Gas prices - does it matter?
 

Does the price of gas ever affect anyone's travel route? I mean, does someone traveling through Africa really have a choice in the matter?

When you need gas, you pay whatever it costs. You all would move from Europe if it really mattered, so what's it matter what it is in Tanzania at the time your sitting in Kenya? Deciding to head for Zambia or not, based on what it costs?

It seems trying to have a forum on this site for gas prices - which are constantly changing, and as a consequence, forever out of date, is pointless, and very anal.

Follow the price of crude oil, and you'll have an idea of what gas prices are going to be. About the best thing you can do is find out whether to fill your tank before crossing the border, or wait until after you cross.

I agree totally.

Why would fuel price make a difference, sure it can hurt a bit, but in the end, it is only a small part of the travel and adds to the experience as a whole.

When I went around Oz last year I paid minimum of $1.05 per litre and that was in December after the crude level per barrel dropped a heap. This was only for the last 2 weeks of my trip. The other 3.5 months I was paying on average $1.50 or so and the max was $2.18 per litre.

Did I stop and go home, no, I just filled up and kept riding :)

Cheers
TravellingStrom

I am sure it helps, people can get a rough idea when working out a budget for a trip, An American guy I met a few years ago at the TT and kept in touch with. had to cut short his proposed European tour due to the petrol(gas) prices which he never knew were so high, perhaps had he known beforehand he would not have chosen a Laverda Jota as his mode of transport.

I find not not only interesting about fuel prices, but hotel/doss house/campsite prices. And we can all appreciate fuel prices are forever changing.

This guy might tell you something about the price of gas in Buenos Aires but hes too busy with his alien mind control helmet to care !! :rolleyes2:

http://www.tedmagnum.com/gallery/alb...28Large%29.JPG

Obviously someone had to be under an altered state to let someone take a picture like that. Or perhaps this is proof that the alien mind control helmet wasn't working.

Hey Ted:
what's the deal with that metal mule case your looking for? Feel the need to trash some more gear?

heh heh !!

Well... One of them is so badly bent and smashed its beyond repair. After spending so much on them, the good one needs a friend !

I'm not happy unless i'm crashing, you know that :funmeteryes:

Hows Africa treating you ? Glad you went for it ?

Heck yes, so I can say "been there, done that", but I wouldn't go back again unless its someone else's nickel paying the way. Nine months was about all I could take - the worst I saved for last (Egypt).

But, back to my question: did gas prices really matter to you? We were in South America when prices went above $140 a barrel. Did you ever make any changes to your ride plans because of gas prices? (If I remember right, you were complaining about s**t gas, not expensive s**t gas.

And with oil prices constantly changing - would you ever sit at home making plans based on oil prices today, when you won't be leaving home for another 3, 6, 12 months, and no idea where oil (fuel) prices will be at that time?

Anybody ever make "contingency" plans for going one place (a continent) with prices low, going to some other region if prices are high?

Dave Ede met an American a few years ago (when prices were pretty stable) who couldn't afford the prices in Western Europe - had to cut short his trip. This is an example of a dumb American who doesn't keep up on international issues - too busy keeping up on celebrity rumors to read the international and business news.

Petrol prices matter to me. Not because they are likely to affect my route but, like someone said, if I have a rough route, I have rough mileage.

If I have rough mileage and rough MPG, then I have a rough budget to plan for for a given country. Bung 30% on top for changes of route etc, and I should be OK.

Prices do change, but most I expect are not intereted in the cent by cent changes, but rather is it over a dollar/euro/GBP per litre or less, etc...

Ditto for camping, hotels. You get an idea of what is average and what is overpriced... May not affect yuour choice of country, but may affect which hotel/camping/hostel you go for.

Seems like common sense to me...

No, it doesn't matter to me...

I think its because im British and used to paying some of the highest prices in the world. Currently about 90p a litre and that was £1.18 a litre at its worst.. Thats pretty much twice what you pay in the states.

When I was in Argentina, fuel was less than HALF the price I was used to paying at home and even Brazil seemed a bargain.

Also, theres is nothing we can do about fuel prices apart from take it on the chin and budget accordingly.

Precise prices don't matter to me, but then again, I'm not bothered by them. Yes gas prices go up and down, but if I have an idea of what they are where I live I can compare with where I want to go and see that it's more/less expensive and roughly how much more/less.

Then I can get a rough idea of how much it's going to cost me. Not so I change my plans, but so I know how many extra weeks I have to work to afford it.

I cant think of ANYWHERE I want to travel where the fuel prices are more than Western Europe, especially the UK....

If you focus on singular line items like gas prices, you lose sight of the bottom line...whatever that may be for you.

On my last trip...one thing that helped me in budgeting and tracking costs was the net cost per day for each country. This included hotels, visa, gas, insurance, etc.

NationMaster - Gasoline prices (most recent) by country


This is $USD per Litre..

#1 Uruguay:1.95
#2 United Kingdom:1.92
#3 Israel:1.87
#4 Argentina:1.75
#5 Japan:1.74
#6 Finland:1.74
#7 Iceland:1.72
#8 Netherlands:1.69
#9 Denmark:1.66
#10 Burundi:1.66
#11 Zambia:1.64
#12 Central African Republic:1.62
#13 France:1.62
#14 Italy:1.59
#15 Belgium:1.57
#16 Sweden:1.54
#17 Brazil:1.51
#18 Korea, South:1.51
#19 Germany:1.49
#20 Korea, North:1.46
#21 Rwanda:1.46
#22 Turkey:1.44
#23 Uganda:1.41
#24 Zimbabwe:1.39
#25 Guinea:1.39
#26 Austria:1.34
#27 Morocco:1.34
#28 Sierra Leone:1.34
#29 Hungary:1.33
#30 Bolivia:1.31
#31 Peru:1.31
#32 Switzerland:1.28
#33 Czech Republic:1.26
#34 Portugal:1.26
#35 Madagascar:1.25
#36 Croatia:1.25
#37 Poland:1.25
#38 Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of:1.25
#39 Cote d'Ivoire:1.25
#40 Tanzania:1.23
#41 Norway:1.21
#42 Senegal:1.2
#43 Spain:1.2
#44 Paraguay:1.18
#45 Ireland:1.18
#46 Greece:1.18
#47 Kenya:1.16
#48 Dominica:1.16
#49 Bulgaria:1.15
#50 Mali:1.15
#51 Slovakia:1.13
#52 Malawi:1.13
#53 Bosnia and Herzegovina:1.11
#54 Chad:1.11
#55 Burkina Faso:1.11
#56 Niger:1.11
#57 Mauritania:1.1
#58 El Salvador:1.1
#59 Latvia:1.1
#60 Sri Lanka:1.08
#61 Lithuania:1.08
#62 Costa Rica:1.07
#63 Burma:1.06
#64 Gambia, The:1.05
#65 Guinea-Bissau:1.05
#66 Haiti:1.05
#67 Chile:1.05
#68 Nepal:1.03
#69 Slovenia:1.03
#70 Honduras:1.02
#71 Nicaragua:1.02
#72 Jamaica:1.02
#73 Cambodia:1
#74 Cuba:1
#75 Mexico:1
#76 Somalia:0.99
#77 Estonia:0.98
#78 India:0.98
#79 Canada:0.95
#80 Bhutan:0.95
#81 Australia:0.93
#82 Albania:0.93
#83 Cameroon:0.92
#84 Mozambique:0.92
#85 Liberia:0.92
#86 Azerbaijan:0.92
#87 Armenia:0.9
#88 Congo, Democratic Republic of the:0.87
#89 Pakistan:0.87
#90 Gabon:0.87
#91 Lebanon:0.87
#92 Papua New Guinea:0.87
#93 Panama:0.87
#94 Guatemala:0.87
#95 South Africa:0.82
#96 Colombia:0.8
#97 Tunisia:0.8
#98 New Zealand:0.79
#99 Benin:0.79
#100 Togo:0.79
#101 Namibia:0.77
#102 United States:0.77
#103 Bangladesh:0.75
#104 Ethiopia:0.75
#105 Romania:0.75
#106 Jordan:0.74
#107 Tajikistan:0.74
#108 Moldova:0.74
#109 Kyrgyzstan:0.72
#110 Syria:0.72
#111 Uzbekistan:0.7
#112 Botswana:0.69
#113 Belarus:0.68
#114 Laos:0.67
#115 China:0.66
#116 Thailand:0.64
#117 Trinidad and Tobago:0.64
#118 Mongolia:0.62
#119 Vietnam:0.62
#120 Philippines:0.61
#121 Ukraine:0.61
#122 Kazakhstan:0.59
#123 Russia:0.54
#124 Ecuador:0.51
#125 Oman:0.51
#126 Angola:0.49
#127 Malaysia:0.46
#128 Sudan:0.46
#129 Nigeria:0.44
#130 Algeria:0.44
#131 Egypt:0.43
#132 Libya:0.41
#133 United Arab Emirates:0.41
#134 Saudi Arabia:0.39
#135 Kuwait:0.34
#136 Ghana:0.33
#137 Indonesia:0.28
#138 Venezuela:0.2
#139 Iran:0.08
#140 Iraq:0.05
#141 Turkmenistan:0.03
Weighted average:1.0

Bad list. I found three errors already. Finland's not that expensive, Norway's not that cheap and according to my friend, two months ago the price of petrol in Venezuela was less than 2 eurocents per litre.

Jami

When I was in Turkey, gas was I spent MOST of my money on. Granted I was covering a lot of ground each day, but it was wickedly expensive. Quite a shock having just come from Turkmenistan/Iran.