12 Days In New York On $130 Without Missing a Beat
Posted by Charlene Jaszewski on March 30th 2008 in Travel Tips
What do you do when you’re an intrepid traveler short on cash? Get creative. I recently had to travel to New York for a conference and since most of my money was tied up in paying for a cross-country move, I had to make it work on the cheap.
Tip #1: Keep Up On Airfare Deals
Luckily I knew this conference was coming up in advance, so I had time to book a cheap deal. I looked through all my point sources but was just shy of the amount needed to book a flight. Suddenly Northwest Airlines (the hub flying out of Minneapolis) started offering PerksChoice, a program that lets you use points for half a ticket! Bang! $110 off my flight! A great forum I discovered to keep up on things like this is flyertalk.com.
Airfare cost=$110
Tip #2: Enjoy the Free Conference Food!
If you’ve ever been to a conference worth its salt you know you get, at minimum, free lunches. If you can subsist on coffee alone in the morning you’re set for breakfasts too!
Breakfast and lunches cost=$0
Tip #3: Have Friends In Every City
Yes I know this isn’t always possible but in the land of the intarwebz I’m lucky enough that I DO end up having friends all over the country! Since most of a trip’s budget is used on accommodations, you can save yourself a bundle by keeping it on the cheap.
I have friends in New York, but unfortunately New York is a popular city and their couches happened to be full during that time. Just when I was ready to ring up the couchsurfing network, one of my friends went dogsitting and let me stay at his place!
Accomodations cost= $0.
Tip #4: Have Strategic Birthdays/Be Nice and Cute
Ok I admit this isn’t a practical tip but because it can’t really be used more than once a year. My birthday is coming up and so when I went out to eat with my generous friends they treated. I had also accepted a few dates during my trip so the nice gentlemen paid for a few suppers. This is not as calculated as it sounds. It just worked out that way!
Dinner cost=$0.
Tip #5: Pick Up Some Side Work En Route
I perused the “gigs” section of craigslist.com before I left and found a few people who just needed an hour or two of consulting on WordPress and/or some banners. Score! Some spending money and bonus I made some new friends!
Brainy bonus=+$100
Tip #6: Be Oblivious and Lucky
The one night that I didn’t have dinner plans with friends, I was just wandering around the conference location and people watching. I just kind of absent-mindedly followed a bunch of people into a room with dinner food-thinking maybe my conference was hosting a supper! I was halfway into my roasted vegetables and pork when I realized that instead of conversations about website conversions and Pay Per Click advertising (the conference I had been attending) I was hearing financial and real estate banter. Oops.
I had a giggle and excused myself. I’m the kind of person who gives back change at a store if I’m given too much by mistake, but since I figured they wouldn’t be able to give back the yummy food back from my tummy, I walked back to my friend’s house, enjoying my luck and my full belly!
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