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Always Ask the Price Travel Tip

Always ask the price Travel Tip In point, if you have not been in a country very long and are not absolute positive about the price of something you would like to purchase, ask. If you make a commitment to buying something without knowing the price then you are at the mercy of the vendor, [...]

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Always ask the price Travel Tip

In point, if you have not been in a country very long and are not absolute positive about the price of something you would like to purchase, ask. If you make a commitment to buying something without knowing the price then you are at the mercy of the vendor, who can rightfully charge you as little or as much as possible. If you are in a location that is use to the presence of transient foreigners, be especially weary, as you are here today and gone tomorrow, so overcharging you will not usually hurt a vendor’s reputation or loose him your continued patronage.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Istanbul, Turkey- February 10, 2009
Travelogue
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This is the second day that I have been in Turkey, and I went into a bakery on the outskirts of Istanbul to eat a couple servings of borek with Chaya. We had been eating these cheese and spinach filled pastries since we were in Bosnia, and they are usually really cheap, costing us well under a dollar a piece. We saw some in the window of a bakery and ordered two helpings from a smiling plumb woman in full baker’s garb behind the counter. Her husband came out of a backroom to greet us and showed us to our seats while she fixed up our servings. We ate down the boreks without confirming the price, thinking that we could not be charged over a dollar – 1.5 Lira – each.

If there is no menu, ask the price

We were wrong. Upon walking up to the counter to pay, we were charged a whopping $2 for each serving, 6 Lira in total. I am still unsure if we were ripped off or if this is the going rate, but it was far too steep of a price me. If I had known that the price was so high for this pastry, I would not have even thought of eating them at this bakery. But I did not confirm the price before eating, so I was at the mercy of paying whatever I was charged.

[adsense]I usually always ask the price of everything before committing to a purchase, but this time I slipped up and ended up paying more than I would have otherwise. This was my own fault, and Chaya and I paid $4 for the small meal.

Travel tip: always know the price of something before buying.

Travel tip: never buy anything from anyone who will not tell you the price of something directly.

Travel tip: never hesitate to walk away from a vendor if you do not want to pay the offered price.

This simple standard operating procedure will keep your pennies jingling in your pockets and your thoughts clear of that annoying discontent of pondering whether or not you were ripped off.

How to ask for the price in other languages:

Ne kadar- Turkish
Duo shao qian- Chinese Mandarin
Cuanto cuesta- Spanish
Combien- French
Ikura desu ka- Japanese
Koliko to košta- Croatian
Kolik to stojí- Czech
Hvor meget koster det- Danish
Hoeveel kost het- Dutch
kuinka paljon se maksaa- Finnish
Wie viel kostet es- German
Сколько это стоит- Russian

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Sources:
How to say it in?

Always ask the price of everything

Filed under: Money, Travel Tips

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3699 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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