$6.88 for a gallon of gas?!

Recently Beth Harling (the wife of former college classmate Craig Harling) said that they were coming to Europe this summer and asked how much a gallon of gas cost here. A big issue on the U.S. news and political scene is the high cost of gas there, which is $3.00 a gallon in some places. For many Americans, this is a shocker.

Her question led me to actually calculate how much gas currently costs in Paris. I normally put in gas without liking to think about how much it is costing me.

One gallon = 3.8 liters. Our car's gas tank was low today, so I put in 20 euros (13.95 liters or 3.671 gallons). The price was 1.434 euros per liter or 5.448 euros per gallon.

The exchange rate today on x-rates.com lists 1 euro = $1.26239 U.S.

Using these figures results in 1 gallon of gas costing $6.878, which rounds of to $6.88 U.S.

This sure makes $3.00 a gallon seem really cheap.

It also provides economic incentive to use public transport as often as possible, especially if one is traveling alone.

Speaking of traveling, we now have our baby's paper plane ticket and passport for our upcoming summer trip.