What do the countries of the “near abroad” all have in common?

The "near abroad" is the way the Russian politicians refer to the countries that gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union; such as Latvia and Ukraine. 

They all have a Russian minority (of the Russians who emigrated there when it was a Soviet Republic) and the Citizens of those countries often speak Russian as a foreign or native language. 

Also, they often have close ties to Russia, such as trade ties due to both the geographical proximity and to the infrastructure which was established while they were a part of the Soviet Union

Currently, as of february 2016, an american traveling in france would be by the exchange rate. the weakness of the euro and the strength of the us dollar means that items in france cost less to an american than they otherwise would. of course, if this trend reverses and the us dollar weakens and the euro strengthens, such as was happening in early 2008, an american traveling in france would have an adverse experience because items would cost relatively more.