Now Iceland is newly one of Europe's poorest countries. As one newspaper put it, Iceland is now "banging on the doors of Russia." A year ago, the American dollar bought only 60 krona. Today, it buys nearly twice as much, or 111. Costs have been halved. Now, after years of staying away because of scalding Scandinavian prices, Americans can tour Iceland for prices that are more in line with many of our own cities.

British tourists, who are just a couple of hours from the North Atlantic nation, are pouncing on the deals, which are already cost a third less than they did before the crash. Icelandair, which takes five or six hours to reach its country from several American cities (Orlando, Minneapolis, Boston, New York), is selling round-trip flights to Reykjavik, its clubby capital, for just $400 all winter, and another $150 buys a Hilton hotel stay for three nights while you're there (the booking deadline is Oct. 21, but I'd expect more deals to come).

In the United Kingdom, diesel fuel now costs $11.50 per gallon, while it costs $8.54 a gallon in France. Regular gasoline is just as bad: in France, it's going for $8.67 per gallon, which is just below the Union-wide average. Part of the reason for this high cost is the increasing price of gasoline; because gas is traded in dollars, it has inflated worldwide. In fact, were it not for the euro's considerable strength against the dollar, gas prices would be much, much higher.

Another part of the reason for the huge gas prices is the EU's heavy tax on gas. While taxes only account for about 11% of gas prices in the United States, they make up approximately 70% of gas prices in the European Union. France's Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed a reduction/removal of Europe's value added tax, or VAT, which would cut gas prices by approximately 20%. Unfortunately, because of the structure of the EU, doing so will require the unanimous approval of all member states. Moreover, there is every likelihood that this tax reduction would only encourage gas suppliers to raise their prices still further.

If you've been shopping in Europe with a credit card, you might have had a merchant tell you that you can't use your card with them. What's going on?

Some merchants in Europe aren't accepting U.S. credit cards, even when they're supposed to.

Many European countries are now using credit cards embedded with microchips. These cards require users to type in a PIN number instead of signing. This is commonly referred to as a "chip and PIN" credit card system.

U.S. credit cards, however, are still "swipe and sign." The cards have a magnetic strip that is swiped instead of the microchip, and users must sign a receipt.