Not Going to BelizeI am not going to Belize. Nope. I will not enter that country this time around. Why? Because it is expensive and I would have to pay $19 to leave the place. Charge me $19 to enter somewhere, and I may think about it, as I would be paying to get something [...]
Not Going to Belize
I am not going to Belize. Nope. I will not enter that country this time around. Why? Because it is expensive and I would have to pay $19 to leave the place. Charge me $19 to enter somewhere, and I may think about it, as I would be paying to get something – the joy of being in the country. Charge me $19 to leave somewhere and I must ask, “What the hell for?” I am obviously not receiving anything for that $19 fee. It is just a final slap in the face for the poor vagrant who had already grown use to paying $20 a night for lodging and an incalulatable amount for food.
Perhaps this is a last ditch attempt to drain the last remaining dollar out of travelers who had already had loads of money squeezed out of them by the tourist trap that Belize seems to be. ¨Get em one last time at the border!” Belize is expensive. I cannot figure out why the cost of traveling in Belize seems to be beyond that of Western Europe or the USA. I must conclude that it is this expensive solely because people will pay these prices, and the fact that people DO pay $19 just to leave the country attests to this.
But I must think that judging from the cost of travel in Belize, it may be worth the $19 to leave it. Haha.
The world is big. There are many other countries on planet earth, which, fortunately, do not try to sucker an extra $19 out of me as leave their realm. $19 for absolutely nothing. I will just spend more time in Guatemala rather than suffer this scam. Someday I will go to Belize when I can afford it, and I will probably enjoy it there emensely. It sounds like a really relaxing place . . . save for the costs of eerything. Maybe someday I could land some work there, which is the best way to travel in the expensive countries.
But Belize does not seem to be a very vagabond friendly country. This time around I cannot spend $30 to $40 a day to travel in ANY country. I also cannot loose $19 just to leave a country. That is two full days of travel for me. I figure that it would cost me at least 16 days of travel funds for a week in Belize. I would really like to visit this country, which is kind of an oddity in Central America, but I cannot do this right now.
I am disappointed.
I am ever surprised at how easily I can be turned off from going to a country. Make me fill out a stack of visa papers, make me come up with a letter of introduction, make me pay stupid fees, and I will just go to a different country that does not make me do this. I just know that there are many other countries in this world where I can live and play with few impertinent hassles. A $19 departure tax is the exception, and not the rule. Maybe someday I will run out of the easy countries and have to suck it up and go to the Russia’s and Belize’s.
Maybe I will go to Belize when I find a ship to sail. Then I can run the high seas and bite my thumb in the general direction of departure taxes.
Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
Copan Ruinas, Honduras
March 18, 2008
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About the Author: VBJ
I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 93 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. VBJ has written 3728 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.
VBJ is currently in: Rome, Italy
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January 25, 2010, 1:24 pm
hello,
i happen to stumble upon your blog as i searched the internet for child labor in syria and then just read on. i recently visited jerusalem and had to pay a 98 shekel departure fee. needless to say i was furious because that money could have bought me some falafels and a few taxi rides in egypt so i know what you mean. however, i read that you had to go thourgh israel to get to egypt to avoid the ferry fee, didn't you have to pay the departure tax then? i'm just curious…i haven't traveled much but i have never paid this much to leave a country
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