Ciao

[Zkribbler]

I'm heading for an Italian vacation in April. I was just cautioned by a friend to beware of the cost of chow.

According to him, the falling value of the dollar has made the price of food skyrocket for we Americans. He says that a normal dinner at a non-fancy restaurant can cost $75.00.

Can anyone here confirm or deny??

[DRoseDARs]

It's the same no matter where you go: Locals hate tourists and will milk them for everything they're worth. We do it here in Reno, they do it down in Vegas and so on. Of course, you're dealing with currency exchanges too, so that will play into it a bit.

[Zkribbler]

I'm not so much worried about tourist soaking. I lived in Honolulu for a year and knew enough never to buy anythig in Waikiki but to walk across the bridge over the Ali Wai Canal to the Ala Moana shopping center and get everything for at least 50% less.

I'm worried that in Italy my plummetting dollar won't buy much.

[DRoseDARs]

Then exchange your USD for Turkish money.

[DRoseDARs]

And by "Turkish money" I mean Euros.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
And by "Turkish money" I mean Euros.

Or deposit my savings into a European Bank

[DRoseDARs]

Or a Nigerian bank.

[-Jrabbit]

Yeah, the exchange rate makes it a bad time to be spending US dollars in Europe. Or even Canada.

Perhaps you've noticed the price of imported European beer, wine and whisky have all been rising steadily. Same deal.

Ah, for the good old days of the late 90s...

[Nugog]

Could be worse - try exchanging NZ peso's and see how you go............

[Krill]

Tip to USians; don;t go on holiday in anywhere but the US for a while...

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Nugog
Could be worse - try exchanging NZ peso's and see how you go............

New Zealand...yeah! I could get a golden ring, tromp across the countryside, and toss it into a roaring volcano!

[Nugog]

[BlackCat]

Re: Ciao

Originally posted by Zkribbler
I'm heading for an Italian vacation in April. I was just cautioned by a friend to beware of the cost of chow.

According to him, the falling value of the dollar has made the price of food skyrocket for we Americans. He says that a normal dinner at a non-fancy restaurant can cost $75.00.

Can anyone here confirm or deny??

Both. You can typically get a decent meal for $30-40. That $75 meal is probably a n course dinner (n >= 3) with a good bottle of wine.

[Zkribbler]

What about a couple a pieces of pizza and a Diet Coke?

[BlackCat]

And what the heck has that to do with "a decent meal" ?

That you can probably get for $10.

Guess that your next question is what a McD dinner costs

Though, if you want good pizza, then you at least are going to the right place