Traveling with the euro.

At the beginning of this year, the European Union's monetary system changed forever. The euro, which was introduced on January 1, replaced all currency for 11 participating countries--Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. How will this affect American tourists? For starters, you won't have to calculate exchange rates as you travel from country to country. The euro exchange rate is set and fixed.

Although no euro coins or notes will be issued until 2002, most credit card transactions are now based on the euro value of the sale. This is also good news for U.S. travelers, since the increased efficiency in the European economy is expected to result in lower prices. And according to Mike Sherman, vice president of corporate relations for Visa International, travelers may actually save about 5 percent.

James Berrien, president of American Express Travelers Cheque Group, agrees. "Travelers save money because they won't incur currency exchange fees when visiting several European Union countries on the same trip," notes Berrien. "Changing from francs to lira to pesetas can eat up about 10 percent of a traveler's budget." American Express has already issued euro travelers checks in denominations of 50,100 and 200 euro.

Remember francs, marks and the independent currencies for the 11 countries will eliminated by July 1, 2002.