The $3.60 bottle of water…

In my brief stop over in London on Tuesday, I bought a bottle of water at Heathrow. It was 1.80 GBP. (Technically it was buy one get one free, but I only wanted one!)
I’m aware of the fact that that the Pound is stronger than the USD - after all, I had been in London back in 2003. And frankly, the USD hasn’t been feeling so well as of late.

Still, I was pretty surprised when I checked my credit card statement today and saw that 1.80 GBP became $3.60 USD. Of course, Amex charged a 2% markup (that’s fine, I get 1.5% back) - but still, that’s practically double!

A quick check to Moneycentral reveals this:

Yowsers. I wish I had kept more Pounds when I last went there - that would’ve been a 25% appreciation.

When the student from London in ORD said “I’m visiting because it’s so cheap here for us…” - she wasn’t kidding. The last few times in NY and at the Union Square Macy’s in SF, I’ve heard a lot of British accents. No wonder - I’d come here too if I were denominated in Pounds.

Dear USD: Please get well soon. Your friend, -Dennis