One dollar bought six Sweden kronor, meaning a café latte for 30 kronor set you back $5. Today, that same latte costs only $3.79, a drop of 32 percent. Imagine how much less a day trip or a full night on the town in Stockholm costs.

Why the discrepancy? The dollar is stronger than it has been in months and, against some currencies, years. The strength of the dollar is largely related to risk aversion, explains Kathleen Stephansen, director of global economics at Credit Suisse in New York. Right now, there is so much uncertainty in the global markets that countries would rather have a lower value against the dollar than no value at all.

The Australia dollar, for example, has dipped: 1.6 AUD now equals $1, a 52 percent jump from June. And there are similar situations across Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and South America.

In fact, the dollar—when compared with a weighted average of major foreign currencies' values—is the strongest it's been since June 2007, according to a current Federal Reserve Index. This is good news for American jet-setters. Suddenly, an "expensive" trip may not be considered so expensive.

"Now that we're seeing these other currencies suffering, there's been a bit of an increase in traffic going to certain countries," says Diane Clarkson, a San Francisco-based travel analyst for market-research firm Forrester.

Courting the currency
To encourage that traffic, hotels in several different travel hot spots are offering guests special prices; all of a sudden, they want American dollars, just like the old days.

There are even deals in notoriously expensive Ireland. Guests of the Ritz Carlton Hotel at Powerscourt Estate, near Dublin, will pay the euro rate in dollars for most of Spring 2009. That means a room for 195 euros will only cost you $195 (the actual exchange rate would make the room cost $245).

And as the Canadian dollar has returned to a deflated state, ski holidays up north have never seemed more reasonable. Those heading to Quebec for some skiing this winter should consider stopping in metropolitan Montreal for a night or two. At Le Meridien Versailles, the "birthday" package offers guests one night's stay for 169 CAD, with a second and third night priced at your birth year (1958 equals 58 CAD, for example). That's under $300 for three nights.

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