Travelers complain a lot about the exchange rate of the worthless green things that Rick Steves called the “Bush Peso.” Yes, a sinking dollar can make a vacation in Europe seem really expensive these days.
But I’ve returned to California a few hours ago and have purchased the raw materials for dinner for two at a variety of stores. I was shocked. It wasn’t food shopping, it was highway robbery. For a meal for two and wine the price came to nearly $35.
I can go to a restaurant in the Lunigiana and get a three course meal and a bottle of wine—plus coffee and an after dinner drink for 10 Euro a person. That’s about $24 for two, and I don’t have to clean up after.
You can complain about exchange rates all you want, but the cheapest bottle of white wine I could find at Whole Foods was 6 times the cost of its equivalent in Tuscany. Bread was a similar rip-off, unless you wanted the industrial crap, a decent loaf was about 4 to 6 times the price of a loaf lovingly baked in a wood oven in Tuscany. Whole foods wants almost $20 for a pound of “Tuscan” salami. I can get it in Tuscany for half that. Don’t get me started on the cost of cheese.
So, my advice is to rent a vacation home in Europe and learn how to shop. You’re likely to be amazed.