Wherever you are in the world I can promise you I know the most stressful part of travelling, 100% of the time, without a doubt. MONEY.
I mean packing and the actual travelling (overnight buses, sleeping in airports, hitchhiking) part definitely make the list, but budget, money and it’s restrictions will always be number one.
The very nature of travellers is always to want to do more, see more, explore more, eat more and yes….drink more and this is very hard on a backpacking budget.
Buried in that money problem is knowing how something is worth and how much converts to what. Well here I’m going to give you a FREE TRAVEL HACK and this one is perfect for budgeting in the said country you’re in.
But don’t worry, we have done all the hard work for you.
But if you have clicked on the link you can see, it tells you the price from a chicken breast in the market to a mid-range meal for 2. It’s perfect!
Now, I’m going to get back to that shortly and while you carry on being impressed by the wonders of that site, I’m going to impress you once more before revisiting that site and subject and impressing again. A lot of promising to impress here isn’t there?
The current minimum wage in Australia is $19.49AUD, which is actually the highest minimum wage in the world!
That’s the equivalent of:
- 10GBP
- 12.29USD
- 17.49CAD
- 11.33EUR
Impressive. Very impressive when the minimum in those countries (for peopled aged 21 and over) are:
- 8.72GBP
- 7.25USD
- 11.06CAD
- 9.35EUR (Germany)
- 9.54EUR (Netherlands)
Now lets remember, that’s the MINIMUM. You could be earning higher.
So let’s look at what does that actually get you per hour of work?
People often use the Big Mac method, how many minutes/hours do you have to work for a Big Mac in your country. We’d use that but we’re WAY above comparing against McDonald’s… ONLY JOKING, here I am doing the breakdown.
So now let’s look at a beer🍺. How many minutes on minimum wage do you have to work for a beer in your country?
We’ve gone with Melbourne in Australia and the major cities of each country to make it fair.
0.5 Litres Of Domestic Beer
- 8AUD = 25 Minutes. Melbourne, Australia
- 5GBP = 41 Minutes. London, England
- 7USD = 61 Minutes. New York, USA
- 7CAD = 35 Minutes. Toronto, Canada
- 3.80EUR = 26 Minutes. Munich, Germany
- 4.25EUR = 31 Minutes. Amsterdam, Netherlands
So out of all 5 comparisons only one country comes close to beating Australia and that’s Germany…and we all know how much they love their beer.
Date Night
Want to take someone out on a date on your travels? No worries. A 3 course meal for 2 at a mid range restaurant we’re talking:
- 82AUD = 259 Minutes. Australia
- 50GBP = 406 Minutes. England
- 80USD = 661 Minutes. USA.
- 75CAD = 375 Minutes. Canada
- 60EUR = 407 Minutes. Germany
- 65EUR = 475 Minutes. Netherlands.
Gym Time
Want to keep fit while travelling? Let’s look at a gym price for one month:
- 63.38AUD = 201 Minutes. Australia
- 47.27GBP = 384 Minutes. England
- 76.34USD = 630 Minutes. USA.
- 55.87CAD = 279 Minutes. Canada
- 32.94EUR = 223 Minutes. Germany
- 65EUR = 475 Minutes. Netherlands.
Have you noticed a trend yet? This is pretty damn good isn’t it? Well not if you’re American.
Now all of these prices are based on not just anywhere in Australia either, they’re based on the prices of Melbourne, the 2nd most liveable City in the World. This is probably one of the reasons why I imagine?
Not only is there the monetary value and benefits to travelling, you’re naturally going to grow as a person too. You’re going out of your comfort zone, you’re experiencing new things, meeting new people, trying new things and growing as person daily. It’s an absolute win-win.
So tell me folks, after your long day at work today.
Where would you rather be on minimum wage? At home, or on a working holiday in a place where every weekend feels like a break and the beaches look like this?
