Travel Prices

I had an interesting discussion yesterday about the price of travel. This summer, in fact in about 20 days, I will be going on a trip to tour Classical Italy (hopefully). The total cost for me to experience this is going to be roughly $2200 USD. This includes my flight from Seattle to Warsaw, and then the trip itself which is about $850 all-inclusive. Tacking on admission fees to various places and a few Italy-specific meals I will definitely have to partake in (and photograph), it will end up being around $2200, maybe a hundred more.

But that’s actually nothing compared to what I’d have to pay if I wanted to fly to Italy and tour there directly from Seattle. The price ends up being 1850$E which is something in the vicinity of $2670 USD for the tour itself! Additionally, the tour only includes breakfasts as far as meals go, so you’re on your own for the rest of the day, every day. Travel in Italy is in First-class coaches in trains.

http://www.roadtoitaly.com/budget-tours-italy/classical-italy-rome-tour.html

Tack on $1150 USD for the round-trip airfare from Seattle to Rome and you’re looking at $3800. Add another $200 for food (since only breakfast is included) and we have $4000. That’s a low ballpark estimate – imagine you want to taste some authentic Italian cuisine and buy souvenirs - that’s another $150-200. So now we’re looking at $4200, maybe a hundred more.

So Americans would pay $4200 for a 10 day trip to Italy. You see Rome, the Vatican, Pompeii and Naples, Florence, Pisa and Venice. That’s basically all the major points in Italy for $4200. Going back to the first paragraph in this write up, I’ll be paying $2200 for roughly the same.

There are two reasons for this:

• Accommodations – Americans have higher standards than the rest of the world as far as travel and living goes. Above budget tour includes stay in Marriott-level hotels in Italy, First-class coaches while travelling through Italy, private transfers to and from the airport/railway station and other amenities. Comfort is great, but the above is listed in the Budget Tours section. Imagine what the First Class tour, or Luxury tour would include (and how much it would cost)!
• Purchasing Power – Because I’m flying to Poland first, and then to Italy from there, my tour is going to be in Polish. It’s also going to be priced to be affordable to people who live and work in Poland. Given that the average median income in the US is $43500 and in Poland $18800 (CIA, 2010), you can see why the trips there would be organized to be much cheaper than their American equivalents.

It’s ridiculous how expensive travel from the US is. Doing a little bit more research, it would actually be about $800 cheaper (but definitely more time consuming) to organize your own flight from Seattle to Italy, book your own hotels, buy your own train tickets and take time to see places without a tour guide. I think if and when I ever travel from Seattle like that, I will most likely organize my own sight-seeing trip.