Now that I have come a long way across the country under a limited budget, I think I am at a position to suggest some money-saving tips for you. If you have more to share, or want to comment on the things I post, please feel free to add your valuable opinions as comments.
Of course, what I put here is only my two cents and should be taken with a grain of salt.
I want to introduce a handful of good friends in terms of money-saving on the road. They really helped me out this time: Priceline.com, Motel6, and Grocery Stores.
Saving on Lodging
Lodging, by far, is usually the largest component in your trip expenses. If one can cut down on lodging expenses, a great saving can be achieved. This does not come easy, though, especially when you are going to a place you have never been. Luckily we have something called Priceline.com today. If you don't know about it yet, remember the name. If you travel within US, sooner or later it will benefit you at some point.
Priceline.com is a bidding website. It works as following: It allows you to name your own price for hotels, flights, rental cars, and so on. You name a price and they try their best to make it available. If you want a hotel room for 35 US dollars per night, tell priceline, and they will try to find it for you. That's it.
Well it sounds nice. But what's the catch? The secret is, you cannot decide exactly which hotel you stay with until they have made the purchase for you. "What?" you think, "I am not gonna decide where I am staying? What kind of hotel booking is this?" But to think about it, does it really matter that you stay at exactly a particular hotel? Most of us are not such a fan for a hotel chain anyway.
With Priceline.com, hotel booking is a different thing. You first pick the date and approximate location you want to book a hotel. The size of the area depends on the destination. Usually a big city is divided into multiple "zones", and small cities are single zones by themselves. You also have a chance to specify a star rating for the hotel you want to book. And then name a price you want to pay for it. That's it.
Now the fun part begins. Priceline.com searches your specified zone(s), date, for the hotels match with your star rating (or better), to see if anyone can take that price you bid. If a match is found, . your credit card is charged and there is no regretting, no arguing, no further action needed. You are going to stay there for those days, whether you like it or not. Period. And you cannot change your mind, as the price is already paid in full.
How risky this is, you might think. Well yes, you might not end up with the most suitable hotel for your trip. For business trip it is not desirable, sure. But for casual tourists, in most cases does it matter if you stay on the 3rd Street or the 10th Street? Does it matter whether you stay at a Marriott or a Radisson? Probably not. But does it matter if you pay less than 60 instead of almost a hundred for a night? Probably yes. With Priceline, sometimes you end up with unimaginable prices for nice hotels. Here are some examples:
(1) I once got the 4-star Westin Bonaventure Hotel at Downtown LA for 70 dollars per night, including tax.
(2) I got the Millennium Hotel Saint Louis at Downtown St. Louis on this trip, with a room facing the Gateway Arch, with 52 dollars.
(3) I also got Radisson at Denver for 56 dollars, Homestead at Nashville for 35 dollars,... Do I need to continue?
So you see its power. With a bit of risk, you end up saving dearly sometimes.
If your bid ends up unsuccessful, nothing will happen. No charges or commitment. But, you cannot try the exactly same search again within a given period (I believe it is 7 days, correct me if I am wrong). You have to either change the date or change the location, and name a higher price. This is to prevent people from testing the price incrementally.
There are a lot of tricks you can learn with Priceline to make the most use of it. I am not going to talk about those in details here. The objective is to introduce you to this great friend, and it is up to you to get familiar with it. A lot of tips can be found online (as everything else these days). Just Google.
If you travel with a car Priceline is really, really helpful. I can say I fell in love with it once I tried it. I do agree that these days the deals from Priceline are not as great as they used to be. But, as far as my trips concerned, I am always willing to try it out and go wherever the almighty Priceline takes me to.
Saving on Lodging - Part 2
Sometimes, Priceline alone is not going to take you there. You may fail to get the price you want to, or sometimes the price becomes too high (You have failed with several trial, and it does not worth it to push the price higher). The question then is, what is your backup plan? Or, at what price should you stop bidding?
You know that I hate chain stores but I have to recommend one here. Motel6. They really provides the basic needs for budget-minded travelers. Sometimes their room rate is around forty something after tax. This rate is perhaps hard to beat if you consider chain hotels/motels. Of course if you are willing to try some local hotel/motel you may find something, but it is a bit hard if you are not familiar with the area. Motel6 is not the best place to stay for the night, but it does cover the basics at a good rate. I consider it a helpful friend you can always turn to when you are out of options, and it will not let you down.
So my strategy for this cross-country trip was this: Wherever there is a Motel6, bid on Priceline up to the local Motel6 price. If I am successful I save some money. Where there is no Motel6, bid up to the prices found on the hotel coupons available at the rest areas along the highway. Also compare the prices with those on other websites, such as Expedia or Orbitz, and go for the lowest. Using this combination, I think I ended up with some good savings along the way.
Motel6, we always leave a light on for you.
Saving on Food
In addition to lodging, sometimes you may want to save on food. While I stay at home, I cook for myself and 20 dollars is well enough to feed myself for a week. On the road, even if I go to unhealthful fast food for every meal, it is hardly enough for 2 days. Although this is not much money, this is something I can work on.
I figured out that even if I am on the road and cannot really store food properly, grocery stores still help me to eat healthier and cheaper. If you can stand eating the same food for four to five meals in a row, you probably can do the same. Just go to any grocery store and get some non-perishable stuff, such as bread, jelly, ready-to-eat vegetable (lettuce or carrots, for example), fruits, and you are good to go. Sometimes you can add small packs of hams or cheese. This helps you to save food cost, with just a slight change of mind-set: Being on the road does not necessarily mean eating out all the time. With the newly acquired thinking, I ended up saving maybe 50 dollars on food along the way. Not much, but it helps.
People say that help is sometimes just around the corner. In this case it appears with the very familiar form, but with a small tweak.
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