Discount Travel Secrets: Summer Travel Hacks

Hi Reader,

This summer I have 2 trips planned: a weekend road trip to DC and a week-long road trip around New York.

One is expected to cost about $575 and the other is expected to cost about $1500.

Both are more expensive than what I would typically spend, so I'd thought I'd share the breakdown of how I made them as cheap as possible while still having standards 😂
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​DC Weekend Trip

• Transportation

We'll be driving our own car, so there's no added rental car fee.

There is a toll road that costs about $10-$12 and I looked at the alternate route to avoid the tolls, but the hotel we'd have to stay in to take that route would cost more than the toll, so it's more cost effective to drive the direct toll route.

Parking at the first hotel is free.

Parking at the second hotel is $27.95 for the night, which is considerably cheaper than most hotels in DC which were $50-$70 valet only parking.

Once we're in DC we'll be in walking distance of everything we want to do, so there are no added transportation costs once we're there.

For gas, we're expecting to spend about $150 round trip.

To save on gas, we use the Gas Buddy app to find the lowest prices while we're on the road.

We also use the rewards programs at all of the gas stations to get the extra 5-10 cents off per gallon.

• Lodging

For the first hotel, we used our Hilton Friends & Family discount to book a stay.

This is a program where Team Members can add up to 10 friends & family members to their account to receive up to 50% on select hotel stays when availability permits.

We both have worked for Hilton at various times over the years and still know tons of people that work there, so that's how we're able to be in the program.

It's not a guaranteed, all the time type of discount, it's sporadic.

But when staying at places like Hampton Inn while on the road, those tend to be available pretty frequently, so it works in our favor a lot.

We booked a stay for $80 and that includes the taxes.

While we're in DC, we're using Hilton Honors points to stay at the hotel for free.

Last year we got a Hilton Honors credit card and these were just points from signing up.

We picked the cheapest Hilton owned hotel within walking distance so that we could save on transportation costs.

I think it was 54,000 Hilton Honors points.

• Attractions

The best part about visiting DC is that just about everything you could want to do there is free!

The museums, the state fair, the tours, etc.

So our grand total for entertainment expenses will be $0.

• Dining

The vast majority of our trip budget is actually taken up by dining.

We're not sure if we're going to use the whole budget, but we planned to spend about $200 on food from Friday dinner - Sunday dinner.

Two of those meals will be on the road, so they shouldn't be more than $25.

Breakfast is free at the hotel and we're not really breakfast people anyway, but it's nice to know it's there if we want it.

That just leaves lunch & dinner on Saturday & lunch on Sunday to spend $150.

We're hoping to mostly just get food at the state fair, which will be cheaper than eating at a restaurant.

But outside of that, there's a pizza place we like and a Chinese place in Chinatown that are both cheap.

We've also budgeted $100 for souvenirs to get some America 250 merch if we find anything cool.

This email is getting a bit long, so I'll break down the New York trip savings next week.

There's a handful of strategies that were different than what we did for DC.

But to give a quick glimpse, my brother is getting married in Lake Placid & lodging is notoriously expensive there, especially over the weekend, so we planned ahead & found a great way not to spend $400+ a night on a place that's worth $150 at best.

I'll also add that no part of these trips are sponsored or part of brand collabs, so it's all real, out of pocket money that we're actually spending.

See you next week,

Eva and JP 💎

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