What you might perceive as a compliment may not be received as such by locals.
It might be a harmless exclamation to you , but to locals , it might actually feel like a condescending commentary . If you live in the US — and most importantly , in some of the US ’s most expensive urban center , such as New York City or Los Angeles — probability are that when you ’re overseas and in some not - as - wealthy land , grocery shopping , leisure shopping , and even dine out is more affordable than your hometown . However , pointing that out to strange local anaesthetic might not be an first-class idea .
Recently , onReddit , one substance abuser sparked the conversation and asked a life-sustaining travel etiquette interrogation in the universal gas constant / Travel subreddit : " How do you feel about people who say ' Wow , it ’s so cheap here ! ' " when discuss traveling abroad ? Quickly , answers started flooding in .
" It is yokelish , " reads the top comment in the train of thought . " I will never say anything to the topical anaesthetic . But to my friend I would say something like ' it ’s so cheap for Americans to go to this stead . ' "
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As usual gumption ( and as other Redditors ) will have you mark , it ’s all a subject of context . If you ’re traveling from a loaded country , it is somewhat expected you ’ll be mindful that your living expense will be gaudy when traveling there . That is not your fault , and the fact that you’re able to open a more lucullan lifestyle in the res publica you ’re visiting is n’t do to be dress down . After all , you ’re still put up to the local economy with your higher buying baron , which is a good affair !
Problems arise when visitors say this to locals . " I used to inhabit in Albania and make for in a lodge , " excuse one drug user . " People were often flash how cheap it was , dismiss that everyone working at the hostel was on about € 100 - 150 a month salary ( back in 2012 ) . " For context of use , € 100 is roughly $ 110 at the time of writing .
Respecting local refinement is paramount , and you should always be mindful of the mathematical group you ’re locomote with , especially if not everybody is from the same res publica . In the same yarn , one traveller shared their experience of hanging out with a various group of freshly made friends , all of whom were staying in the same hostel . Some were American , some German and French , while others were Swiss , Australian , and Singaporean , plus another traveler from India . At a sealed compass point , they start up talking about keep disbursement in their home rural area . " [ The ] Swiss bozo [ was ] talking about how in their Greenwich Village they would once a year buy a whole small squealer for BBQ , which was like 70 dollars , and everyone went : ' Oh , it ’s so sleazy ! ' " reads the gossip . Not everybody agreed , though . The Amerindic traveller respond : " Oh , it ’s so expensive at the same clock time . "
Reportedly , nobody need result with the position , and everybody " had a good laugh " instead . However , it ’s sound food for thought : Different purchasing world power is real , and mindfulness goes a tenacious way , especially when trip around the world and meeting multitude from different countries and realities .
Sometimes , even countries consider as extremely grow can " outrage " travelers for their below - mediocre cost — but it ’s always comparative , and a deeper analysis will in all likelihood give you the solvent you ’re looking for . Take , for illustration , Spain .
" Spain surprised me when I was there a bit ago , " reads another comment . " Hotels were moderately on equality with what we have in my part of the US , peradventure slenderly cheaper but food and peculiarly drinks were a lot cheaper than I was foresee . Looking up the median pay really put it into position though . "
