Josh and Mike decide to celebrate their graduation by going on a trip overseas. They are split between Southern Europe, France or Spain, and South Africa or Vietnam. Each can only spend 3,500 dollars on the trip and the cost of it is a very contentious issue. Josh argues that traveling to South Africa or Vietnam, located on the other side of the globe, would be too expensive. Mike claims that staying in Europe would be more costly. This essay attempts to decide their travel destination by looking at cost as the most important criterion.
Cost estimation is incredibly important when planning a project. To estimate its expense, it is important to understand all aspects of the project, in this case, the trip. According to Larson (2011), the process starts with assessing all project stages. For Mike and Josh, that would be the cost of the tickets there and back, the hotel, the food, the souvenirs, and the leisure activities such as sightseeing. It is possible to split these expenses into two categories, the flight and the stay. The flight expenses vary based on the destination; the farther away it is, the more it costs, and vice versa. The stay expenses play a bigger role since the costs of living in a European country for a longer period will be higher than those in a lesser developed country.
To ensure the success of the project, the estimates have to be as accurate as possible, but it is important that we account for limited knowledge and unforeseen circumstances. Estimations are often rough and uncertain (Meredith, 2017), and they require an adequate risk assessment. However, as Mike has firsthand experience traveling to Europe, his estimates are more likely to be true. Hotels, food, and leisure activities would not cost as much in Vietnam as in France.
Based on the criteria of money, it is evident that the cost to Europe will likely be more expensive. The relatively cheap plane flight to France or Spain coupled with a relatively high-expense stay there will greatly outweigh the expensive travel and cheap living in South-African countries or Vietnam. Using the estimation of costs for both cases, it is evident that Joshs plan for the trip would be more suited to their small budget.
References
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2011). Project management: the managerial process (7th ed). McGraw-Hill.
Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., & Mantel Jr, S. J. (2017). Project management: a strategic managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons.