I was recently going through an article on Lonely Planet, that talks about how you can spend an entire day in under 50 dollars in different parts of the world. While pretty insightful in itself, I started wondering - what really is the value of one buck across the world? Most of us have heard of the Big Mac Index, where PPP across different economies are compared based on the price of the Big Mac burgers. This is my own twist to that index, based on what I have experienced in course of my travels.
What can you do with your last dollar in different cities across the world?
Munich/Berlin: Roughly 70 Euro Cents, you can treat yourself to a medium sized pretzel (without cheese) or half a cup of hot wine. Walk down to the nearest park and watch locals ice-skating while you sip the hot wine. That should get you set for the cold winters.
Paris: For 70 cents in Paris, you get to answer nature’s call once at Gare de l’Est rest room. Thats right, cause 70 cents is what you need to put in the turnstile to enter the rest room at any railway station in Paris! Talk about entry barriers. Expensive shit!
Madrid: No Tapas for you, but you can surely walk down to Plaza Mayor and tip the street musicians and listen to some amazing music. You will find artists playing all kinds of instruments, ranging from castanets to the tambourine, each capable of holding you spellbound for hours. Madrid has one of the best set of street musicians across Europe, you don't really need to be a music connoisseur's to appreciate and enjoy it.
Zurich: A dollar gets you close to one Swiss Franc (CHF), buy one small cube of Swiss cheese (the cheaper variety of course) from any Coop outlet. The touts will of course try to sell you one of the DDLJ-cow-bell souvenirs if realize you are an Indian, but with only 1 Franc, you either need to be a very good bargainer or the guy needs to be really dumb for you to pick it up. Else use that money to send one SMS/E-mail from any of the public phone booths, asking your dad for more money:D
Oslo: A dollar, or 6 Kroners (NOK), gets you 1/3rd of a cup of coffee from a vending machine or the nearest 7-eleven/Narvesan shop. Absolutely nothing else. Norway is a freakishly expensive country even by European standards.If you think Aurora Borealis make for a spectacular sight, remember that no good things in life come cheap.
Rome: One journey on any public transport (subway, tram or bus), the ticket cost being independent of the distance. So walk around the Colosseum, explore the roman ruins and then take that tram ride across the river to Vatican. There, you have seen it all in Rome, and done it as the Romans do.
Chennai: Full plate unlimited south Indian meals at most decent restaurants with unlimited servings of rice, poriyal, sambar, rasam, curd, papad and pickle, end it with a filter coffee too. But don't expect to travel any distance greater than 1 km in the auto; No sir you can’t!
Bratislava: Contrary to what you may have seen in the movie “Eurotrip”, a dollar only entitles you to a glass of zincica (sheep milk) or a cup of sauerkraut soup at any of the Salas (local restaurant chain). Both can get you hungry again real quick. Unless you already have a couple of shots of Absinthe inside you...
Singapore: 1.3 SGD, good enough for a 500ml bottle of coke zero or one cup of coffee at the McCafe. Buy one, sit at the Esplanade and enjoy the sun set over the Marina Bay Sands and the CBD skyline. A photographer's delight and an architect's fantasy, combined into one awesome experience.
Bangkok: 1 buck gives you a rough equivalent of 30 Thai Baht, which can buy you a full meal at any of the road side shops consisting of rice (boiled/sticky), one serving each of two different vegetables and a omelette, along with a glass of crushed ice. With a straw. Why crushed ice? You can then pour water or coke or milk or any other beverage of your choice into it, and then slowly sip it with straw. Atleast thats the way locals do it.
The obvious missing from the above list is the greenback’s land of origin, the US of A. But then I have never been to that part of the world, so I really have no clue what a buck can fetch you out there. Guess that one shouldn't be very far away, doing what I do for a living.
P.S.: All things mentioned above are from memory and from the time I travelled to these places, so they may not necessarily be relevant today
What can you do with your last dollar in different cities across the world?
Munich/Berlin: Roughly 70 Euro Cents, you can treat yourself to a medium sized pretzel (without cheese) or half a cup of hot wine. Walk down to the nearest park and watch locals ice-skating while you sip the hot wine. That should get you set for the cold winters.
Paris: For 70 cents in Paris, you get to answer nature’s call once at Gare de l’Est rest room. Thats right, cause 70 cents is what you need to put in the turnstile to enter the rest room at any railway station in Paris! Talk about entry barriers. Expensive shit!
Madrid: No Tapas for you, but you can surely walk down to Plaza Mayor and tip the street musicians and listen to some amazing music. You will find artists playing all kinds of instruments, ranging from castanets to the tambourine, each capable of holding you spellbound for hours. Madrid has one of the best set of street musicians across Europe, you don't really need to be a music connoisseur's to appreciate and enjoy it.
Zurich: A dollar gets you close to one Swiss Franc (CHF), buy one small cube of Swiss cheese (the cheaper variety of course) from any Coop outlet. The touts will of course try to sell you one of the DDLJ-cow-bell souvenirs if realize you are an Indian, but with only 1 Franc, you either need to be a very good bargainer or the guy needs to be really dumb for you to pick it up. Else use that money to send one SMS/E-mail from any of the public phone booths, asking your dad for more money:D
Oslo: A dollar, or 6 Kroners (NOK), gets you 1/3rd of a cup of coffee from a vending machine or the nearest 7-eleven/Narvesan shop. Absolutely nothing else. Norway is a freakishly expensive country even by European standards.If you think Aurora Borealis make for a spectacular sight, remember that no good things in life come cheap.
Rome: One journey on any public transport (subway, tram or bus), the ticket cost being independent of the distance. So walk around the Colosseum, explore the roman ruins and then take that tram ride across the river to Vatican. There, you have seen it all in Rome, and done it as the Romans do.
Chennai: Full plate unlimited south Indian meals at most decent restaurants with unlimited servings of rice, poriyal, sambar, rasam, curd, papad and pickle, end it with a filter coffee too. But don't expect to travel any distance greater than 1 km in the auto; No sir you can’t!
Bratislava: Contrary to what you may have seen in the movie “Eurotrip”, a dollar only entitles you to a glass of zincica (sheep milk) or a cup of sauerkraut soup at any of the Salas (local restaurant chain). Both can get you hungry again real quick. Unless you already have a couple of shots of Absinthe inside you...
Singapore: 1.3 SGD, good enough for a 500ml bottle of coke zero or one cup of coffee at the McCafe. Buy one, sit at the Esplanade and enjoy the sun set over the Marina Bay Sands and the CBD skyline. A photographer's delight and an architect's fantasy, combined into one awesome experience.
Bangkok: 1 buck gives you a rough equivalent of 30 Thai Baht, which can buy you a full meal at any of the road side shops consisting of rice (boiled/sticky), one serving each of two different vegetables and a omelette, along with a glass of crushed ice. With a straw. Why crushed ice? You can then pour water or coke or milk or any other beverage of your choice into it, and then slowly sip it with straw. Atleast thats the way locals do it.
The obvious missing from the above list is the greenback’s land of origin, the US of A. But then I have never been to that part of the world, so I really have no clue what a buck can fetch you out there. Guess that one shouldn't be very far away, doing what I do for a living.
P.S.: All things mentioned above are from memory and from the time I travelled to these places, so they may not necessarily be relevant today
