Anatomy of Vacation Costs: Weekend in Minneapolis

Here is a full breakdown of our recent weekend getaway in Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota:

Days:  3

Total Spent:  $641.73

Per day breakdown:  $213.91

Per person/ per day breakdown:  $106.96

$270.00 Delta Airlines ET
$138.94 SW Airlines ET
$4.00 Bus fare
$7.00 Bus day pass
$8.00 Bus day pass
$2.15 Barnes & Noble book LT
$4.60 A&W Rootbeer Float
$16.09 Doc Popcorn
$20.00 Admission – American Swedish Institute
$8.53 Disco Fries
$6.47 Glam Doll Donuts
$22.40 FIKA lunch
$24.00 Minnesota History Center
$3.00 Tips
$16.49 Revival Burger
$16.00 Groupon Afro Deli
$1.75 Bus fare ET to airport
$12.00 Mill City Museum
$40.00 Royal Family Theater tickets
$2.67 Dunns Bros Coffee
$7.74 Golden’s Deli
$9.90 Bottle of wine from store

 

This trip was planned about two weeks beforehand when Lisa was presented with the opportunity to attend a conference in St. Paul.  Since the conference was to begin on Tuesday, and since Monday was Presidents Day, that basically gave us three days before the conference to fly in and take in the sights.  We had visited previously when we arrived via Amtrak, but our visit was for only half a day.

The costs of this trip could have easily been an additional $400 – $500, but Lisa’s transportation was covered so all I needed was to buy my own roundtrip fare, which we flew on Delta and on Southwest.  Once again, we used coupons from the Entertainment book and a Groupon to save money.  Our biggest savings was in our hotel, staying three nights at the St. Paul Hyatt Place for only 5,000 points per night.  Rates here average around $149 per night, so we saved over $450 just by using our Hyatt points.

Breakfast all three days was complimentary at the hotel, so that was another easy savings of $20 per day, plus it was nice to just serve ourselves and get the day start straight away without having to wait.

We didn’t rent a car as the public transportation network is outstanding, especially since our hotel was right next to the St. Paul Union Station, the starting and ending point for a number of buses that we used to get around.  We could have also used Uber or Lyft, of which there is plenty, but the buses suited us just fine.

With all costs considered, we were slightly above our target rate of $100 per person, per day, but overall this was a very successful and budget-friendly trip.

Category breakdown:

$110.89 Food
$429.69 Transportation – flights, buses, shuttle
$96.00 Attractions
$5.15 Misc
$641.73 Total

Anatomy of Vacation Costs: Weekend in Seattle via train

Here is a full breakdown of our expenses for our most recent trip:

Days:  3 (Friday – Saturday)

Total spent:  $167.20

Per day breakdown:  $55.73

Per person / per day breakdown:  $27.87

$86.00 Amtrak RT for two
$2.25 Amtrak coffee
$14.95 Wing Luke Asian Museum
$10.00 Tri Met MAX tickets ($2.50 each)
$54.00 Dinner out at Janbo Cafe

Category Breakdown:

$56.25 Food
$96.00 Transportation – flights, buses, shuttle
$14.95 Attractions
$167.20 Total

This was a cheap weekend trip for us, primarily because of our free accommodations on Friday and Saturday night with our friends.  They also fed us breakfast and dinner both nights, so it was only fair to pick up the lunch tab at the Janbo Cafe.  We did save over $100 using coupons:

$14.95 Buy one, get one free admission to the Wing Luke Asian Museum.  We used our Entertainment book discount.

$86 – our Amtrak Cascades ticket was $86 for a round trip for one person.  Using our Buy one, get one free voucher from our Barclays Amtrak Mastercard, Lisa was able to travel with me for free so instead of paying $172 for our trains, it only costed us half of that, $86, and thus bringing our per person roundtrip fare to only $42.

Final Thoughts:

I love taking the train and it is so easy and convenient for a weekend trip north to Seattle.  The trains, especially the Cascades, are modern, comfortable and a very relaxed way to spend four hours traveling.  Despite our long return home and spending three and a half hours on a bus, we realize that weather is a factor and our delay comes with the territory of riding the train.  Having the Amtrak Mastercard costs $75 per year, so having the buy one, get one free coupon is kinda a wash, but it does encourage us to consider the train as a travel option.  We still have another ten months to evaluate the overall perks for this card, but for now our weekend trip was definitely a success on a limited budget!

Anatomy of Vacation Costs: Weekend in Phoenix

Here is a full breakdown of our expenses for our most recent trip:

Days:  3 (Saturday – Monday)

Total spent:  $552.32

Per day breakdown:  $184.11

Per person / per day breakdown:  $92.06

 

$259.92 SW Roundtrip flights for two
$0.00 Holiday Inn Express PDX, 1 night with points
$0.00 Hyatt Place Phoenix, 2 nights with points
$8.00 Bus day passes for 2
$8.00 Bus day passes for 3
$2.00 Shuttle driver tip
$1.00 Entertainment Book digital membership
$2.50 Rolling Dough donut
$9.00 Rossen House tour (with Entertainment coupon)
$80.00 Half Marathon – Groupon price
$23.00 Pizzerio Bianco
$21.12 Ruby Tuesday (with BOGO free coupon)
$22.00 Desert Botanical Garden (with Entertainment BOGO free coupon)
$34.32 Gertrude’s restaurant
$7.00 Glass of wine at hotel
$2.25 Prune Face donut
$19.00 The Grill on Mill dinner
$18.00 Heard Museum
$25.23 Ruby Tuesday
$10.00 MAX tickets roundtrip for two

 

Category Breakdown:

$134.00 Food
$288.00 Transportation – flights, buses, shuttle
$130.00 Attractions & marathon

 

We saved at least $200 on our Hyatt hotels by using points, $100 at the Holiday Inn Express, and almost $50 by using buy one / get one free coupons from the Entertainment digital coupon book, which we bought for a $.99 30-day trial a few days before.  We looked at renting a car, but they were really astronomical so it worked out to just get the public transportation day passes and using the hotel shuttle.  We also had Lyft and Uber at our disposal, but ended up not really needing to use it.  The marathon was normally $120, but I found a last-minute Groupon deal that brought the cost down to $80.  As far as food, the hotel provided us a hearty breakfast on Saturday, Sunday and Monday that filled us up for most of the day.  I actually didn’t even eat breakfast on Sunday as I wanted to run on an empty stomach.  Our airline tickets were pretty reasonable at $130 each round trip, or just $65 each way.

Final Thoughts:

We had a great trip and our hotel was really  ideal for the location and amenities for only 5,000 Hyatt points a night.  We hit up the major attractions, but for future weekend visits we’ll try to make it out to the Arts District in Scottsdale and we’ll try to visit the Music Instrument Museum.  If we were to stay longer, we’d rent a car and check out points south and north up to Sedona and the Grand Canyon — Phoenix is really ideal just for a few days and we feel like we’ve seen most of it in our short three day weekend.

Anatomy of Vacation Costs: Winter Break in San Jose del Cabo

Here is a full breakdown of our expenses for our most recent trip:

Days:  8

Total spent:  $1,135.18

Per day breakdown:  $141.90

Per person / per day breakdown:  $70.95

$831.98 Airfare with companion ticket
$200.00 First class upgrade
$63.00 Seat upgrade to exit row
$29.00 Airline food and drinks
$53.00 Food
$52.00 Airport shuttle and local buses
$85.20 La Posada Real resort
$0.00 6 nights at hotels, paid for with points
$18.00 Walmart liquor and souvenirs
$35.00 Tips – bar, room, food service
$60.00 Massage and tips
$1,427.18 Total
$292.00 Minus airline upgrade fees through credit card
$1,135.18 Total out of pocket for 8 days

 

Analysis:

This was a vacation where we used a lot of points to save a lot of money.  Our biggest expense ended up being mostly for airfare, then it was local transportation, food and tipping.  Here is how our hotels break down:

  • Hyatt Place.  5,000 Hyatt points per night.  Retail value (booking on their web site) per night was about $90, so $180 for two nights.
  • Holiday Inn Resort.  35,000 IHG points per night.  Retail value (booking on their web site) per night was about $180, so $360 for two nights.
  • La Posada Real.  Paid their standard rate of $85.20 per night.
  • Hyatt Ziva.  Two free nights by using the free night certificate offered by our credit card.  Normal points redemption rate is 20,000 points.  Standard discounted retail booking online per night is about $400, so $800 for two nights.
  • Total retail value for points used over six nights:  $1520.

This was our first try at doing an all-inclusive resort.  It ended up working out pretty well.  We spent our first two nights at the regular Hyatt Place, which gave us a chance to go out and try some local restaurants.  We were also fortunate that the hotel offered a delicious and bountiful breakfast buffet every morning, so we filled up and didn’t really need to eat until the afternoon.  The Holiday Inn Resort offered food at all times during the day, but since I was sick I wasn’t really able to take full advantage of this.  The La Posada Real offered unlimited drinks and a full breakfast — they also had a plan that included other food, but we decided to opt out of this in order to try some other restaurants outside the property.  And finally the Hyatt Ziva — oh man, that place is dangerous!  So many food options to choose from, plus unlimited everything.  We definitely got our full value out of that resort.

So bottom line is did we enjoy our vacation?  Yes we did.
Would we do another all-inclusive option?  Yes, if it made financial sense.  There are some pretty swanky all-inclusive resorts for upwards of $1000 per night, and that just wouldn’t be worth it to us no matter how fancy the place is.  I think our basis would have to fall in line with our sweet spot for cruise deals  – around $100 per per person, per day.  In other words, $200 per day budget.  The Holiday Inn Resort is right around that budget, and it is a place we would definitely return to.  The Hyatt Ziva was a step above, but we still wouldn’t pay $400 a night for it.  We would only do the Ziva if we had the points for it.  People can sometimes buy Hyatt points with a 40% bonus, bringing the cost per point to 1.7 cents.  At 20,000 points, this would bring the cost down to $340 per night.  Not bad, but still not around the $200 per day budget that we have.

This winter break vacation was a real eye opener as to how much we can save using credit card points and perks.  We saved at least $400 by using Lisa’s companion fare on Alaska Airlines.  We saved $1500 on hotels.  Another $300 of airline upgrades.  Total this all out, and we saved $2200 on this week long vacation just through strategic use of our credit cards:  Alaska Airlines, IHG, Hyatt and Ritz Carlton.  Granted, these all have various annual fees, but we do get incredible value from their benefits and we will continue to keep these cards so long as they continue to bring us these savings that we enjoyed over the last week.  After all, spending just $71 per person per day is easily attainable for our budget and it was a week of pure relaxation and fun.  All thanks to our credit cards,

Anatomy of Vacation Costs: Oregon Caves Weekend Trip

Here are the costs associated with our just-completed Labor Day weekend trip:

$49.00 Yurt camping
$12.70 Lunch – Corvallis
$21.60 Dinner – Roseburg
$5.05 Breakfast – Grants Pass
$4.77 Lunch – Roseburg
$20.00 Oregon Caves tour
$17.73 Gas
$12.25 Gas
$21.68 Gas
$164.78 TOTAL
$82.39 Average per day

Analysis:

We only stayed one night and lucked out to get a yurt at a popular state park.  We used buy one / get one free coupons during our lunch and breakfast stops, and we used a Groupon for our dinner in Roseburg (good thing too — the food wasn’t all that great).  Gas was a big chunk, as we drove over 650 miles roundtrip but averaged close to 30 miles per gallon in my trusty 1992 Toyota Corolla!  Although we didn’t use any type of award points, we still managed to have a two-day escape for less than $200 total.