The strength of the Euro is really putting me off having a holiday in the Eurozone this year. We were talking about it in the office today and one of my team said they were going to Turkey and another is going to Croatia because neither has the Euro. Me, I think that if I go anywhere I’ll go to America again. Everything’s so cheap! (Well, once you’ve paid the airfare it is).

Most people I know who go over to the US to shop go to New York. It’s a good idea as there are SO many shops to choose from and loads of out-of-town factory outlet stores with even greater bargains. In fact, we’ve just noticed that, if you’re willing to have one stop, you can get a return flight to New York for around £300 this week on Expedia. It will get more expensive as the summer wears on but September is looking cheaper again on the flight front, particularly if you book now.

However, I got so many great bargains last month in Boston, and it was so easy to find stuff there, that I would go back there again for a pleasant break and a bargain-hunting session (by the way, looking at Expedia now I can see that flights to Boston are cheaper than New York – about £270 return). I’m really not a great shopper. In fact, I’m on the side of men on that one – my ideal would be to have one shop where I could get everything in one go and that’s it. Or just buy stuff online. Sadly, that doesn’t happen in the real world and, for clothes particularly, you do have to try a few shops. So that’s why I like Boston – it’s small (for an American city) but it has a load of cool shops in just a few streets next to each other.

My absolute favourite (which they also have in New York) is Filene’s Basement. It’s fabulously cheap. I always get great bargains there. This time I loaded up with a watch with seven different straps for a tenner, a big, red, leather bag for £50, Calvin Klein shoes for £20, DKNY cut off jeans for £15 and a floral dress (nice and bright for TV) for £15. It is THE place to go if you want clothes bargains. The menswear section is seriously good and they have great kids clothes and lingerie too. The new shop, by the way, is in Newbury Street (see here for a little map) which, with next-door Boylston Street, is the shopping heart of Boston.

However, my main shopping aim at this trip was to get some electronics – particularly a little video camera so that we can do more vodcasts. The place for cheap electronics, I was told by the excellent concierge at my hotel (The Colonnade hotel – more on that later), is BestBuy, which is on the corner of Newbury Street. It’s a huge shop full of great bargains (basically, it’s in US dollars, of course, so it’s instantly cheaper than over here). I got a Sony 40x MiniDV camcorder for £120. Cheapest I could find here was £160.

I also had other people’s shopping to do. Alessia, here at Moneymagpie, wanted some Apple Mac bits and pieces for her laptop. There’s a brand new Apple store on Boylston now and Alessia was thrilled with the prices of the things I brought back. Then my nieces wanted some t-shirts from Abercrombie and Fitch (what is it with teenagers and that shop?). That was a bit more of a trek as I had to go to Faneuil Hall marketplace which is a few T-stops away from Boylston. Still, though, the prices were good (well, just a bit over-priced as opposed to the stupid prices in the London stores).

While the dollar stays weak (i.e. while George Bush is still there and Barack Obama is still waiting) it’s worth making the most of it, particularly while flights are still just about Ok price-wise. The cost of flying will be going up as oil gets more expensive so this year would be a good time to go.

If you do go to Boston, and you want some comfort, I highly recommend the newly-refurbished Colonnade Hotel which is right in the middle of the shopping area of Boston. It’s not the cheapest – around £140 a night (without breakfast) at the moment – but the same kind of hotel would be about £200 a night here. There’s a wonderful rooftop pool, very comfortable bedrooms and a generally luxurious feel.

However, a friend of mine has just booked into the local YMCA (just round the corner from the shopping area)  for her trip next year. That really is cheap – about £25 for a room. It’s basic but a big saving, particularly if you book online.