In the 2004 Hollywood comedy “EuroTrip,” which chronicles the adventures of a group of American teen-agers on a debased modern version of the Grand Tour, our heroes end up trapped in Bratislava with a mere $1.83 in their pockets.

Things look bleak, until they discover just what a dollar and change will buy: a luxury suite, massages, three-course meals with champagne, and assiduously servile service. Feeling flush, they toss their waiter a five-cent tip. He turns to his boss and says, “A nickel! You see this? I quit! I open my own hotel.”

IN YUAN WE TRUST, continued