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

Switzerland is the country with the highest price for a Big Mac that goes for $6.54 and Egypt has the lowest price at $1.75. The price difference is $4.79. Based on the index, the difference shows that Switzerland and countries in Europe have a higher cost of living than Egypt and other countries in Africa.

Ten common countries in the cheapest countries listings

The 10 cheapest countries for travel are Vietnam, Thailand, Colombia, Yemen, India, Nepal, Ukraine, Central America, Cambodia, and Argentina.

Least expensive destination in the Eastern Hemisphere

I used Google flights to find the airline tickets and it brought me to a cheap round trip through United. The dates are April 30th – May 21st from Omaha to Bangkok and back. I used Hotels.com to find the hotel for 21 nights in Bangkok that has all amenities included. It is only $11 per night at Baan Khun Mae Apartment. I’ve been here and I would estimate that the food costs the same if not lower than the cost of the hotel. The meals were about $5, very cheap for a good amount of food.

Air: $919.43

Hotel: $11 x 21= $231

Total: $1,150.43

Least expensive destination in the Western Hemisphere

I used Kayak to find the flights from Omaha, Nebraska to San Jose, Costa Rica. That brought me to the round trip flight through Delta for April 30th – May 21st. I used Hotels.com to find the room for 21 nights. The hotel I chose was Hotel Quinta Avenida and it was only $27 a night for a Standard Room. The total for 21 nights is $567 for the hotel. I’ve personally been to Costa Rica and I know that the food is lower than the hotel night. I would estimate a meal being $7.

Flight: $526.82

Hotel: $27 x 21 nights = $567

Total: $1,093.82

Safety Factor

Costa Rica is ranked 40 in the Global Peace Index Ratings. Thailand is ranked 113 and the United States is ranked 121. The safest country in the World that is ranked #1 is Iceland.

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."

I agree with this quote at a certain extent. I agree that most people just go to school to get the degree and then forget everything that they learned after their tests. That what I am personally doing. I think that traveling teaches a person so much more than what textbooks say. Traveling can teach people about cultures, themselves, life, etc. I also do not agree with the quote because if someone wants a professional job and get a big paycheck, then yes I think that going to college and even getting higher degrees is a good decision. Making a comfortable living wage will give you a good life at home and it gives you enough money to travel and explore the world.

Studying in school and while traveling both have their own kinds of advantages. What you learn in school are things that you want to be studying. There are so many different career fields that people can study like math, science, English, business, etc. Studying at a university also teaches a person about discipline. It trains a student to memorize things and to get things done by a certain deadline. That is good because that could prepare you for real life situations like at work or filing your taxes by a certain date. Traveling is a different kind of learning experience. Traveling is more about street smarts rather than book smarts. You can’t really prepare yourself on what you will be learning until you are actually there living it. When you engage yourself into a different culture, appreciate the different countries, and challenge yourself to travel alone, it teaches you about yourself and makes you appreciate other people. Sometime things don’t go right when traveling, like is a flight or activity gets cancelled, it makes you realize how you react and learn from that experience. Traveling makes you realize just how big and unique the world is.

Submitted by Sarah Hunt on February 22nd, 2019.