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 |