u/jmmv2005

HD Version here

I've spent the last few months working on this in a gargantuan spreadsheet. (Almost) all data has been updated to 2026 numbers, and the data has been aggregated from over a dozen different sources.

Assumptions:
-Solo Traveler staying in Hostel Dorms (When possible. In countries with no hostels, I used the average price for a two-star hotel room instead.)
-Exchange rates are based on the average over the last 12 months, not necessarily as it currently stands in August of 2026. Countries with unstable currencies might see their numbers fluctuate quite a bit month-to-month. Using the average exchange rate is a way to partially counteract this, but it's still a thing that can't fully be predicted or adjusted for
- Costs for each country are based on a weighted average of the most popular cities/towns among backpackers (For example, Portugal's cost of travel is about €6/day higher due to the Algarve being weighted as 20% of Portugal's total.) In general, I used the the Top 5 or 6 most popular destinations, but for smaller countries (like the Caribbean islands), it may have been only 1 or 2, and for large countries like the United States it may have been closer to 8 or 9.

What is included:
-Accommodation (See above)
-Food and Drink (Streetfood or Fastfood only, no sit-down restaurants. In most cases this calculated as the cost of a cheap breakfast, cheap lunch, cheap dinner, a cup of coffee plus misc. snacks.)
-Local Public Transportation
-Attractions (Museum entrance tickets, park fees etc.)
-Cellular Data
-Visa Fees, but only if the fee is charged daily.
-Sales Tax/VAT (when applicable)

Not Included:

-Long Distance Travel (Domestic Flights, Intercity buses etc.)
-Visa Fees (If charged one-time on entry)
-Travel Insurance
-Other Miscellaneous Expenses

I also didn't include either North Korea or Turkmenistan since both countries require all tourists from US/EU/CANZUK to visit the country as part of an organized tour, so backpacking isn't really possible (and the tours cost at least €130-€140 per day anyways)

Bis zur Rote Charte hani würklich s’Gfühl gha, dass mir das chönd schaffe. D’Nati het kämpft, isch organisiert gsi und het bis zum Schluss alles geh.
Ich finde d’Roti Charte isch unnötig gsi und het s’Spiel komplett veränderet. So es Viertelfinal sött vo de Spieler entschiede werde und nöd vo so eme Moment.

Trotzdem: riesige Respekt a üsi Nati. Ihr händ es ganz Land stolz gmacht. Hopp Schwiiz. 🇨🇭❤️

What a month of Netflix's "Standard" (ad-free, 1080p) plan costs across 51 countries, converted to USD. Each country is shaded by how its price compares to the global average ($12.40/month) — cheaper markets cooler (teal), pricier ones warmer (red). Cheapest: Egypt $3.28; priciest: Switzerland $28.85.

Full interactive world map and all countries: https://bigmacindex.com/netflix-prices-by-country

A few days ago I asked here whether it would be safe and sensible to visit Belgrade with the protests ongoing. Many of you reassured me that it would be fine, and I’m glad I listened.

I spent a few days in the city and had a fantastic time. The atmosphere was welcoming, the food was great, the history and architecture were fascinating, and everyone I met was friendly and helpful.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply to my original post and share advice. It helped me make the trip, and I’m very happy I did.

I’ve attached a few photos from my visit. Looking forward to coming back and exploring more of Serbia in the future!

Hvala, Belgrade! ❤️🇷🇸

I started building Auribook because I wanted an audiobook app for the Apple Watch that I would actually use myself.

It is a 100% standalone Apple Watch app, so no iPhone is needed for listening. That was important to me, because at the time I was training for a marathon and spending a lot of hours running. I love audiobooks, but I always found it annoying to depend on my phone. The Watch is just always there. On a run, on a walk, around the house, or whenever I do not really want to take anything else with me.

So this started very much as a personal project.

What I did not expect at all was who would write to me.

A few families reached out and told me that their kids use Auribook on an Apple Watch, without having their own iPhone. That was not really a use case I had in mind when I started building it. But hearing that it changed how their children listen to audiobooks was probably one of the nicest surprises of the whole project.

It also changed how I think about the app.

A lot of the things I added recently came from users writing to me. Some were small bug reports. Some were very specific feature requests. Some were just people explaining how they use the app in real life. And that helped a lot, because my own use case is obviously only one small part of it.

Some of the bigger things that changed over the last months:

• 100% standalone Apple Watch listening, no phone needed
• LibriVox / public domain audiobook support was added
• Apple Watch playback got much better
• offline downloads for the Watch improved a lot
• Audiobookshelf support and sync got more reliable
• Podcast support was added
• multi-chapter audiobooks work much better now
• many small settings and quality-of-life things were added because people asked for them

One quick tip, because this still comes up sometimes: when downloading audiobooks to the Watch, it helps a lot to disable Bluetooth on the Watch first, stay close to your Wi-Fi router or use cellular, and then start the download. A full audiobook can download in around 2 to 3 minutes this way. Just do not let the screen turn off while it is downloading. This is currently the best workaround I found for the Watch download limitations.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this because the app started as something I built for myself, but it has become much more shaped by the people using it.

If you use audiobooks on Apple Watch, Audiobookshelf, LibriVox, or podcasts, I would love to hear how you use them, what is still annoying, or what you would like to see improved.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/auribook/id6752285662

European student cities compared by beer price and perceived affordability.

Each point represents a city:

-X-axis: average beer price

-Y-axis: student-rated affordability

-Bubble size: number of reviews

Scores are normalized on a 1–5 scale and aggregated from ~1000 student reviews.

Tools used: Python (Pandas, Matplotlib)