Travel

Travel Hot Spots

It's no secret that Europe is getting seriously overpriced for those of us traveling on the struggling U.S. dollar.

Everything you've heard about a cup of coffee in a German train station running $5 and hotel rooms in Paris that went for $200 in the year 2000 tallying $275 today (with no change in the euro rate) is true.

Heck, even the Swiss franc is nearly one-to-one with the dollar these days -- and the Danish krone is bullying up on us with even more hostility than the euro.

While there are ways to squeeze the most out of your money when traveling on the Continent, the fact remains that a vacation in England, France or Italy is going to put a far more serious dent in your travel budget this summer than it would have as recently as a year or two ago.

The good news?

Europe, for all its allure, is only a small swath of a planet that's positively brimming with budget travel destinations -- of course, some are admittedly far-flung, but others lie hearteningly closer to home.

So, in the interest of saving cash on international travels while keeping your wanderlust alive, start thinking about destinations that are still happily affordable for American travelers.

And remember -- even if the initial outlay of cash for a plane ticket to reach some of our favorite budget travel destinations gives you sticker shock, once you land, you'll be rewarded with an exchange rate that's actually to your advantage.

Here are a few ideas of where to go when it comes to keeping your travel expenses to a relative minimum.