Do you compare the price of items with the price at "home"? Do differences play a part in your travel planning?
Ive been quietly shuddering about the reported cost of everything in French Polynesia so was trying to work out how many days here how many days there, where should I eat, Pierres suggestion of supermarkets etc when I thought about the relative cost.
I live in Perth Western Australia, where we have one of the highest costs of living in the world. My daily lunch and food at work is around $30 a day. A night out to see Richard Clapton ( 2 concert tickets, dinner for 2, 2 x dacquiris @ $16.50 each and 6 beers @ $5.99 each worked out to around a $350 night) - roughly a night out in perth will cost you at least $150 per person. Our hotel prices are ridiculous as are our taxi prices. I found it was actually cheaper to hire a car for my week on Moorea than to hire a car here....!! (Thank you mining boom)
Today I noticed my Filipina friend converting the cost of a dress we were looking at to Pesos and saying NO WAY on EARTH would I pay that.....it sounded too much in Pesos which made me laugh as she herself earns a reasonable dollar. Is there any relative pricing that you think about when travelling or planning to travel.......or am I just justifying the cost of Tahiti trip to myself lol?
[Edited: 2012 Sep 29 11:08 - littlewing:163970 ]
Reply to this I sort of do this. I try not to do it for travel/tourist things or food and try to keep it relative to where we are...although i do like to sort of guess how much that is going to be on average so i know if we're being ripped off or not 😊 In Thailand just now, we tried to eat cheap for lunches (AUD$3) then in slightly more expensive restaraunts for dinner ($5) and one night we splurged for a massive seafood meal that would be the same price as home ($30).
I wont buy things to come home with however if they cost more than home. So going to the US for example you get clothes and shoes soooo much cheaper than Aust and of similar quality, so we buy heaps there. In fact suitcases worth! But in thailand i'm not going to barter with a market guy over some socks that he is trying to charge me more than i can buy at target in Australia for.
When i did live in the UK though i just had to ignore the cost of things or i wouldnt have ever bought anything! Back then it was 3 AUD$ to the pound 😊
Reply to this I do, but I try not to. It depends on the commodity. For items I could easily buy elsewhere and don't
need or even necessarily
want then and there, I do. Why buy shampoo or socks or whatever when it's twice the price when you can get some later for less?
But when it's an item which I either can't get anywhere else (local delicacies or some-such) and have to get
there or because I need it now, I try not to. Just makes me feel awful to know "Ugh, I'm paying $45 for this mediocre meal!" when I could eat an excellent meal for that price at home.
But this happens at all touristy sites, not just in different countries. We've overpaid for everything from chocolate bars to firewood when camping in National Parks. If we'd planned ahead, we wouldn't have gotten hit with the exorbitant mark-ups.
That said - go to Tahiti! Sounds like good justification to me.
Reply to this One can't help but compare prices to what you would pay at home, expecially if you are converting from the ZAR, but after the initial shock, you just close your eyes and pay and hopefully you have calculated it into your travelling budget. If it is outrageously more expensive than at home and we don't really need it, then we don't buy it. We also tend to buy food and drinks away from the main streets as they are often cheaper than what you would pay at the main tourist attractions on the main drag.
When you have been in a country for a while then you tend to forget to compare as you get used to the cost of an average item.
Reply to this For me I think about how much time I can spend in a place vs. another, also considering how exotic it is...its the reason I have spent many months traveling in SE Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Central and South America but have yet to go to Europe. I dont think I will ever justify the cost of spending even a month there when I can go to almost any African country for three or four months for the same price. Plus Europe just doesnt stimulate me. Ecuador and specifically Galapagos is still on my list and I know it will be a bit pricey but to me its worth it.
Tahiti sounds exotic I mean growing up in the 70s it was the definition of it, but for me one beach really isnt so different from another, I honestly don't know enough about the culture there to say if I would spend the money to go there vs some other island out there like Samoa, or if that would be any cheaper. I suppose if I was working a job I felt I couldnt quit (havent found it yet) and only had two weeks and didnt care how much it cost I might consider something like that. It becomes difficult when you have already been everywhere you really want to see but still want to travel. These days I find myself returning to places I know I truly enjoy, like the Philippines and Egypt, and I want to see more of India.
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