Even some quite long -- for Europe -- flights, like 4½ hours for Dublin to Athens, are just €20. Some shorter ones are €10.
(This only includes a fairly small cabin bag, put under the seat in front. The service level is roughly equivalent to a cheap intercity bus.)
Well, they are for some tickets. Ryanair (like any airline, and indeed train line) is heavily dependent on people booking late and paying much, much more.
Canada, as a whole, is an absolute rip-off. There is virtually nothing you can point to in the country and remark that it's a good deal when compared to the prices offered in America or most areas of Europe.
High food costs, high booze costs, high communications costs, high transport costs, high taxes etc., combined with low salaries, is incredibly bleak.
* https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/overall-rankings
And consistently in the Top 10 for happiest:
America, I understand. But aren't prices in Canada generally lower than Europe when you include taxes? Sales taxes are 5-15% in Canada. They are generally 20% or higher in EU. Car insurance is perhaps more expensive in Canada, but vehicle registration/taxes are lower than Europe, so the total cost of ownership is lower.
I fell like a lot of the perception of things being more expensive in Canada is that CAD is values lower than EUR/USD/CHF/GBP. So looking at raw numbers, things feel more expensive. If you do the currency conversion, they become more comparable. Do you have any data showing things are generally more expensive in Canada compared to Europe, when accounting for currency conversion?
I recall a pitch to Amazon for their headquarters that they could get away outsourcing for cheaper over there.
I think the value of CAD depends on BoC decisions, not politicians. They can increase its value, for example by increasing interest rates, but that would cause an increase in unemployment. I don't think there is a mechanism to increase value of CAD without also messing up some other part of the economy, e.g. employment or inflation.
In the before times, it was pretty much the same price to get a last minute VIA train ticket or a Porter flight between Ottawa and Toronto. If you’re lucky, early, or a student, you can get a train ticket quite a bit cheaper.