A few weeks ago, car guy husband and I took a little trip to Vancouver, Canada. We stayed in a four-star hotel. We saw sights and sounds and had a few rounds of drinks. We even went hot-tubbing. Oh, and Vancouver is the most expensive city in North America. More pricey than NYC, costlier than LA. Ok, now that we sound spoiled and snooty, let's be honest: we're cheap. And I was unemployed. So how can we pull off an awesome weekend at 50% off? Let's look at the numbers; First the expensive normal prices per couple and then you'll see how much we actually paid.
- Hotel: $260 (Spency! I know! This is downtown-downtown, like walking distance to shopping and touristy things.)
- Gas: $60
- Parking: $20
- Saturday lunch: $15
- Two-Pricetags Saturday Night Dinner: $60
- Drinks post-dinner: $30 (everything is so expensive in Vancouver!)
- Sunday breakfast: $12
- Sunday lunch: $18
- Sunday dinner (driving home): $14
And that's not even counting the $60 duty-free perfume I was lusting over!
Grand total: $489
($549 if hunky husband was feeling generous and wanted to buy me perfume)
But Sage & Mint, you might say, I'm young and wild and free, my bones don't creak yet and I don't have little chilluns running around, and THIS IS THE TIME TO TRAVEL.
You are so right, fretting reader. Here's how we do it:
Let's go back to that first sentence. Last weekend car guy husband and I took a little trip to Canada with OUR AWESOME COUPLE FRIENDS THE HOGANS. They're great. We travel well together. They're in grad school for counseling, so they're excellent at both communicating and listening , and this is key to our travel smoothness.
Right. So this basically means our couple of two turns into a party of four, and we split the cost of everything. So then we stayed in a four-star hotel that we found on Hotwire.com that was basically half off. We shared a hotel room on the 34thfloor of a Hyatt with a wall-size window looking out over downtown Vancouver.
We split the cost of gas. We found cheap parking,* and for a string of non-cheapness, we had a normal dinner and drinks afterward (see, we still have fun). OUR AWESOME COUPLE FRIENDS THE HOGANS went to Trader Joe's prior to the trip and stocked up on snacks, so we basically skipped buying an entire breakfast, lunch, and dinner at a restaurant. I didn't buy that perfume that I was lusting over, even though I still want to.
Actual prices per couple:
- Hotel: $63
- Driving: $30
- Parking: $10
- Saturday lunch: $15
- Saturday dinner: $60 (same)
- Saturday post-dinner drinks: $28 (same and spency)
- Sunday breakfast: $12 Starbucks special treat
- Sunday lunch: $16
- Sunday dinner: skipped it and ate at home
And yes, I'm going to do that mastercard thing, I know you were waiting for it:
A weekend with friends adventuring in a new city: PRICELESS
Grand total: $234 + priceless
Muuuch more manageable. Yes, it's a splurge fo sho, but if you've got some pocket change, why not take a vacation!
A few travel gems:
- Skip the souvenirs. Or just buy cheap ones. Tchotchkes will sit, pictures are forever.
- Skip the tourist draws. We went to two suspension bridges in Canada. One was free. And in a park. And surprisingly bouncy, to the chagrin of a few afraid-of-heights folks. The other was $32 PER PERSON and $5 to park. We skipped it and looked at google images instead. Don't be afraid to say no to your former plans.
- Buy groceries ahead of time. It's cheaper and prevents hangry-ness while traveling.
- Do free stuff. Cities have tons of great public spaces and actives. Go for a walk, drive around the city, wander around shops.
Now for a few warnings:
*You get what you pay for. Turns out our cheap parking was cheap for a reason. (Side note, this would've made our weekend way more expensive but we are forever grateful for company cars.)
- Sharing a hotel isn't for everyone, and that's the truth, but if you can pull it off, it's pretty much like a giant slumber party and pretty fun.
There ya go: International travel on the cheap!
Expect plenty more on the travel front. Ski trips, camping adventures, exotic locales. At Sage & Mint, we lurv to travel. I bet you do too. Got any tips or tricks to share?