aktchi

I agree about eating, drinking, and consumer goods, but not sure about hotels. In fact housing (temporary or permanent) and healthcare are pretty much what define the rich-poor line in the USA.

There is a dark side to bargains as well. I wish it was all due to efficient production and distribution. But from illegal farm workers to grocery store labor to bus boys and wait staff at restaurant, it is all based on other people's misery. They skip on decent housing, healthcare, children's education etc, so we can get bargains. All in all, not a good situation.

I am much happier to pay the asking price for food in Scandinavia when I am visiting there.

seoulmanjr

What?! No way... Maybe if you're only talking to people who travel to Western Europe, Japan, and Hong Kong.

Are you taking purchasing power parity into account or straight dollar for dollar value?

If I think about my travel the last few years, I would say the following qualify: Panama, Thailand, Kenya, Turkey, Morocco, Greece, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Reunion, Ecuador, South Korea, Peru, Spain, Bangladesh, India, Costa Rica, China, and Indonesia. But that's just my experience.

peace,
~Ben~

sipes23

Or does the US only seem cheaper because the OP has the inside story on the place? I suspect a bit of cultural bias, the sort which is unavoidable. If you live somewhere, you know all of the cues for making budget travel easier.

Here's my half-baked attempt at an example.

Quick: What's the lowest price for a gallon of gas?

There's always some variance in the price in any given area. Keeping track of these variances is easy near home, but the further from home you get the harder it is to know. I've overpaid for gas all over, but never near home. I pass the local gas stations too often to not have a regular notion of what the going rate is and who is usually cheapest.

Since I make about five or six road trips every year for work, I find myself in new places buying gas. Every state has a different mix of gas stations and state/local taxes. Not having local knowledge, I don't know who is cheapest (though Admiral in Michigan seems to be a somewhat safe bet). And so I wind up overpaying.

The OP may be noticing the same sort of effect, just in his case it's hotels, restaurants and transportation. This isn't to say you can't find bargains away from home, it just takes some effort.

angelsgirl85

I think that partly people are prone to spend more when they go abroad just because it is a foreign country, and who knows when (or if) they'll go back, so why not splurge a little? Also, given the weakness of the USD, everything is more expensive abroad in EU countries. However, I would say that if you're looking for bottom-dollar deals, the US is honestly MORE expensive for foreigners to vacation in than for Americans to backpack abroad. There are only a handful of hostels or cheap places in the US to stay that are centrally located in cities. Public transit is fairly horrid all around, be it within a city ot between cities. There are pretty much no low-cost carriers in the US that fly into major cities. Sure, if you can get out to the suburbs you can get cheaper hotels and find stores like Walmart, but that's hardly desirable positioning for making the most of sight-seeing.

The thing that ticks me off most about the US is the price of attractions. Some museums have free days/afternoons every so often, but it's hardly like London where all gov't owned museums are free all the time. Shows/concerts often tend to me more expensive here, too. And amusement park prices have gotten ridiculous.

EmailKid

Um, while Southwest isn't all that cheap anymore (though they started the year with a series of very good sales), it flies pretty much everywhere you would want to visit. If one plans ahead it isn't all that hard to fly anywhere for a decent price. And I speak as someone who is subject to a severe hub penalty

Oh, and just say NO to amusement parks

EmailKid

mlshanks

Depends entirely on the city. San Francisco, NYC, Washington D.C. & Boston are often times better navigated without a car than with...

On the other hand, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Houston, or Atlanta without a car is pure torture.

mlshanks

Gasbuddy is your friend

I was commuting from Los Angeles to San Francisco for two months....and before every trip, I had scoped out the places to hit the cheapest gas on both of the major routes for the trip.

EmailKid

Actually ..... visiting Houston WITH a car is torture

Well, you could visit NASA, but other than that

EmailKid