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?

Switzerland is the most expensive on the list, Ege on the list, Egypt is the cheapest.

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.

1.     Vietnam

2.     Romania

3.     El Salvador

4.     Guatemala

5.     India

6.     Greece

7.     Hungary

8.     South Korea

9.     Peru

10.  Thailand

11.  Budapest

Least expensive destination in the Eastern Hemisphere

From this list, the Big Mac Index and the most inexpensive airfares, 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 Thailand because it was mentioned in nearly all the readings. I also looked at Cambodia and Vietnam because they also had similar cheap costs, but ultimately chose Thailand because the flight there was the cheapest, and that was going to be the biggest expense. Phuket was the cheapest place to fly into. My trip is an extra week long because it was going to work out cheaper to add the extra week of living costs than to fly back during the week of the 21st which was over $100 more expensive.

I did some restraint searching and currency exchanging and Meals cost 2.50-5$ each. I assumed 4$ per meal x 3 meals a day x 28 day stay = $336 on food

$336 food

$300 lodging

$686 flight

$1322 total

Least expensive destination in the Western Hemisphere

From this list, the Big Mac Index and the most inexpensive airfares, 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 Colombia because it was ranked on virtually all of the websites as cheap to visit, and because a family of friends of mine moved there with only 1,000 bucks and lived there for years.  The airfare to this location was also one of the cheaper options in South America.

Meal prices would average 2-5$ per meal.  I calculated an average of $220.50 by calculating $3.50x3x21

Food: $220

Lodging: $249

Flight: $743

Total: $1,212

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?

According to the index, Iceland is the safest. U.S. ranks 121, Thailand ranks 113, and Colombia ranks 145. Colombia has a color coding indicating their peace level is low. It is important to note this and investigate which areas are particularly violent before visiting.  

What do you think of the Leffel quote:

"You'll learn far more than you ever did at a university.”

For the most part I agree with the quote, but I think the quote should be modified to include the word can. You can learn more than you ever did at a university. Its easy to travel and not try anything new, stick to the group you traveled with, stay on resort/ tourist areas, and live the same life in different scenery. It’s the opening the mind to the new things, ideas, and people that you learn from. This isn’t something that happens inherently on its own, we must choose to actively engage our body, spirit, and mind in the new culture to become wiser.

I also think that what you learn traveling and what you learn in school are apples and oranges. Both are good, but they’re inherently different. From my experience, what I learn traveling are things that grow my soul, wisdom, tolerance and appreciation. In school, we learn skill sets. To me the quote suggests that traveling is superior to school. I don’t think that they can be compared like that because they are so fundamentally different.


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 [Taylor Kocina] on [2/22/2019].