Advances in technology and telecommunications, a currency change to the euro in 2002 and an information explosion have changed the way we travel around Western Europe.
Eight years ago, a friend and I backpacked around Western Europe with little more than a Eurail pass and a vague idea of cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Rome and London. In 2005, another friend and I took a similar trip in terms of destinations, but the trip was greatly affected by the passing years.
The change to the euro provided one of the biggest differences between the two trips. In 1998, the euro was still four years away, so traveling through 12 countries meant changing currency, oh, about 12 times. Beyond simply changing currency (which wasn't all that simple, truth be told), travelers had to figure the exchange rates constantly.
By the time my friend and I got to Venice, we were so exhausted from calculating the rates that we just paid whatever was asked. No bartering, no price comparisons, just pay whatever the Italian asked us. Did we get suckered? Certainly. Maybe not in Italy, but somewhere in Europe I'm sure we got suckered. We were too tired to care.
Generally speaking, finding an ATM in major Western European cities is not difficult. Some of the smaller villages, however, can present a challenge. Obviously, you don't want to carry too much cash around - getting pickpocketed or mugged is sadly not an infrequent event - but you need to make sure you've got enough. You'll often find hostels, hotels and restaurants that don't take credit or debit cards.
Currently, 12 European Union countries are on the euro: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland. The euro is also used in countries such as Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Kosovo and Vatican City. Obviously, entering the Czech Republic or England, for example, means changing your currency and figuring out the new exchange rate.
The current exchange rate between the euro and the dollar is $1.2848 USD is equal to 1 euro. You can easily find the exchange rate by Googling "euro." And that brings us to the next major advance in the past decade that has changed the way we travel: The Internet. Next week, I'll write about how the Web makes traveling easier.
