Expert: Joel Linton - 10/10/2007

Question
Good day, I hope you will be able to assist.
I'm the travel agent for Old Mutual in South Africa and they've asked me to give them the average prices for a day in New York (they normally have meetings in Boston and Manhattan).  
At the moment their daily travel allowance is USD75 which should cover taxi fare, lunch, dinner and a drink or two.

Are you able to please advise what the average cost would be for a taxi in central London, the cost of a beer, a bottle wine, lunch and dinner??
Thanks
Jeandré

Answer
I live in Chicago (and by coincidence -- I was born in Bloemfontein !!! -- have lived in the USA since 1992.

$75.00 per day for NYC to cover what you list is not a bad amount at all (accommodation is very expensive at the moment). My company allocates about the same for meals/taxis/incidentals.

You ask about London -- well .... 3 meals a day can run at about $100 a day (breakfast $15 to 20, Lunch $20 and Dinner $ 35 to Ito 50).  Taxi rides average at about $10 to $15 each (including tip).  Beers are $4 to 5 each.  Bottle of wine in a restaurant (decent) can be anywhere from $25 to 30.

London is an expensive City these days -- and so too the Euro rate vs the dollar makes Euro cities expensive too.

Hope this assists -- let me know and if you need any further information you can use this site or e-mail me at jblinton@comcast.net

Take care and regards

Joel

PS -- when the site asks for a rating of my service, please will you reply !! (thanks)