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

Based on the Big Mac Index, in the United States, the average cost for a Big Mac is $5.51. Switzerland has the most overvalued cost of $6.54/Big Mac and Egypt with the most undervalued at $1.75. Extrapolating from this data, the top five most expensive countries to visit are: Switzerland; Sweden; the United States; Norway; Canada. The five cheapest are: Indonesia; Malaysia; Russia; Ukraine; Egypt. Furthermore, this suggests the most expensive country to travel to is Switzerland and the cheapest is Egypt.

 

Ten common countries in the cheapest countries listings

	Big Mac Index	Currency to USD	Cheapest flight (OMA >)
Morocco	N/A	0.10 Leu to 1 USD	$1,089 (to Rabat)
Vietnam	2.82	0.000043 dong to 1 USD	$897 (to Ho Chi Minh City)
Argentina	2.71	0.026 Peso to 1 USD	$1,357 (most airports)
Honduras	3.54	0.041Lempira to 1 USD	$563 (to San Pedro Sula)
India	2.51	0.014 Rupee to 1 USD	$773.95 ($266 OMA>LAX, $516.95 LAX>New Delhi)
Cambodia	N/A	0.00025 riel to USD	$753 ($266 OMA>LAX, $487 LAX>Phnom Penh)
Hungary	3.07	0.0036 forint to 1 USD	$1,154 ($291 OMA>DCA, $863 DCA>Budapest)
Thailand	3.59	0.032 Baht to 1 USD	$885 (to Bangkok)
Laos	N/A	0.00012 Kip to 1 USD	$1,069 ($372>LAX, $697 LAX>Vientiane)
Indonesia	2.19	0.000071 Rupiah to 1 USD	$1,130 (to Surabaya)

Each of these countries were mentioned multiple times in various articles. To narrow down the cheapest, I excluded any with a Big Mac Index over 4.00. Not every country I read about had a Big Mac Index, so I went to comparing the countries’ currency value to the United States Dollar (USD) (this was found via Google’s currency converter). Based on currency to USD alone, the cheapest of these ten in order from cheapest to most expensive are as follows:

Vietnam; Indonesia; Laos; Cambodia; Hungary; India; Argentina; Thailand; Honduras; Morocco.

Based on flights, from cheapest to most expensive are (from Kayak and/or Google Flights, April 4 - 25):

         Honduras; Cambodia; India; Thailand; Vietnam; Laos; Morocco; Hungary; Argentina.

 

Least expensive destination in the Eastern Hemisphere

When I first started looking at airfare, I used Kayak. Prices came out to close to $1,500, so I decided to try Google Flights and look at prices from LAX to various airports in India to see what was cheapest. New Delhi came out cheapest, so I chose that flight and then my OMA > LAX flights based on those departure/arrival times. I was pleasantly surprised to find hotels in India are crazy cheap! For 21 days, April 4 – 25, to stay at the Andaz Delhi by Hyatt is a total of $140.64 for a king room with breakfast included and a view. Research shows an average of around $35 for food daily in India. As far as cost goes:

         Airfare: $773.95

         Hotel: $140.64

         Food: $735 ($35 x 21 – I included travel days as airport and on-board food is not cheap)

         TOTAL: $1,649.55

 

Least expensive destination in the Western Hemisphere

Based on what I’ve read after searching food costs in Honduras, the average price of food for one day is around $8. I’ll budget $10 a day to include extra treats here and there, although that can of course be more or less depending on the day. With that the three-week cost breakdown is as follows:

         Airfare: $563.00

         Hotel: $882.00

         Food: $210.00

         TOTAL: $1,655

 

Safety Factor

Interestingly enough, Honduras, India, and the USA are significantly lower ranked on the Global Peace Index; in fact within about 20 ranks of each other. Honduras is the “safest” – still ranking 118 out of 163 – a score of only 2.282 and a ten-rank fall. The USA is the border of yellow and the pale/coral red at 121 out of 163 – a score of 2.3 but up one rank. India, alternatively, is the least safe, falling in the pale/coral red at 136/163 with a score of 2.504 but up one rank.

These colors indicate a state of peace. Honduras and the USA being yellow, they are considered “medium” on the scale of very high to very low for the state of peace. India ranks “low.” The numbers refer to the Global Peace Index (GPI), the extent to which the country is involved in conflict and the level of harmony among citizens in the nation.

The safest five countries are: Iceland at number one, 1.096; New Zealand; Austria; Portugal; Denmark.

 

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."

Leffel’s quote resonated with me. I have always had a feeling of wanderlust, so to speak. I have always wanted to travel and explore the world and all of the continents (excluding Antarctica). My current goal is to visit all fifty states by the time I am thirty. I currently sit at 16/50, but with my vacation this summer to Boston and the area, that will go up at least two, as well as my boyfriend and I’s upcoming trip to Vegas – up another one! You can learn all you want from books and videos, but a couple years down the line, that will all be gone unless you really do use it in your line of work. It is the experiences and immersion that stick with you and that you learn about subjects. Foreign languages, for example, are best learned by immersion. You can stare at maps all day long, but traveling a country and seeing the geography will stick with you more.

Submitted by Alyxis Jennings on February 22, 2019.