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

The Big Mac is most expensive in Switzerland at of $6.54, while the cheapest costing Big Mac is in Egypt at $1.75. The price for a Big Mac in the United States is $5.51. Based on the prices in comparison to the United States, the Big Mac is overvalued by $1.03 in Switzerland and it is undervalued by $3.76 in Egypt.

Based on the Big Mac index the top 5 most expensive countries to travel to are Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, Norway, and Canada. The top 5 least expensive countries to travel to are Egypt, Ukraine, Russia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Ten common countries in the cheapest countries listings

The ten cheapest countries are Vietnam, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Greece, Hungary, Peru, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

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.

From the Big Mac Index list I chose Vietnam due to the cheap housing rates. It is only $9 per night which would compensate the flight costs. The lodging place would also accommodate complementary breakfast.  Thanh on homestay.com received 4 stars and says “Our house is located in the northwest of the capital Hanoi in quiet place, safe and convenient, cheap, you should stay at our house. My house was built in 2012 so it is very new. It is fully equipped for living”. All and all this is a fair estimate for a good, cheap stay for the duration of my trip. My research says that food costs will be roughly $9 a day. The cost of this trip would be:

$868 Flight + $189 Lodging +189 Food = $1,246 Total cost.  

 

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.

From the list of inexpensive airfares I chose San Jose Juan, Costa Rica. The safety factor played a role in the destination as it is ranked a relatively safe place to travel with a decent place to stay. The flight was not the cheapest in my opinion, but it makes up for cheap lodging. The lodging is further away from the San Jose Province, but Dago has the highest rating as well as significantly cheap lodging at $68 per week. Based on my research, $10 a day should cover my food costs which I believe is fair. The cost of the trip would be:

$840 Flight + $204 Lodging + $210 Food= $1,254 total cost.

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 Safety factor, Iceland is the safest place to travel as it is ranked first in the category. Surprisingly, Iceland’s score is much lower than the other top countries with New Zealand at 2 with a score of 1.192.

The United States weighs in at 121st with a GPI of 2.3. I thought they would be much higher in the top ten for GPI, but to my surprise they are pretty low on this list. A cause of this is due to their rank of Militarization domain, which they are ranked 160 on the list, even Syria is one above us despite being in an ongoing, bloody civil war. Yikes!

Costa Rica shocked me being ranked at 40. Their score has increased though, dropping them down six spots, but they are still at a good score of 1.767. This surprised me. I did not think that it would be as high as 40, but it is and much higher than the United States.

Vietnam is also higher than I deemed it to be ranking in at 60. They have had no change, no increase or decrease with their score at 1.905.

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."

What is funny about this quote is my associate degree is a liberal arts transfer degree. But aside from that I do agree with Leffel’s quote. It is true that you learn more through experience and others cultures that you surround yourself with, and learn to assimilate with. Though he seems to be knocking courses in education, the subjects that he describes still hold value to learning. Leffel also seems to be biased in his quote, as he is insinuating by the time students reach 30 they will not remember their past courses. Leffel sounds arrogant in his stance on travel in college. But Leffel is right. As humans we cannot just learn through books, but rather through human interaction which will broaden our horizons. Resulting in becoming more well rounded students, and knowledgeable people. This quote is the comparison of the classic “street smart vs book smart”, and we know which one he favors.