How to stretch your plummeting travel dollar all about the globe

How low will it go? That's the question everyone's asking as the value of the U.S. dollar continues its slide against the euro, the British pound and many other world currencies. What's a traveler to do besides stay home and calculate the cost of a car trip with gas edging toward $4 a gallon?

Here are some suggestions:

• Fuel surcharges are compounding already high airfares. Travel offseason, if possible, and take advantage of lower fares and hotel rates. If you have kids and are tied to school breaks and summers for your vacations, check out last-minute deals. Check out sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and www.lastminute.com which offer hotel and flight packages, but do some homework to make sure you're really getting a deal.

• For deals on name-brand hotel chains, Priceline.com invites name-your-own price bids in U. S. dollars on four- and five-star hotels overseas and in Canada (see www.biddingfortravel.com for travelers' tips on how to bid). Travel agents often use a site called www.booktravelbound.com, available to independent travelers, with discounted hotels worldwide priced in U.S. dollars.

• Scale back: It's easy to save just by tweaking your style of travel. Choose a two-star hotel instead of a three, or take the stairs to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower for $6.30 instead of the elevator to the top for $19. Skip the restaurants in high-rent tourist areas, and eat ethnic: A growing immigrant population means you'll find Ethiopian restaurants in Paris, Turkish pizza in Amsterdam and Chinese and Indian food just about anywhere.

• Check out what's free. "Go straight to the tourist information office when you arrive and get a list of free things to do," advises Tom Meyers, of eurocheapo.com, a budget travel Web site.

"Every city in Europe knows about this issue, and is doing something to help restore American confidence in the feasibility of traveling there."

• Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are the bargain foreign destinations for American travelers, but if you've got your heart set on Europe, consider less-traveled regions and countries — Sicily and Southern Italy instead of Tuscany; Portugal instead of Spain; countries in Central and Eastern Europe, such as Croatia and Bulgaria, that haven't yet adopted the euro as their official currency.

• Stay in residential neighborhoods, an alternative to downtown areas that tend to cater to business travelers on expense accounts. Scout around the West Fourth Avenue shopping and dining scene in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighborhood, for example, or settle into a B&B in the historic James Bay area of Victoria.

• Before buying an expensive train pass, find out if it's cheaper to fly between cities on one of the new no-frills airlines (see www.whichbudget.com or www.attitudetravel.com for a list of who flies where).

• Minimize foreign-currency-transaction fees when using credit cards or withdrawing cash from automated teller machines in other countries, including Canada and Mexico. Use cards that carry a maximum 1 percent fee on each charge or withdrawal (available from small community banks, credit unions, etc., as opposed to bigger national banks that charge 3 percent or more). Capitol One (www.capitalone.com) issues a no-annual-fee Visa or MasterCard with no foreign-currency-transaction fee.

Some people feel better having a small amount of foreign currency with them in case they can't get to a bank machine right away. But, in general, the high fees and surcharges involved in obtaining currency here outweigh any savings, even when the dollar is falling.

• Consider an apartment or condo rental instead of a hotel for longer stays. Deal directly with the owner, if possible. Avoid rental agencies that ask you to pay in full up front. Negotiate a reasonable deposit.

Carol Pucci: 206-464-3701 or cpucci@seattletimes.com