Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and 12 city employees recently returned from a 13-day humanitarian mission to southern Africa. A trip that cost Denver taxpayers about $46,000. The trip was touted as a “good investment,” because city representatives “built bridges of understanding with another part of the world. . .”

Sounds a lot like a study abroad. Perhaps Mayor Webb and his associates should have consulted a few of the many returned study abroad students on how to travel internationally, for about $30 a day.

The total amount of Webb’s trip was $107,698, however $62,022 of it was paid for by private sponsors. That would have been one heck of a study abroad.

Consider that your average youth hostel costs around $15 a night (on the high end). Meals can be found for $10 (if you’re very careful). And with a student I.D., local attractions are virtually free.

Given a rough estimation of the cost of personal travel students take while studying abroad ($1,500 for four months), Mayor Webb and his 12 travel companions could have gone for under $20,000, and they could have stayed three and a half more months.

Granted these are generalizations being made about the exact cost of travel and the mayor is not a college student, but the point is that $107,698 is a lot of money, and building “bridges of understanding with another part of the world. . .” can be done for comparably little. If you plan ahead, you can even get college credit.