The Cost of My Travel Decisions Lome, Togo West Africa Wednesday, August 8, 2007
I was asked the other day, how much do I spend per day here in Togo. I had to think, but my answer was, 7-8000 CFA per day, or about 15 US per day as of August of 2007. I think two months ago, this amount was closer to 10-15,000 CFA per day, or about 20-30 US per day. The cost of living in West Africa is continually going down as I understand how Africans and French people think.
I have sat here thinking for ten minutes, if you wanted to somehow evaluate the travel skills of a person, ask them, - How much is your room? -
Then go look at the room.
If a person is living with another person and they are paying, this is more or less a taker, a person who will take to live cheap, a person to be wary of as they will sponge on you to live.
I have been analyzing the HDI - Human Development Index, a lot of misinformation, however still a guide. I think you could safely take,
(Estimated Yearly earned income for FEMALE) / 365 days in per year. = Target
Whatever you pay above this target amount is probably the more you are listening to the other tourist and not trying to make good decisions.
I can only weigh my decisions in dollars, I must use money as my guide, to not use money as the guide will make your travel agent very happy.
I have been thinking, if a person is willing to go camping in the USA for a month, they probably can travel ok in Central, South America or Africa ok, Asia is easy, the quality of rooms in Asia for the month is a great value. West Africa has really great rooms, however to stay on budget you need to slide down to camping level now and then.
