What country from the United States could you vist and bring back
enough product or merchandise to cover your cost of the trip (2)
people.

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Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 28 Jun 2002 18:47 PDT

What language(s) do you speak? Are you willing to travel in Third
World conditions to keep your expenses down, or do you hope to hope to
earn enough so you can stay in luxury hotels and eat in fancy
restaurants?

I don’t think the question is one of exchange rate, it’s a problem of
being limited by customs regulations and what you can carry within the
airlines/shipping regulations before incurring importation taxes (or
weight problems).  For example you could cover the cost of your
holiday by taking back diamonds from South Africa or Brazil but for
sure when you told the customs man the value (assuming they are worth
more than the cost of your holiday for 2) you are going to get charged
some kind of importation tax that probably wouldn’t have made the trip
worthwhile.  Which is one of the reasons why people try to smuggle
things through customs.

Just my thoughts.

Hi,

I'm not sure if if what you're asking is possible - otherwise we'd all
be doing it! Exchange rates are a way of measuring relative values of
money between different economies.

About a year ago US$1.00 = AUD$0.50

So if you left the US with US$1000, you'd be able to exchange that in
Australia and get AUD$2000 - and you would feel quite wealthy, until
you start shopping and realise on average, things will work out about
double the price you're used to.  So a Big Mac that you would buy in
the US for $2.00 would cost you about AUD $ 4.00

There are other things in play which can mess this up a little - like
taxes, tarrifs, regulations, shipping costs, labour costs, etc... but
pretty much at the end of the day when things start getting out of
balance, the laws of supply and demand kick in which prices and/or
exchange rates fluctuate and this makes it impossible to return
wealthier - although if you do it carefully there is opportunity to
pick up a few excellent bargains.

webwrx-ga

Just noticed an error in my comment example. It SHOULD say:
  "About a year ago AUD$1.00 = US$0.50"

I have to agree also that taxes, etc. could eat the profits. It really
depends on how you want to live, and for how long.
Importation could be extremely difficult.
Example: CDs/DVDs/software. Extremely cheap in some parts of Asia.
Hard to bring back to US, and/or some not playable there.
Example: Hong Kong. Tonnes of great gadgets that aren't available
here. Downside: Many don't work here.

You might be able to do some thing along the lines of hand-crafted
items, which could perhaps be bought cheap in a 2nd or 3rd world
nation, but would fetch top dollar in US. ie. carpets, clothing,
jewellry, figurines, toys, dolls, memorobilia type stuff.
Don't bring it back with you. Instead, ship it to yourself in US, just
before you return. Have it brokered through customs.

Another idea may be to take stuff with you to countries where it is
much more expensive. Like computer equipment from US/Canada to
Australia/UK. HUGE price differences.

It also depends on whether you are keeping it legal or not. There are
plenty of opportunities to illegally smuggle artifacts, gold, spy-type
stuff, rare animals, etc. Not that I would recommend that, of course.
It's almost as complicated if you keep it legal, what with
import/export, taxes, duties, etc.

My best suggestion would be to talk to people who have been to other
countries (or perhaps they will answer this here) and find out what
can be bought at what price (ie. crafts or foodstuffs) and then see
what it would be worth in the US.

Good Luck!

I recently spent three months in India for my company. The exchange
rate stayed pretty constant at R50=1USD. Meals were cheap and you
could live on as little as 10-15 dollars a day if you did not eat in
the 5 or 7 star hotels every day. In fact in Goa, I stayed in a little
beach hotel and round trip airfare (Bombay-Goa) was R5000=100USD,
Hotel for 3 days 2 nights R1500=30USD and meals (including
booze)R500=10USD. There were many products that one could buy that are
resellable in the US. Labor is cheap in India so any textile,
handicraft or other hand made product can be had at well below US
retail prices. Hand knotted rugs, Kashmere sweaters, wood carvings and
furniture are all that come to mind. Most retailers there will ship to
the US for you. Stay away from the shops in or near the Tourist hotels
and go off the beaten track for the best prices. Leather is another
comodity there that is very inexpensive. They will make leather
clothes, handbags, coats, and carryalls to order (watch out for the
knock offs that might get confiscated). Luxury hotels can cost 100USD
and up per night with meals that can start at 20USD and up. Booze in a
hotel has a 300% luxury tax added that makes drinking more expensive
than eating. A bottle of Rum that costs R150 (yes that is not a
misprint 3USD) on the street can cost over R2000 in a hotel. Anyway I
digress, Rugs can be bought for 100-500USD that would sell for
500-3000USD here. Of course market saturation, quality etc. would
affect prices. Importing has always been a good buisness IF tariffs,
transportation, and other customs issues do not eat up your profits.
There are many other countries in Asia, Africa and South America where
you can do this. Developed countried in North America, Europe and Asia
would not be as profitable. As they say on the news groups YMMV (your
milage may vary) Happy travelling!

Dear Houston,

There is no real answer to your question--and I'm in total agreement
with webwrx.

The right question to be asking is 'Where should I go to get the best
'value' for my trip, given the current state of exchange rates?   To
determine this you need to look for currencies that are heavily
undervalued against the dollar.  As of April 2002, these included
Argentina, South Africa, Russia, Phillipines, and China to name the
bigger economies.  You should stay away from Switzerland, Turkey, and
Venezula, since their currencies are overvalued and your dollar will
buy you little there.

There are a number of ways to economically determine this method of
undervaluation or overvaluation.  One of the more acceptable methods
by economists is the Big Mac Index.  Go to this website, and it will
explain this concept well.
http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1098872
Oh, and check out the chart.

claudietta