Choosing a Place to Travel based on Cost

Outline

  1. Overvalued and undervalued currencies
  2. Ten common countries in the cheapest countries listings
  3. Least expensive destination in the Eastern Hemisphere
  4. Least expensive destination in the Western Hemisphere
  5. Safety Factor
  6. What do you think of the Leffel quote

Overvalued and undervalued currencies

Using the formula in the Big Mac Index interactive site, how much is the Big Mac overvalued in the most expensive country, and how much is it undervalued in the least expensive? Which countries would be the cheapest for travel, and which would be the most expensive based on this index?

According to Statista, the priciest Big Mac is in Switzerland and the least expensive Big Mac is in South Africa.

 

 

 

Ten common countries in the cheapest countries listings

Read the Leffel chapter and the other links provided to derive a list of the 10 cheapest countries for travel. Compare this with a more modern assessment at Indie Traveller.

According to Leffel, and the Indie Traveler article, the ten cheapest countries for travel are (from what I gather):

1.     Thailand

2.     Turkey

3.     Mexico

4.     Guatemala

5.     Colombia

6.     Indonesia

7.     Nepal

8.     Cambodia

9.     Armenia

10.  Vietnam

 

Least expensive destination in the Eastern Hemisphere

From the above, the Big Mac Index and the most inexpensive airfares you found, find the least expensive destination in the eastern hemisphere for a three-week trip. What criteria did you use to select the country? Insert airfare graphic that shows how you would get to the country. Insert a graphic of an inexpensive lodging. What would be the total cost of the 3-week trip? (The idea here is that cheap lodging over three weeks will counter a more expensive airfare. So, look for the cheapest lodging and find a moderate airfare to that location.) Estimate daily food costs.

I chose Bucharest, Romania to travel to for a 3-week period. While the flight wasn’t a total bargain, I found cheap, highly-rated accommodations and a really great website called https://www.budgetyourtrip.com for other information. Since the city was rated as walkability according to https://nomadlist.com/bucharest, that could help with savings on cabs or ride share services. This city might not be ideal for some travelers, but I am on a fact-finding mission here.

Flight:

The flights feel wonky, and it’ll be a lot of travel time, but I feel like saving some money on the front end will be worthwhile. I might not personally choose to fly this way, but it can be done. The first flight is from Omaha to New Jersey, then from Newark onward to Bucharest. Packing light, packing snacks, a water bottle, and toiletries like personal grooming wipes and a toothbrush/toothpaste make long days in airports slightly more bearable. The total cost is around $760.

 

 

Lodging:

This little apartment has received very good ratings, and that is one of the biggest things I base my choices off of. Along with the information from Nomad, I’d say walking to and from this place wouldn’t be half bad. The total cost for the hotel is about $427, which to me is pretty incredible for a 3 week stay. I’ve been to plenty of major cities and fancy hotels easily cost $427 per night. Which is out of my budget anyway! We also have a hotels.com account, and although we would earn free nights, the average would be brought down because the room is so cheap.

 

Daily Expenses:

The website https://www.budgetyourtrip.com is a great tool to see, on average, what daily expenses will cost for a given destination. Turns out that, with a little math, the hotel I found was slightly cheaper than the average. Also, the U.S. dollar goes a long way in Romania. My husband travelled to more places in Europe in his early 20s, and he has always told me that doner kebab is typically a cheap choice for food, if you don’t get sick of it easily.

 

 

Least expensive destination in the Western Hemisphere

From the above, the Big Mac Index and the most inexpensive airfares you found, find the least expensive destination in the western hemisphere for a three-week trip. What criteria did you use to select the country? Insert airfare graphic that shows how you would get to the country. Insert a graphic of an inexpensive lodging. What would be the total cost of the 3-week trip? (The idea here is that cheap lodging over three weeks will counter a more expensive airfare. So, look for the cheapest lodging and find a moderate airfare to that location.) Estimate daily food costs.

 

Although the cost of a Big Mac is $4.78, I chose this destination overall for the cost, and that it would be unlikely that I would order a Big Mac (I don’t eat them anyway!) when I could order local food, like seafood on the coast.

 

Flight:

Flights directly from Omaha were fairly expensive, but I found that flying from Omaha to Miami then on to Montevideo cost about $744.

 

 

Lodging:

The idea of a hostel never really appealed to me until I actually did a little research. Just because it says “hostel” doesn’t mean it’s going to boot camp style with bays of beds and a shared shower/bath. This place in particular offers a private room and bath, which is what I would be looking for. It’s also highly rated, near the water, and walkable. The nightlife may be rated poorly on Nomad, but we are old and don’t plan on going to nightclubs when we travel. The cost is about average, but this place looks pretty nice, so the total of around $583 isn’t bad.

 

Daily Expenses:

 

I used https://www.budgetyourtrip.com here again. We would probably do some googling or ask the people at the front desk for food recommendations. We typically start the day walking around, and after walking around all day and seeing how many steps we racked up, we may use a cab or ride share service to get back to the hotel at the end of the day.

 

 

 

Safety Factor

Consider the safety factor in the destination you have chosen. Take a look the Global Peace Index rankings (A ranking of countries based on the Peace Index begins on p. 8.) Which country would be the safest? Where is the United States ranked? Where do your chosen countries rank?

·      The safest place to visit is Iceland

·      Romania is ranked 24 on the Global Peace Index- MUCH higher than the United States

·      Uruguay is ranked 37 on the Global Peace Index

·      The USA is ranked 121 out of 163 countries

What do you think of the Leffel quote:

"You'll learn far more than you ever did at a university.
Remember the old days when people got a liberal arts education? They went to Oxford or Princeton to learn about history, politics, social studies, geography, religion, foreign languages, and economics. Well you'll learn far more about all those things by traveling than you ever can in college. Ask anyone in their 30's how much they remember about these subjects from their university classes. "Not much" will usually sum it up."

Submitted by Victoria Follin