When we arrived in Lithuania, one of the first things that hit us was how cheap everything was: groceries, eating out, going to movies, transportation, etc. Our first day in Klaipeda, a colleague took us to a restaurant and we ate dinner for 12 litas ($3.40 US) including a full meal and coke.
We would routinely get groceries, filling up two large bags with food and household products for around 50 litas ($14.15 US) and be on our merry way. Getting around town was easy as a bus ticket from one end of town to the other (purchased in advance) cost .80 centas ($0.23 US). A taxi ride from our house to LCC was 4 litas ($1.13 US) , including a small tip for the driver.
On the occasion that we wanted a good dose of Americana we would go to the local cinema and see an American movie in English with Lithuanian subtitles. On cheap movie Mondays, the viewing cost us 6 litas ($1.69 US) or the full price on other days was 10 litas ($2.82 US). Dinner and a movie could be had for the two of us for 50 litas ($14.15 US) resulting in two well-fed and well-entertained foreigners.
As we slowly watched the value of the US dollar decline in relationship to the Euro, (the Lita is attached to the value of the Euro: if it goes up, so does the Lita) we watched as things started to slowly get more expensive. Today's US dollar buys 2.19 litas, a drop of 39% of its value 6 years ago. This combined with the double digit inflation that we are experiencing lately has caused a large increase in the costs that we are having to bear.
That same dinner we had on our first day in town is now 21 litas ($9.58 US), the same movie costs 13 litas ($5.93 US). The grocery store now only gives us one bag full of groceries for our 50 litas ($22.83 US).
Getting around town just went up last month as the pre-purchased bus ticket is now 1.50 litas ($0.68 US) and the same taxi ride is now 8 litas ($3.65 US). It is good, however, not to have a car as gas prices here are outrageous: 3.30 litas per liter or 13.20 litas per gallon ($6.02 US) up from 2.20 litas per liter, 8.80 per gallon. ($2.48 US).
While everything overall has become somewhat more expensive, the place where our wallets really feel the pinch is in our housing costs. When we arrived, monthly rent for our first apartment was 1000 litas with an average utility bill of 250 litas (1250 litas = $353 US) Our apartment now costs 1100 litas per month with an average utility bill of closer to 400 litas. (1500 litas =$684.93 US) In the winter months with heating prices increasing, our highest month was nearly 1700 litas ($776.26 US). Ouch!
Even the postage that we use to send our thank you notes, Christmas cards and prayer letters has risen dramatically. Recently we bought 20 international stamps for 2.90 litas apiece ($1.32 US). Prior to 2007, international stamps cost 1.70 litas each ($0.58 US).
As you can see, what used to be the quaint and inexpensive land of Eastern Europe has rapidly become much more like Western Europe: the place that we joke about not being able to afford to visit.
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