TRAVEL FINANCES: NY + BOSTON

This is post 5 of 5 documenting our time in Boston and New York. Read about our time in Boston HERE, what we ate in Boston HERE, time in New York HERE, and what we ate in New York HERE.

This post is a breakdown of where we spent money on our trip back East. I’m going to preface this by saying that this wasn’t a cheap trip by our means, but we didn’t set out with a specific budget in mind either. I am always fascinated with how others spend money while traveling, and how they are able to save money using “travel hacks.” So here is our budget breakdown.

For reference, we were back East for 9 nights (From December 2nd – December 10th). We were in Boston from December 2nd through December 7th, and then we left NYC on the 10th.

FLIGHTS

We flew out of LAX to Boston on a Friday and then flew home from LaGuardia to LAX on a Saturday. We fly Southwest because 1. It’s cheap 2. You get 2 free checked bags 3. Their point system doesn’t have any black out dates.

Round Trip Ticket: 288.96 per person

We applied flight points to come down to a total of..

FLIGHT TOTAL: $60 (essentially $30 / person)

TRANSPORTATION

We rented a car to drive from Boston to New York. We picked up the rental car at the Boston airport, and dropped it off at LaGuardia airport and then took the subway into Manhattan to our hotel. In each city we utilized the subway system and walking to get us to where we needed to be.

Read more about how we got around in Boston HERE and in New York HERE

SUBWAY TICKETS: 146.5

RENTAL CAR + FEES (GAS + TOLL ROAD FEES): 115.32

TRANSPORTATION TOTAL: $261.82

FOOD

This includes all of our food for the entire trip. From snacks at the airport, to all our café and bagel stops. We didn’t purposefully seek out cheaper/more expensive places to eat either. Honestly, if you asked me how much I thought we spent on food before I totaled this category up, my guess would have been higher than this.

Read more about where we ate in Boston HERE and New York HERE

FOOD TOTAL: $591

HOTEL

We spent quite a bit of time researching hotels. We didn’t want the cheapest hotel, but we weren’t looking for anything extravagant either. For our Boston trip we went with a Hyatt hotel across the bay from downtown Boston because it was significantly cheaper than anything in downtown. For our New York hotel, it was tricky finding a decent hotel for a reasonable price. I think part of this was due to us traveling during a high touristy time in New York. After a while of searching we found a hotel on Hotels.com for a decent price.

Read more about where we stayed in Boston HERE and New York HERE

BOSTON: $710

NEW YORK: $775

We applied $1000 worth of credit card points to come down to a total of…

HOTEL TOTAL: $485

OTHER EXPENSES

This includes all tickets to events or shows we bought, souvenirs we bought, and tickets and fees to touristy attractions. The main events and attractions we went to and saw were: the Patriots game in Foxbourough (main reason we took our trip and also the biggest expense in this category), the 9/11 memorial, the Top of the Rock, the Statue of Liberty Cruise and the Broadway show

Read more about what we did in Boston HERE and New York HERE

TOTAL: $1459

Total saved by using credit card points, airline travel funds, and airline travel points: $1512.72

GRAND TOTAL: $2857

PER PERSON PER DAY: $159

So there you have it, a breakdown of our financials for our trip back East. I wouldn’t say that we are travel hackers, and I don’t like to spend a lot of time and energy into saving a buck or two here, but we do utilize our credit card and airline points when we can. I find it almost inspiring reading about how others spend money on their travels (and travel for free!). Most times it makes traveling seem more attainable and not such a far off goal.

Because we used our Barclays Arrival+ Credit Card for all purchases made for and during this trip, we were able to rack up points for our next trip. We also have a Hotels.com, a Hyatt Hotels, and Southwest airline accounts, so we were able to accumulate points and nights for future travel.