Euro-Buzz: The Drooping Dollar

Clack, clack, clack.

I’m writing this on the 14:35 intercity train from Amsterdam to Antwerp with stops, as they say, in Leiden, Rotterdam and Dordrecht. At this very moment (clack, clack, clack) we are crossing the Rhine estuary where the big river runs out to the North Sea. A typical November day: rain and fog so I assume there is something out the window.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or spending all your vacation time at Disneyworld, you'll know that the U.S. dollar is getting hammered against the Euro. Really hammered. Not just on the nightly financial report but in the wallet - my wallet as a matter of fact.

Remember all those little bags of coins you carried when visiting Europe? Dutch guilders, Italian liras, German marks, Spanish pesetas and French francs? Well, just one bag now. The Euro makes traveling around the continent so much easier these days. However, the American traveler needs lots of ‘em. Bags of ‘em. Big bags. A few years ago the Euro was at $0.82 and is now about $1.48. That half bottle of wine at the station (a little tipple is most appropriate on a European train journey) costs $4.25 now instead of $2.50 just a few years ago.

Water, anyone?