How low does our $ get for you to stop travelling to the US?

[pigletto]

LOL Gina last time I checked you only had two trips on the horizon! Good for you!!

To answer the question.. I think it stings more for us because our vacation budget got tighter (by choice) at the same time as the low dollar. We have some other priorities that we are putting aside money for. So I am working with less and having to spend more. It's tough. I'm not at the "don't go" point yet. But things that used to be a given are getting slashed from the budget... Park Hoppers? Nope. Rental Car? Maybe.. but not if onsite. I will likely make fewer ADR's. And although I just booked our onsite trip at a mod just last week, I am seriously considering moving offsite to where we stayed last year (and loved).
I won't stop going, but it will be a once a year venture while I am trying to make this budget stretch.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

LOL Gina last time I checked you only had two trips on the horizon! Good for you!!

To answer the question.. I think it stings more for us because our vacation budget got tighter (by choice) at the same time as the low dollar. We have some other priorities that we are putting aside money for. So I am working with less and having to spend more. It's tough. I'm not at the "don't go" point yet. But things that used to be a given are getting slashed from the budget... Park Hoppers? Nope. Rental Car? Maybe.. but not if onsite. I will likely make fewer ADR's. And although I just booked our onsite trip at a mod just last week, I am seriously considering moving offsite to where we stayed last year (and loved).
I won't stop going, but it will be a once a year venture while I am trying to make this budget stretch.

Trip #3 was just booked this past week, when Jetblue released their fares through May 3rd. We knew we wanted to go back again in the spring before our Universal AP's expired (we want to get as much value out of those suckers as we can) and airfare was a great price from Buffalo, so we reserved one of our 2016 timeshare weeks with Starwood and the planning for next year officially began.

I will admit, the sting of the dollar is alleviated a tad bit by the fact that we are now mostly travelling as a couple versus a family. Out of three trips in 2015, our son and his GF are only coming on one of them. That means our expenses for airfare, food, attractions, etc. are at least 1/3 less than what we were used to budgeting. Jake is just getting ready to head into his final year of college, and all of his expenses are paid in full (with a tidy sum still left in his RESP to give him options once he graduates in the spring.....if he doesn't get a job in his field after graduation, he can always return for a third year to get a second diploma in one of the related courses and still incur no student debt). He's also working his buns off and covering many of his own expenses now (vehicle, clothing, etc.) which translates into money in our pockets. If we were entering a different stage in our lives (at the beginning of the post secondary expenses rather than nearing the end) then it would be a totally different ball game.

 

[grantclaire]

We have gone when the dollar was at 60.00 cent's and that was with 3 kids! Now its just the DS16 who is entering grade 11. So we will go the next two March Breaks ( have a Disney Cruise booked for March 2016) then we can start going off peak times! Will do less shopping for sure when the $ is low.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Down, down, down it goes....

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/loon...anada-cuts-key-interest-rate-tsx-up-1.2469798

 

[planningjollyholiday]

Down, down, down it goes....

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/loon...anada-cuts-key-interest-rate-tsx-up-1.2469798

Ughh very disappointing. I wonder how low we will go until we start going up.

 

[Susie63]

Meh.... the money I am saving on my mortgage interest will make up for the US dollar exchange...... that's what I keep telling myself

 

[CerysG]

We aren't planning a trip till August 2017 so I hope it's a lot better by than. If not we will likely put it off another year and keep saving to make up the difference. To add another 30 or 40 % on to an already expensive trip is a bit to much for us.

 

[dsneygirl]

Meh.... the money I am saving on my mortgage interest will make up for the US dollar exchange...... that's what I keep telling myself

I used to feel that way when gas was less than a dollar. But now???

 

[bankr63]

I used to feel that way when gas was less than a dollar. But now???

Well the average price of gas in the US is $0.71/l which is still under a buck after exchange. And in the deep south, it's much better than that at about $0.60/l. So consider a drive down and make the savings on the gas...

ETA - prices from GasBuddy to July 20th US National Average, and Myrtle Beach SC for the South.

 

[dsneygirl]

Well the average price of gas in the US is $0.71/l which is still under a buck after exchange. And in the deep south, it's much better than that at about $0.60/l. So consider a drive down and make the savings on the gas...

ETA - prices from GasBuddy to July 20th US National Average, and Myrtle Beach SC for the South.

Sorry I meant when it was 99 cents here it was like saving 20% every time I filled up so that helped offset the vacation budget but now at $1.20 highway robbery. Regardless next trip we are driving for sure.

 

[hardis5]

Sad when I look back recently at 83 cents and think I wish it was still that. Paid off our cruise when at that and the recent drop will hurt in the additional costs incurred when down south, but I rationalize it this way...the CDN dollar has dropped and my exchange rate has gone up about 10% so my park, ship and port costs will have gone up 10%. I don't like but can live with it costing only 10% more as a vacation is a purely discretionary cost to start with. We also buffered some of the recent drop by moving $ to our US account prior. Now if the increase was 25% and I had paid little already and my total planned cost truly rose 25%, that may affect my decision.

 

[bankr63]

One good thing for cruisers is that our dollar is not doing that badly against international currencies, just against the US$. So your shipboard costs may be rising, but your shore costs should be fairly stable. For instance the C$ to MxP rate has been very stable over the past couple of years (about a 1% difference from low to high) vs a 38% difference in the US$ to MxP.

 

[jeepwreck]

I am glad I paid off the remaining balance of our up coming trip in Nov earlier this week because I see the dollar is now 0.76 damn

 

[dancin Disney style]

I was listening to a discussion about the loonie on the radio this morning and the prediction is that it will drop to $0.70 in the very near future.

 

[MammerJammer]

We do the same as above. We usually take two trips per year - one long weekend and one 9-day trip. We may end up having to cut out the long weekend. For the most part, we just try to book as much as we can using sites like Expedia where at least we are paying in Canadian dollars. Also, using Chase credit cards like Sears Mastercard or Amazon Visa helps because there is no foreign transaction fee (usually 2.5% on bank credit cards).

I got an Amazon Visa for this reason exactly.

 

[Silvermist999]

I was listening to a discussion about the loonie on the radio this morning and the prediction is that it will drop to $0.70 in the very near future.

I heard the same a few months ago - although I'm thinking we likely won't see it at that level until next spring or so.
We were supposed to be in WDW last month, but had to cancel due to a family emergency (when the dollar was just above$0.80). We are planning to go next spring, even if it does fall to $0.70. Everything has been saved for, but we may go for fewer than 10 days if needed.

 

[Canadave]

I remember paying $1.64 for a US$ on our credit card on our trip back in 2002...will probably do it again. But let's hope this trend reverses soon!

 

[jeepwreck]

we are getting pretty low now today its at 0.74$

 

[blairjen]

Our first trip was 18 years ago with a $.60 cent dollar. That's probably our benchmark. It is tough to find equal value in Canada for a summer vacation.We stay at the Marriott Grande Vista and the rates we get there are a lot cheaper than what we find for something on PEI for example (Brudenell or Crowbush Resorts). You also know it will be hot in Orlando in August (before and after the thunder showers)

 

[dsneygirl]

Our first trip was 18 years ago with a $.60 cent dollar. That's probably our benchmark. It is tough to find equal value in Canada for a summer vacation.We stay at the Marriott Grande Vista and the rates we get there are a lot cheaper than what we find for something on PEI for example (Brudenell or Crowbush Resorts). You also know it will be hot in Orlando in August (before and after the thunder showers)

We have traveled a lot every year. Difference is back then there were only 2 of us! Paying for 4 (one almost an adult) is painful. It makes me really glad we have our DVC though, although dues are higher with the exchange rate we've been so many times we don't feel the need to do it all or go all out on all the extras which is what really adds up. We have no interest in character meals every day of the trip or BBB or anything like that. Also way easier to eat in the room.