Those Were the Days: The Weak Dollar Effects Summer European Travel

In the early summer of 1999 University of Northern Iowa History Professor Gregory Bruess and his wife Isabella Varela packed their suitcases and boarded the long flight to Greece. This was not their first time traveling to Greece but it was, however, their first time taking a small group of UNI students with, ready to experience, as Bruess refers to it as, an "experimental learning course."

Greece is one of the fifteen countries in the European Union that has adopted the Euro as its currency. Since their trip in 1999 the U.S. dollar has fallen 60% in value to the Euro. According to an article by the Associated Press on April 17th, the dollar is being devalued due to a combination of a poor U.S. economy and interest rate cuts by the Federal reserve.

But that has not stopped Bruess or the UNI students he takes with him from traveling overseas each year. In fact, 24 students will be joining Bruess and his wife this year, an increase of two from last year. "The more students we have going the more discounts we receive as a group," said Bruess.

The numbers of participants have stayed about the same for a separate group of UNI students who will be traveling for course credit this summer as well. Dr. Stephen Gaies and Dr. Konrad Sadkowski are taking a group to Poland for a five-week, six credit course on the Holocaust and national identity.

Poland does not use the Euro as its currency but rather their own Polish currency called the zloty. The U.S. dollar has been losing value to the zloty as well. It lost 20% of its value against the zloty. “This is not out of the blue, not a new problem. The dollar has been dropping against the zloty for four to five years now,” said Gaies.

He sees the problem as two-fold. “In Poland, as well as in the rest of Europe, the costs of food, gas, and everything is rising 10 to 15 percent a year.” With the average costs of everyday living rising, the American dollar is buying less with that.

The numbers of students participating in the summer study aboard programs like Greece and Poland show no declines that parallel the falling dollar however. Although the students are feeling the impact with a bigger hole in their pocket this year.

“The trips are pre-paid in many cases so we ended up revising our summer program budgets that we provided to the students a year ago several times,” said Yana Cornish, UNI’s Study Abroad Program Coordinator. The program cost increases were nominal for most groups, totaling around $300 for the five-week Poland trip.

Cornish and those behind the scenes planning the trips are feeling the impact in other ways. Programs which normally stay open to students for as long as possible had to be closed at earlier dates to save costs by booking flights and accommodations earlier. “We really had to pressure students to commit earlier. Most students were pretty understanding of that,” she said.

Bruess, Gaies, and Cornish all attest that the falling dollar has not created any drastic alterations on their summer trips. “We’ve had to make some creative program arrangements that would save the students money. Really it just created additional work for our office,” said Cornish.

According to Gaies, the Poland students will have only a few adjustments in excursions and housing. Students traveling to Greece will experience similar adjustments in housing as well.

“If this trend continues it is possible we will have to vary our program. Instead of going to a number of the Greek islands like we do now, we may have to go to two or three places and stay there,” said Bruess.

Students travelers are not just looking to their savings or their parents to cover the costs anymore. Cornish has noticed an increase in student interest in financial aid for the summer and next fall. "The financial aid office is absolutely excellent in assisting study aboard students with their financial needs," she said.

The different colleges that make up UNI are, for the most part, very supportive of study aboard programs offering students scholarships or grants for participation. The study aboard office offers students scholarships as well. “This year we’ve had the highest number of scholarship applicants that we’ve ever seen...students need external funding now,” said Cornish.

While some universities across the nation are experiencing a new level of interest and participation in South American study aboard programs where the dollar is stronger, UNI is not. This may be due in part to the very particular programs, like language programs or social work, that are offered through UNI to South America. “But for most students the study aboard dream is Europe. Students are willing to pay slightly more and go to the place of their dreams,” Cornish adds.


Katie Paar, senior Spanish Education major, along with a few of her friends, is taking her dream trip to Europe the day after her graduation from UNI on May 10th. The continual “Dollar Hits Record Low Against Euro” headlines are not changing her travel plans, she said.

She plans to visit England, Austria, Croatia, Italy, France and Spain. All these countries use the Euro except for Croatia. “The way I see it is it’s one of those things that you can only do once. So you’ve got to do it while you have the chance, regardless of exchange rates,” she said.

Katie has sifted through the travel advice articles online to make sure she’s doing everything she can to save cash. “I've learned I have to plan ahead of time and book things early to spend as much as I can in U.S. dollars before I leave rather than pay in Euros when I'm there.”

“Any time you can prepay in dollars you will be getting a better deal,” agreed
Pat Belabarbelle, travel agent at the Travel Store Incorporated in Waterloo. She had noticed an increase in people purchasing prepaid packages for European travel this summer. Belabarbelle encourages that for people who do not like to bother with planning every detail of their vacation.

“Travel dollars in general are tight this year. The high cost of food and gas takes a big chunk out of people. It’s like a double whammy.” Knowing this she offers customers advice on how best to save those travel dollars. "Pick low travel days when booking your flights, book early, use your credit card to pay for expenses, and go to the places and restaurants off the beaten track from the hot tourist spots," were on the top of her money saving list.

Paar and her friends plan to save money by staying in hostels along their three week journey and in some cities by being hosted for free through a network of people known as Couchsurfing.

Couchsurfing is the new trend for the young and old traveling around the world. Friendly people in almost every city across the globe open their homes to travelers and show them the sites of their city. In return "surfers" or travelers are expected to host their home for travelers. Paar has heard good things about Couchsurfing and is excited to try it out.

"We also plan to buy most of our food at grocery stores along the way and cook for ourselves as much as we can," Paar said.

Cornish suggested being as creative and flexible as possible while traveling through Europe. "Maybe looking at more Eastern European countries as travel options as well." Cornish emphasized the importance of never compromising safety when looking to save money though. "Sleeping in a train station all night to cut the price of accommodations is not safe. Staying in a hostel is safe and not that expensive."

Both Dr. Gaies and Professor Bruess feel that traveling and study aboard are priceless experiences that every student should participate in when given the opportunity. "Students will say it's the best thing they've ever done. They want the experience even if it is expensive," said Gaies.

"Despite what the news may tell you, Europe is still affordable for students," said he added. "Trains fares are a real bargain and hostels too."

"The declining dollar shouldn't deter any students from traveling," said Bruess.

If I had a million dollars....

We all know what we would do if we had a million dollars, right? Of course we do. Something like we'd buy a house, furniture for that house, and a fur coat (but not a real fur coat, that's cruel). But what about $20? What would we do with 20, count 'em, 2-0 big ones?

An Earth Day surprise was just chilling in the middle of the sidewalk waiting for me as I was walking home from my class on Tuesday night. It was a crisp $20 bill. I looked around at the empty sidewalk, let out a tiny squeal, picked it up, and continued on my journey home while contemplating the endless possibilities on how to spend the money.

I thought it'd be fun to track how the unexpected money is being spent and record the stories that go along with it for everyone's reading pleasure. Here it goes...

1st stop Kwik Star gas station-$20
After a very excellent late-night bike ride and tree climbing Earth Day adventure with my pal David (quick shout out to David: you're super awesome) we remember I have $20 to spend and naturally head to Kwik Star on the Hill. I'm checking out the goods and seeing nothing spectacular expect the best banana bargain in town. A rockin' 25 cents a lb! As compared to 69 cents at Hy-Vee. It's true folks-who-are-paying-way-too-much-for-bananas. Shop at Kwik Star. Then David spots it....the first purchase of the night...milk in a bag!
(with a complimentary plastic pitcher) The Five Iron Frenzy song immediately is cued in my head:
They've got trees, and mooses, and sled dogs
Lots of lumber, and lumberjacks, and logs
We all think it's kind of a drag
That you have to go there to get milk in a bag
They say "eh?" instead of "what?" or "duh?"
That's the mighty power of Canada.

BUT NOT TRUE!! Kwik Star has milk in a bag too!! And it's tasty...

Kwik Star purchases: milk in a bag, 2 ripe bananas, and a bag of gummy worms ~$4

With a remaining $16 and the night still fairly young, we head to our second site of purchase: Hy-Vee.

We find Hy-Vee in mess of shelf stocking and floor waxing. Looking for something to strike our fancy we don't really get excited about anything we are seeing down the aisles. Probably appearing rather lost and confused a friendly lady worker asks if we need any help. I tell her no but continue with the story of how I found $20 on the sidewalk earlier in the night and how we had already bought milk in a bag. She immediately begins throwing out ideas of foods that would go good with chocolate milk and gets really excited about this 3 layer Chocolate Fudge Cake as she takes us over to the frozen treats aisle (only on sale for one more day!) to point it out as she describes it to us. Neither Dave nor I were feeling chocolate cake but found it hard to tell the lady. So we thanked her, waited until she went on to something else and slowly walked away from the frozen treats.

Feeling like I had to buy something, we look down the blocked off (for waxing) candy aisle. Half-joking about how the one thing we want is down that aisle with another customer one of the waxer men must have heard us and offers to get us whatever we need. Feeling like a jerk and kind of guilty that he had stopped just for us, I without thinking, shout that I'd like Dots. Dots? What was I thinking? Dots and chocolate milk? Horrible decision. Anyway, Mr. Awesome Waxer brings over the Dots for me and that sealed the deal. I had to buy them.

Hy-Vee purchase: Dots~$1.50

Now as we are unlocking our bikes we look through the big glass windows in the cafe area and see the friendly lady sitting with her co-workers on what appears to be a break. We are jokingly commenting on her enthusiasm about the cake and I say, "Jeez we should have just bought her the cake!" David brilliantly responds, "It's not too late." Done and done.

2nd Hy-Vee purchase: 3 Layer Chocolate Fudge cake~$3.50

Shout out #2-Friendly Hy-Vee lady, I hope you enjoyed your cake. And I hope you shared with your fellow late-night workers.

Remainder ~$12

Two days later I'm in the Union after my morning class that I was (of course) a few minutes late to without breakfast. Resulting in a selfish purchase...

Pumpkin bread slices and hot green tea ~$2

Sorry, no great story. Except that the bread was delicious and the tea burnt my tongue a lil bit on the first sip.

Remainder ~$10

Later that day I get all the way to work (at the radio station) and realize that the next day was the birthday of my boss. I had intended on getting or making her a card but had completely forgotten! Rats! Having arrived a few minutes early for work I quickly changed directions and scurried to the closest campus convenience store (Biscotti's) to find they had NO birthday cards. Blast! So onward back to the store in the Union and success! I found a card, a perfect one for her and a tasty treat to go with it.

Birthday card and Kit Kat Bar ~$4

I arrived 15 min. late for work but my boss didn't seem to notice. Or at least didn't say anything about it. Later I successfully slipped the goodies into her purse like a professional birthday bandit while she was on the air and left feeling pretty good.

Remainder ~$6

.....To be continued as spending events occur....

Here's a teaser though....plans are currently in the works for a fun little sociology experiment involving money and trash....