# Good time to travel to US



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Looking at some prices in California, this seems like it might be a good time to travel to the US. We're getting into autumn and prices are falling very rapidly! Plus the USD is down from earlier this year.

For example I booked a trip to California for early October. I had already booked the hotel (Hotwire) and rental car last month, but looking again today I see that the prices have gone done further. The price of the hotel through Hotwire is 9% lower today, though my reservation is non refundable so I can't benefit from the price cut. The rental car price at the same Enterprise location is 35% lower today than my first reservation, and for this one I cancelled the earlier reservation and rebooked it.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Was thinking about doing Vegas in late November. $400 round trip flights right now and Hotels are reasonable at $70+/night, though the "gotcha" seems to be resort fees for almost all hotels on the strip, plus crazy Nevada tax. We're talking $30-40 USD per night.


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## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

We are in the US right now. The prices seem modestly higher than they were in 2014 and 2015 but the difference is not enough to discourage us from travelling here. I did not do an objective analysis, just a seat of the pants comparison of hotel prices converted to CAD. 

FWIW: Fuel is USD 2.66 per US gallon. 

Dine in restaurants are hard to compare but fast food seems to cost roughly the same or more here. 

A six inch turkey breast set me back a little of 5 USD in Montana. 
A chicken sandwich combo in Wendy's was about 7.50 USD.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Our regular(?) sojourn in Maui this coming winter will likely cost us about the same, or a bit more, in USD. The US economy is doing just fine.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

peterk said:


> Was thinking about doing Vegas in late November. $400 round trip flights right now and Hotels are reasonable at $70+/night, though the "gotcha" seems to be resort fees for almost all hotels on the strip, plus crazy Nevada tax. We're talking $30-40 USD per night.


Vegas trips in Frugality forum ??


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We have been avoiding travel in the US or buying travel products in USD. We have a long travel bucket list. 

Instead of travelling south to Florida or Arizona, or Hawaii we are going to Thailand, Vietnam, and this winter the Philippines. At some point in the future we will get back to more US travel. At the moment we are working the list and finding that our monies go much further outside the US.


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## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

Went on a trip to Florida in September dodging Irma. It was likely a combo of our restaurant and meal selections but we thought eating out was pretty expensive compared to us eating out in Vancouver. However, even fast food seemed more expensive. I was in a mall looking at BK prices and they seemed equivalent to what I've paid in Vancouver but in US dollars to prices.

+1 to travelling cheap in SE Asia and the Philippines even though the exchange has been weaker in recent years.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

milhouse said:


> +1 to travelling cheap in SE Asia and the Philippines even though the exchange has been weaker in recent years.


Actually, the Phil. peso has been weaker against the CAD in recent times. True, a dollar bought more than 45 php back in 2011, but it dropped to about 35 in 2015 and, since late 2014, the dollar has recovered to over p40 to the dollar.

If you have some income in USD, you can get very good exchange rates for crisp new US 100s at money changers in Ermita and places like that, or at some places in Cebu if you avoid Manila.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

What do you do about health insurance?


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## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

Mukhang pera said:


> Actually, the Phil. peso has been weaker against the CAD in recent times. True, a dollar bought more than 45 php back in 2011, but it dropped to about 35 in 2015 and, since late 2014, the dollar has recovered to over p40 to the dollar.
> 
> If you have some income in USD, you can get very good exchange rates for crisp new US 100s at money changers in Ermita and places like that, or at some places in Cebu if you avoid Manila.


Thanks for this; didn't realize.
We went to Palawan region earlier this year. Really affordable. 



Rusty O'Toole said:


> What do you do about health insurance?


Both of us have good out of province health coverage from our employer's extended health plans so we currently don't buy any additional coverage.
I'm curious what other people are doing too for once our work coverage ends when we retire. I'm guessing we'd look for some yearly coverage from some insurance provider. Some early retirement bloggers that travel a lot have some insurance info that we've gleaned. The pricing didn't look too bad.


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## Koogie (Dec 15, 2014)

peterk said:


> Was thinking about doing Vegas in late November. $400 round trip flights right now and Hotels are reasonable at $70+/night, though the "gotcha" seems to be resort fees for almost all hotels on the strip, plus crazy Nevada tax. We're talking $30-40 USD per night.


Probably cheaper now...


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Yeah, do you think this mass shooting might depress the prices? Could be a good opportunity to pick up an even cheaper hotel. Buy the panic, so to speak.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

james4beach said:


> Yeah, do you think this mass shooting might depress the prices? Could be a good opportunity to pick up an even cheaper hotel. Buy the panic, so to speak.




there are plenty of people who will never set foot in las vegas again. I for one have no desire to even visit the US, although i lived there once, loved americans, have a child born stateside, we still heart NYC. 


.


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## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

We are scheduled to go to Vegas in a couple of weeks and staying near the Mandalay Bay hotel. Not changing our plans. However, I'm curious what security is going to be like.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

rusty o'toole.....re travel medical insurance. I am fortunate to have 60 days out of country included in my pension plan benefits. We have found a travel insurer who will insure us after that period. But, DW no longer wants to be gone for more than two months so it is working out for us. Each year I look at the benefit package with a view to seeing this benefit disappear. Taking advantage of it whilst it remains in this era of benefit cutbacks.

Plan to spend time on Loh Lanta in Thailand, then head south through the islands. Then to Philippines for a month. Palawan is on our list! Going to review the itinerary with two Philippino expats. Have also pre-ordered the new Rough Guide due for release at the end of this month.

The only downside is the long flights.


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