MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

Spreadsheet time! I like to list all of the expected expenses (Transportation, lodging, food, planned experiences, miscellaneous expenses, spending money, etc.) If you don’t really know some of these, I use $200/nt for lodging, $50/day for food, $25/day for spending money. That should cover most US places, except for major tourist cities like New York or Boston or LA. If you are going somewhere like that, I recommend pre-planning your trip without actually booking anything to determine the overall projected costs before you decide if that’s the place for you.

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Going with friends is a great way to save money when it comes to lodging. A room for one is the same amount as a room for 4 at most hotels. You can also split meals since restaurant portions tend to be fairly large and left-overs are hard to manage on vacation. (Still shocked that I didn’t get sick from a left-over chicken sandwich that I “heated up” by leaving on the car dashboard in the middle of summer…)

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I mentioned in an earlier post that if you go solo on a cruise, they basically still charge you for double occupancy. However, Norwegian Cruise Lines have some ships that have Studio rooms which are priced for solo travelers. The downside is that they are all inside rooms, but you do have access to a lounge area to mingle with other solo travelers. Plus it’s a cruise, so you won’t be in your room too often. 

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You can also find deals by booking ahead. This is good for those of us planners, but might not work for those “wing-it” types. My sister and cousins are also amazing at finding great deals online. I spend more time researching unique and weird experiences to try than finding deals, so I don’t have many tips to share for those trying to budget vacation.

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Finally, who are you going with?