There's good news (for the US) and bad news (for Europe): the instability in Greece has in fact affected the Euro which fell slightly against the dollar this morning, according to the New York Times. This, of course, is great news for anyone going to a European country in the immediate future. But, kinda bad for those living in Europe.

I was at a get together for a neighborhood/lake association in Grafton last month and a few people there were talking about the Euro and how expensive the exchange rate is making European travel for anyone who normally uses the US Dollar. (the rate was $1.4315 equating to 1 Euro Friday, now it's $1.4295)

Granted, not much of a difference but it shows the affect of a bad economy in Greece on the majority of the European Union.

With this, comes further good news (for Europe) and bad news (for US): the drop was directly caused by a delay in a bailout for the Greek government so once that is paid, the Euro should go back to where it was before.

And, as usual, the British pound is...um...sound as a pound. (from $1.6178 to $1.6209 for 1 pound) Which, again, is not particularly good news for me since I'm going there come fall.

But, for those looking to get some bang for your buck, I was reading an article (I forget where, maybe the Times Union?) about where good travel deals can be found right now. The dollar is currently strong in South Africa and Iceland, where I'm actually now thinking of going after the N. Ireland wedding. I'll add Egypt to this list too, though it wasn't mentioned in the article but the exchange rate is really good now.

The article also mentioned good deals in Vancouver since so many hotels were built for the Olympics and now there are obviously not as many tourists to fill them (and you should be safe now that hockey season is over...yeesh).