And, boy, has the euro been sinking. And the savings are the same in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. And there's more good news for U.S. travelers, because other, non-euro, currencies in the region have fallen against the dollar, too. And to make things even better, inflation was less than two percent last year in most of Europe, meaning prices have hardly gone up. Except in Turkey, where inflation has run wild.
European bankers keep threatening to intervene to try to drive up the value.
But there's no guarantee that will work. Economists say Europe's solid economy, growing at about half the rate of America's, will eventually turn around the decline of the euro. Until then, enjoy getting seven francs to the dollar in France instead of the six you would have gotten just last fall. Splurge in Spain, where a dollar buys 185 pesetas compared to 153 a year ago. For the moment, the dollar is once again king.