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TOURIST ON BALI VACATION MAKES COSTLY WINE MISTAKE
A tourist unintentionally paid USD $1700 for a bottle of wine, while on vacation in Bali, Indonesia. Geoff Murphy, an Australian traveler, recounted his story in a Facebook group.
"I want to share a classic ignorant tourist story about my miscalculation when it came to the exchange rate," he wrote, explaining that it was his third trip to Bali.
Geoff and a friend decided to book an upscale restaurant called FIRE at W. It was the friend’s birthday.
"I usually don't drink wine when in Bali because of the high cost and the generally average quality of the wine on offer, but this time I decided I would splash out on a good bottle because of the occasion," Geoff explained. "Looking through the wine list, I decided on a decent bottle of white wine which was listed for ‘$1700.’ I assumed that meant 1700 rupiahs, the local currency.
"The waiter paused and said, ‘Are you sure, sir?’ I laughed at him and said, ‘Yep, no worries.’ I was thinking, ‘How dare he assume that I cannot afford a bottle of good wine!’"
Geoff said that the chef later came out and introduced himself.
"I did think, at the time, that that was strange, but I just assumed it was typical for a nice restaurant and did not think about it again," he said. Geoff did not really understand why until the next morning.
"I logged into Internet banking and noticed a charge for USD$2050 from the restaurant!" he said. "My heart dropped into my stomach, and I had a mini panic attack."
After finding his receipt, he realized the wine had cost himUSD$1,700, not USD$170 as he thought. The prices on the menu were in US dollars, not in Indonesian rupiahs, as Geoff believed. That the wine had been more expensive than all of his other vacation expenses combined!
"I’m glad it is entertaining for others, but it really was a very painful, costly mistake," he later said.
Bali is a popular vacation spot for Australians and others from across the world, and it welcomed over six million tourists in 2019, before the Covid pandemic disrupted travel worldwide.
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