{"id":12898,"date":"2014-09-01T21:06:26","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T04:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/?p=12898"},"modified":"2014-09-01T21:59:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T04:59:00","slug":"im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year I wrote about Why You Should Avoid Traveling to Western European Countries<\/a>. It was one of my most controversial posts of the year. A lot of commenters said that the price of goods in Australia is even worse than Western Europe and it\u2019s probably true. With that said, I can safely say that Australia is not on the top of my list of destinations to visit.<\/p>\n

Prior to writing \u201cWhy You Should Avoid Traveling to Western European Countries<\/a>\u201d, I had booked one last trip in fall of last year to Geneva<\/a>, Helsinki<\/a>, Nice<\/a>, and Monaco<\/a> as a Western European mileage run<\/a> for Executive Platinum status. I knew what I was getting into, but some of the prices were beyond expensive for mediocre food and drink.<\/p>\n

Geneva<\/a> was shell shocking as my Iced Venti Caffe Mocha at Starbucks came close to $10. The price I pay for the same drink in Los Angeles is about $4.50. Helsinki<\/a> was out of control as a chicken burrito was 12.4 euros ~ $16.28 USD.<\/p>\n

\"euprices7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The prices in Monaco<\/a> were equally out of control as it\u2019s a billionaire\u2019s tax free haven playground. It costs 16 euros ~ $21.00 USD for a double espresso. That is ridiculous and even Ben from One Mile at a Time<\/a> thought so too<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"euprices8\"<\/a>

Photo courtesey of Ben from One Mile at a Time’s Instagram<\/p><\/div>\n

Two weeks ago, I had a 20 hour layover in Frankfurt when I was returning from my 10 day trip to the UAE (United Arab Emirates)<\/a>, Oman, and Istanbul. I had never been to Frankfurt before and I booked the Le Meridien Parkhotel in the city center. Since I got in late to the hotel, I didn\u2019t have time to sightsee until the next morning.<\/p>\n

I was roaming around the Frankfurt main train station area and found a lot of Turkish cuisine nearby. It was shocking to see that a small Doner kebab sandwich was priced at 4.50 euros ~ $5.91 USD.<\/p>\n

\"euprices2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had the same exact sandwich the day before during an 8 hour layover in Istanbul and the price was 2 Turkish Lira ~ $0.92 USD. As you can see, there is a huge disparity in prices between Western Europe and Eastern Europe for the same exact thing.<\/p>\n

\"euprices3\"<\/a> \"euprices4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What was the most shocking was purchasing a 16oz carbonated soft drink in Frankfurt. I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes when I saw that Dr. Pepper was priced at 3.60 euros ~ $4.72 USD.<\/p>\n

\"euprices5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was so used to UAE prices where you can pick up a 16oz soft drink for 2 Dirhams ~ $0.27 USD.<\/p>\n

\"euprices6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I understand why these prices are so inflated in Western Europe. First of all, the prices are all-in (VAT included, no taxes), so the price of what you see is what you get. In Europe, a job at a restaurant (considered a profession) is $15 an hour with full benefits like healthcare and a mandatory four week annual vacation. In addition, it doesn’t help at all when the US Dollar is vastly weak against the mighty Euro.<\/p>\n

I am just sick and tired of seeing these expensive prices and I understand that I don\u2019t have to pay them, but sometimes it\u2019s tough to avoid it when you\u2019re in Western Europe. I don\u2019t make my way to book a trip to Western Europe as a destination anymore, but I will gladly build in less than 24 hour layovers\u00a0as part of a larger trip.<\/p>\n

How do you cope with these outrageous prices in Western Europe or am I just being cheap?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year I wrote about Why You Should Avoid Traveling to Western European Countries. It was one of my most controversial posts of the year….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49,50,129],"tags":[3525,3527,3528,3526,102,3523,3524,1292,3522],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries - Points Summary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries, Expensive Europe, Prices, Europe, Western Europe, Avoiding Travel to Europe, Euro, Dollar, EU\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries - Points Summary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries, Expensive Europe, Prices, Europe, Western Europe, Avoiding Travel to Europe, Euro, Dollar, EU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Points Summary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/first2board\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-02T04:06:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-09-02T04:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/\/sites\/12\/2014\/09\/euprices1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Points Summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jamucsb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@jamucsb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Points Summary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/\",\"name\":\"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries - Points Summary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-02T04:06:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-02T04:59:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#\/schema\/person\/e4de6edf2a59f09721ae805578db3e9e\"},\"description\":\"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries, Expensive Europe, Prices, Europe, Western Europe, Avoiding Travel to Europe, Euro, Dollar, EU\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/\",\"name\":\"Points Summary\",\"description\":\"A First2Board Travel Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#\/schema\/person\/e4de6edf2a59f09721ae805578db3e9e\",\"name\":\"Points Summary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a4f6d0634b2003bf933efc498ab8a46?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a4f6d0634b2003bf933efc498ab8a46?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Points Summary\"},\"description\":\"My name is Jamison and I write the Points Summary travel blog.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.pointssummary.com\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jamucsb\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/author\/jammanxc\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries - Points Summary","description":"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries, Expensive Europe, Prices, Europe, Western Europe, Avoiding Travel to Europe, Euro, Dollar, EU","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries - Points Summary","og_description":"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries, Expensive Europe, Prices, Europe, Western Europe, Avoiding Travel to Europe, Euro, Dollar, EU","og_url":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/","og_site_name":"Points Summary","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/first2board","article_published_time":"2014-09-02T04:06:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-09-02T04:59:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/\/sites\/12\/2014\/09\/euprices1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Points Summary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jamucsb","twitter_site":"@jamucsb","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Points Summary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/","url":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/","name":"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries - Points Summary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-02T04:06:26+00:00","dateModified":"2014-09-02T04:59:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#\/schema\/person\/e4de6edf2a59f09721ae805578db3e9e"},"description":"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries, Expensive Europe, Prices, Europe, Western Europe, Avoiding Travel to Europe, Euro, Dollar, EU","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/2014\/09\/01\/im-still-avoiding-travel-western-european-countries\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why I\u2019m Still Avoiding Travel to Western European Countries"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/","name":"Points Summary","description":"A First2Board Travel Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#\/schema\/person\/e4de6edf2a59f09721ae805578db3e9e","name":"Points Summary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a4f6d0634b2003bf933efc498ab8a46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a4f6d0634b2003bf933efc498ab8a46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Points Summary"},"description":"My name is Jamison and I write the Points Summary travel blog.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.pointssummary.com","https:\/\/twitter.com\/jamucsb"],"url":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/author\/jammanxc\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/\/sites\/12\/2014\/09\/euprices1.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dnP7-3m2","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12898"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/pointssummary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}