We traveled to Madison, WI from July 4 to July 7 for a wedding and to see some friends.? This trip was very different from the ones we usually take (like our recent trip to Boston) and really made me appreciate both styles of travel. ?I really liked downtown Madison, probably mostly because it?s summer ? great weather and not so many college kids!
?
Usually when we travel for events like weddings we couch-surf and try to minimize our cash expenditures as much as possible.? We love to stay with friends and family because that means we get more time to see them, but it?s also a bit exhausting to be ?on? nearly all the time and to try to be a good guest.? We also generally rely on local friends for driving transportation, which is great for us but means there is a lot of coordination and planning and dependence.? Our hosts often spot us our treat us to meals as well, which saves us a lot of money on food.
?
This time around we had a rental car, stayed in a hotel, and went out for every meal.? We slept as late as we wanted and basically went wherever we wanted to whenever.? It was awesome to have so much freedom to be spontaneous!? But because we weren?t pushing ourselves, we didn?t do as much during this trip as we might have if we were staying with friends.
?
The price is a big, big difference, though.? We spent a lot more money on this trip than a typical one, even though Madison isn?t an expensive place to visit.? Transportation was the huge category, as you?ll see.? Paying for all of the aspects of the trip made us enormously appreciative of the ways our friends and family often help us eliminate expenses, sometimes at cost to themselves.? So thank you, everyone!
?
?
Transportation ($989.85)
?
This was by far the most expensive category.? Not only did we have to fly but our rental car was crazy expensive.
?
Flight
?
We used our normal methods for buying flights, but we waited a bit longer than usual and only booked about 5 weeks in advance.? We were having trouble deciding whether to fly directly to Madison or to go to another somewhat nearby airport and drive in.? We ultimately decided to fly to Chicago and rent a car to drive to Madison because: 1) there were a lot more flight options to get to Chicago and the flights to Madison weren?t at very convenient times and 2) we thought we could use our few hours passing through Chicago to see some friends.
?
Car
?
We also booked the rental car through Priceline and we got the cheapest car we could.? We noticed, though, that booking it at Midway was about $5-10/day more expensive than at O?Hare!? This was the biggest surprise expense.
?
Since we drove up from Chicago we also paid for gas and tolls, plus we paid for parking at RDU and several times in Madison.
?
Lodging ($149.16)
?
Kyle and I booked our hotel through Priceline ? we didn?t bid but we got one of their promotional deals. ?We normally would go for a cheap motel like Motel 6, but because Madison is so inexpensive we decided to splurge for a three-star hotel.? We thought it would be awesome to have an exercise room and pool available to us ? but of course we didn?t use them even once!? We definitely could have gotten by with a smaller/cheaper room but it wasn?t very much money overall.
?
The one little downside here was that we didn?t realize until we arrived that we hadn?t specified what size bed we wanted, and our room had two full beds instead of one queen or king as we usually get.
(simultaneously)
me: It won?t be too bad to share a full?
Kyle: I get my own bed!
?
?
Entertainment
?
We spent no money on entertainment and yet had a wonderful time!? Of course we had wedding activities and seeing friends, which took up a good chunk of time, but we also went to the zoo, the Terrace (twice), the State Capitol, and the farmer?s market and we watched some fireworks for the 4th.? That?s quite a lot, actually!
?
?
Food ($130.24)
?
For eating out for every meal, we actually didn?t spend as much on food as I expected, probably because we only ate about twice per day (plus snacks for Kyle).
?
Thursday
breakfast: at home, before our flight
lunch: from a co-op (bought by our friend)
snack: brats, ice cream
dinner: at an Afghan restaurant with our friend
?
Friday
brunch: Chinese take-out in our hotel room while watching Wimbledon 
dinner: wedding event
dessert: gelato
?
?
Saturday
brunch: from the farmer?s market with vouchers given to us by the bride and groom
dinner: wedding
?
?
Sunday
brunch: at a restaurant that overlooked an airport
snack: hot chocolate (bought by our friend)
dinner: pizza with Cash Rebel
?
?
That?s right!? We met up with Ross from Cash Rebel in Chicago.? We actually talked about normal-people stuff for almost the whole meal, not so much PF or blogging.? Surprisingly, Kyle and Ross did most of the talking!? It was wonderful to meet him after being friends on the internet for many months. ?I think it?s very different meeting in person than just getting to know someone online.? If any local people or visiting bloggers want to meet us we are certainly open to it!
?
Our total expenditure on this trip was $1,269.25.? I can?t believe we spent 80% just on transportation! ?We actually didn?t budget this trip at all (gasp!) so we didn?t have a good idea when we RSVP?d of how much we would spend. ?We basically had the big expenses we paid in advance (flights, hotel, rental car) and then the small discretionary stuff once we got there (car incidentals, food). ?We didn?t try to keep our spending down but just naturally didn?t do anything?extravagant.
?
?
Do you prefer to stay with family/friends or in a hotel when you travel?? Have you ever chosen to fly to a major city and drive to your destination to make a compound trip? ?Have you met other bloggers?
?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/EvolvingPersonalFinance/~3/nSyiOUP5MBw/
white sox chuck colson ufc 145 results orrin hatch marlon byrd charles colson humber
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.