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Travellers' questions that don't fit anywhere else This is an opportunity to ask any question, and post any notice you wish that doesn't fit into one of the other sections.
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 12 Apr 2020
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On the rare occasions I've been asked that, I tell them how much time it took for me to save up the money ( "Oh, about two years of saving..." ) and leave it at that.
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Old 12 Apr 2020
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I am very happy to engage with locals, but the conversation gets closed down if they start to quiz me on finances.
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Old 12 Apr 2020
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That's what it's like in the US: almost any topic is fair game (within reason), but questions about personal finances are considered offensive, even almost blasphemous. The fact is, some cultures don't see it that way, and this is a part of what's going on when locals approach you and launch right into "How much did your plane ticket cost? How much was your motorbike?"

I've had fascinating discussions with West Africans about this. Generally, they've been totally unaware that this sort of question might be out of line, and perplexed that we might believe it so. I'm not saying they're right--merely that it behooves us to examine our own belief systems, since they are sometimes rigid and irrational...just like everyone else's.

Again, if I feel like questions about money are putting me at risk, I have no qualms about declining to engage.

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Last edited by markharf; 13 Apr 2020 at 05:39. Reason: more specific
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Old 13 Apr 2020
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Easy...

"This is not my bike. I am borrowing it. I am too poor to buy a motorcycle. Please don't charge me double for my dinner because I'm a Muzungo"

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Old 13 Apr 2020
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Originally Posted by markharf View Post
That's what it's like in the US: almost any topic is fair game (within reason), but questions about personal finances are considered offensive, even almost blasphemous. The fact is, some cultures don't see it that way, and this is a part of what's going on when locals approach you and launch right into "How much did your plane ticket cost? How much was your motorbike?"

I've had fascinating discussions with West Africans about this. Generally, they've been totally unaware that this sort of question might be out of line, and perplexed that we might believe it so. I'm not saying they're right--merely that it behooves us to examine our own belief systems, since they are sometimes rigid and irrational...just like everyone else's.

Again, if I feel like questions about money are putting me at risk, I have no qualms about declining to engage.

Mark
I have noticed this in the US that money is more taboo than in the UK but go to India and they are completely open about it and want to know the price of everything. I like the system in Sweden, Finland and Norway where earnings are a matter of public record which makes employers more accountable.
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Old 13 Apr 2020
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Originally Posted by mark manley View Post
I have noticed this in the US that money is more taboo than in the UK but go to India and they are completely open about it and want to know the price of everything. I like the system in Sweden, Finland and Norway where earnings are a matter of public record which makes employers more accountable.
Maybe wanting to know how much a bike costs is only an Indian (subcontinent) thing? Wherever I travel (been bored recently in these C19 times, so worked out I've ridden a m/c in 82 countries), I try to meet people. I don't really recall being asked very often how much my possessions/ vehicle costs. The once or twice I have been asked, the conversation was terminated pretty sharply by me blanking the questioner/ not understanding the question.

In recent times I've also tried to ride the roads and tracks less travelled = less people and less likely to ask city-dweller type questions.

In India I travelled on locally rented bikes, so any money obsessed local would know the price of things.
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Old 13 Apr 2020
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Maybe wanting to know how much a bike costs is only an Indian (subcontinent) thing? Wherever I travel (been bored recently in these C19 times, so worked out I've ridden a m/c in 82 countries), I try to meet people. I don't really recall being asked very often how much my possessions/ vehicle costs. The once or twice I have been asked, the conversation was terminated pretty sharply by me blanking the questioner/ not understanding the question.

In recent times I've also tried to ride the roads and tracks less travelled = less people and less likely to ask city-dweller type questions.

In Indian I travelled on a locally rented bikes, so any money obsessed local would know the price of things.
It may well be an Indian thing.
I went to a fee paying catholic school which often had international students who would come for a year or two if their fathers were working in the Uk.
An Indian lad was in our class for a year. He would always ask to borrow whatever we had, ask us how much it cost, then ask if he could keep it. It was very strange at first but he was always unemotional about the process - eventually we got used to it.
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