Choosing a Place to Travel based on Cost
Outline
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.