SWISSBIKE: Looking for a compact, foldable bicycle that you can carry on public transportation or travel with? Check out the SwissBike, a full-sized bicycle that will fold in half for easy storage or transportation and designed to allow military paratroopers to airdrop with a mountain bike. For information, visit www.swissbike.com.

Top 10

Summer budget destinations

1 Berkeley Springs, W.Va.

2 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minn.

3 Rockland, Maine

4 Wisconsin Dells

5 The Oregon Coast including Willamette Valley

6 The Dominican Republic

7 Newfoundland, Canada

8 The Mayan Riviera, Mexico

9 Peru

10 Bulgaria

SOURCE: Pauline Frommer Travel Guides

Quote

There are no practical alternatives to air transportation.

DANIEL S. GOLDWIN

Travel reading

The Cheap Bastard's

Guide to New York City

By Rob Grader,

239-page paperback,

$14.95, Globe Pequot Press

New York City has a well-earned reputation as being one of the most expensive cities on Earth to visit. But this fun little book tells how to see the Big Apple without taking a bite out of your pocketbook. It offers more than 1,000 things to do that are free, as well as some unusual ways to save money on theater, music, film, television taping, comedy, dance or magic shows. For example, there is a section on volunteer ushering. Grader, a native New Yorker, offers tips on getting free food at happy hour, explains how to get drunk at wine tastings and gives money-saving hints on massages, places to stay, free museums and medical help.

On the web

Good deals on hotels and air fare

Trying to save money on air fare or hotels for a summer trip? The Web sites kayak.com, AirFareWatchDog.com, Farecast.com and LastMinute.com are all good sites to check out for good deals on air fare.

World Currency

What your dollar buys

Rates paid domestically for each dollar changed. These figures are intended only as a guide. Rates may be more favorable abroad (As of Wednesday.)

Argentina (peso) 3.2

Australia (dollar) 1.1

Brazil (real) 1.7

Canada (dollar) 1.0

Chile (peso) 469

Czech Rep. (koruna) 16.2

Denmark (krone) 4.8

Egypt (pound) 5.4

European (euro) 0.65

(Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain)

Great Britain (pound) 0.51

Hong Kong (dollar) 7.8

India (rupee) 42

Indonesia (rupiah) 9,295

Israel (shekel) 3.4

Japan (yen) 105.2

Mexico (peso) 10.5

New Zealand (dollar) 1.3

Norway (krone) 5.1

Philippines (peso) 43.0

Poland (zloty) 2.2

Russia (ruble) 24.0

Singapore (dollar) 1.4

South Africa (rand) 8

South Korea (won) 1,048.0

Sweden (krona) 6.0

Switzerland (franc) 1.1

Taiwan (dollar) 31.0

Thailand (baht) 32.5

Venezuela (bolivar) 2,147.5

Source: Yahoo! Finance