that it comes crashing down, my enthusiasm has abated a bit. Hopefully, not for long.

How does one factor a volatile currency into one's travel plan?

Any tips will be greatly welcome.

Lee

I don't think so. Until you get into high money spending. ATM it. Banks give the best rates anyway.

Booze drives your costs way up.

Pubs sell fruit juice and cokes cheap.

"The outback breakfast is,
a bottle of beer and a look around."

Like going gambling;
Never carry more cash on you
than you can aford to lose.

Money belt that holds passport too.
Strict anti violence laws. So if you hit a robber, you're the one who goes to jail.

Cops can do nthing, for tourist victims.

No - though the cost of living in a country when I get there does make a difference. I'll opt for cheaper places if I'm planning to stay for a while.

And, once I get there, I no longer work out what anything costs in sterling (I'm a Brit). I need to eat, drink, get around - and I've credit and debit cards. I can't be doing with checking out the cost of a coke or bus fare. There's time enough to worry about that when I get home and the card bills come in. (Pay those off, then buy another flight ...)

Travel when you want to and enjoy. Don't let exchange rates dominate your planning - life's too short. Mind you, we've had a pretty good run over the past couple of years, but that could never have lasted.

Current downward trends in the Ozbuck are minimal, around 10% - just think of the poor buggers who were out and about when the AUD was buying $US .49 . I was one of them, but I still had a wonderful time.

Consider the advice of those above - look for less expensive modes of travel.

I've traveled in Asia a number of times since 1978. Dollar is up, dollar is down. There's always someone talking doom and gloom. Up down, so far it's always been good.

Husband and I don't particularly worry about the exchange rate - basically we just take fluctuations as they come. We always travel with financial reserves and more than enough funds to accommodate all those little and not so little extravagances that come our way. Our destinations and style of travel differ enormously - it can range from little towns in Cambodia to riads in Morocco, to a safari or trekking, or to skiing in Canada. Every January we allocate a travel budget to accommodate all plans for that year.

Next month we head for Greece and the slight decline of the $A is not an issue with style of accommodation hire cars etc . Just business as usual.

We use ATMS, debit and credit cards, some backup emergency cash. Funds (through cards) are spread over 2 different banks and 2 different cards. Once in Turkey we had a glitch with one of our cards - even though we had advised our bank of where we were traveling. Nice to have the other bank issued cards to enjoy ourselves while we waited the couple of days for the other card to get itself reset.

We use a travel pouch, worn under your clothes, plus a travel belt ie: ordinary looking belt with a zip on the underside. Amazing the number of $100 notes it can hold.

And yes we always think in terms of the cost/currency of the country we are traveling in.

I am Canadian so we have the same kind of currency fluctuations. I know how much I have to spend on travel for any given year. I "cut my cloth" accordingly. There are always a variety of places that I am interested in traveling to and there are always enough variables with each of these places that I can make choices that make them possible: length of travel; public transit, air travel or self drive; self cater or eat out; in-country tours or not.

For example, when we were in Botswana we knew we wanted to go to the Okavango Delta but everything I researched told me that the fly-in lodge trips I was most interested in were going to run $4-5000 each. Not in my budget ANY year (on top of the rest of the costs of travel). But once we got there we discovered that last minute deals could be had for 70% off. So all of a sudden this option was back on the menu.

In Ecuador we had a similar experience. We wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands but online research showed that to be out of reach. So we went to Ecuador, visited a local travel agency and voila, a last minute deal.

That was part of a 4 month trip so I suppose the alternative would have been to take a one month trip and book the expensive Galapagos cruise if that had been our priority.

It's always just a matter of establishing what your priorities are.

With the good exchange rate for the Aussies right now.......we have lots of them coming to Hawaii these days and helping our economy .....thank you. I am waiting for the rate to drop so I can go visit Australia again.

#8 It is dropping and so, you will soon be able to visit Australia soon and support our economy in turn.

Make sure you spend heaps, especially in Sydney as we seem to have missed the boat when the mining boom was in full throttle. :)

Thanks, all for sharing your thoughts. Really appreciate them. :)

Love travelling on a budget but everything seems much more expensive when the rate is working against you (for a time). Perhaps, I should stick to travelling in Asia. Makes me feel like a millionaire. lol

I have a number of foreign currency accounts and debit cards, main ones usd, eur, aud, gbp etc and I move money around accordingly.

If you spend a lot of time overseas it really makes a difference to keep an eye on rates.