'Rs 6,000 cab ride and Rs 5,000 for dosas': Indian traveller in the USA shares her shocking expense video

For many Indian travellers, visiting the United States is often associated with excitement, ambition, and the idea of finally experiencing the “American dream.” But once the spending actually begins, reality can feel very different. From airport rides to basic meals, every purchase suddenly starts sounding expensive when converted into rupees. One Indian traveller recently captured that exact feeling in a video that has now struck a chord online, especially among people who earn in INR but travel to countries where even small daily expenses feel disproportionately high.

Aakriti Pandey recently shared a video on Instagram documenting her experience of travelling in the United States and reacting to how quickly costs added up once she mentally converted every expense into Indian rupees.

Transport

One of the first things that shocked her was transportation. She described public transport as nearly inaccessible in certain situations, especially late at night. After landing around midnight, she ended up paying $67 (Rs 6,326 approx) for an Uber ride to her accommodation, an amount she pointed out was almost equal to the cost of a one-night stay itself. Even small everyday purchases began feeling unusually expensive.

Coffee

She joked about reconsidering her coffee habits after seeing the prices. Spending three to four dollars on a basic coffee from a convenience store felt difficult to justify when she compared it to what the same amount could buy in India, where premium coffee options often cost less.

Dosa for breakfast

But it was breakfast that truly caught her attention. While craving dosa during her trip in the Bay Area, she discovered that three dosas cost around $57, which translated to more than Rs 5,000. The meal instantly became one of the biggest examples in her video of how dramatically expenses can feel inflated when constantly converted back into rupees.

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A post shared by Aakriti Pandey (@byaakriti)

Advice for travellers

She also addressed a common piece of advice travellers often hear: stop converting everything into INR. For her, that mindset did not feel practical. She explained that when someone earns in Indian currency and spends in dollars, it becomes almost impossible not to mentally compare the values. The conversion naturally shapes how expensive every decision feels during the trip.

The experience also led her to reflect on financial anxiety more broadly.

She admitted that travelling in the US without company sponsorship or work-related support can become mentally exhausting because of the constant awareness of spending. In her caption, she wondered whether others also experience similar money anxiety while travelling abroad, especially in countries where the currency gap feels enormous.

Internet reacts

The video triggered a wave of relatable reactions online, especially from Indians who have travelled or lived in the US. One user said the high expenses feel even harder to justify because the food and coffee often do not match the price, adding that the so-called American dream feels overrated to them. Another admitted that every online payment automatically triggered mental currency conversion calculations in their head. A woman living in the Bay Area also agreed with Aakriti Pandey’s observations, pointing out that public transport there is far less convenient compared to cities like New York City, while the overall cost of living in the Bay Area remains extremely high.