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\u00a0Standing in Times Square to ring in the New Year is a common bucket list item, but yet so many assume that in order to experience the thrill you need big bucks. Thousand-dollar a night hotels, expensive food and we can\u2019t forget the 15% sales tax (gross). Some of you are probably like me, a 21 year old student with nothing more than a typical college job. But although New York is one of the most expensive places to visit\u2014I am going to tell you how I managed to take a last minute trip to New York for the ball drop with no more than $550 in my pocket.<\/strong><\/p>\n Accommodation<\/strong><\/p>\n Here is the biggest tip: SAY NO TO HOTELS! This doesn\u2019t just go for New York, when I travel hotels are the last place I look to stay unless I’m looking for a nice treat. Instead, look at websites like airbnb.com where people rent out their homes at usually cheaper prices than hotels. Not only can this be a cheaper option, if you choose to room with the owners or other roommates it is a great way to meet new people. I mean let\u2019s be honest here, how many people have you made a connection with while staying in a hotel? Not many\u00a0and\u00a0I bet you wouldn\u2019t come back with a story about how you stayed with a hypnotist\/knife-throwing\/kayak instructing yoga teacher who let you play his one of a kind guitars off his wall while listening to the ocean under the bright moonlight as their pet outdoor rabbit curiously ate grass next to you\u2026.for $80 a night. Getting back on track, hotels are not the way to go, especially in NYC and especially on a last minute trip. We ended up booking a two story-newly remodeled apartment that was a 5 minute cab ride to Times Square.<\/p>\n Hostels are another great way to go in the city but that\u2019s only if you\u2019re not stressed on time. Some hostels in New York sell out months before New Year\u2019s Eve. If you do plan ahead and have time to book a hostel they are a great idea and are usually the cheapest option.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll go ahead and call myself a hypocrite right now because in my cost breakdown you will see that we stayed at a hotel in Niagara Falls on our way to New York. My excuse: the friend I was with was visiting from Australia so we treated ourselves for the night. I didn\u2019t add that expense into the cost of the trip because it is an expense that can definitely be avoided.<\/p>\n Moral of the story: Hotels can be great every once in a while, but not in New York on New Year\u2019s.<\/p>\n Shopping<\/strong><\/p>\n Okay now let\u2019s think shopping and souvenirs. Is this your first time visiting New York? If so you\u2019re probably going to want to bring home a few things, but don\u2019t get sucked into the tourist trap shops where you will end up walking out with 7 t-shirts, 5 key chains, 2 magnets, a coffee mug for your grandma\u00a0and a 4 foot replica of the statue of liberty. Not only did you just spend a good hundred dollars for something that will sit in a drawer for 5 years before you finally decide to throw it out but how the hell do you expect to get that all back home? I once took a trip with my three best friends to the city and one of them bought so many souvenirs she actually had to ship a package home, ouch.<\/p>\n Something I have learned is that it is always good to set a shopping budget.\u00a0 Having an established amount is the best way to ensure you don\u2019t spend $300 without realizing it. Whether you decide to use it for a new t-shirt, a key chain or a tour of NBC studios is up to you and so is the amount you decide to put in it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Food<\/strong><\/p>\n So now you\u2019re in the city and you have choices between an upscale restaurant for thirty dollars a plate or a sketchy pizza cart for a dollar. Why not both? I incorporate money for one or two nice dinners depending on how long I\u2019m traveling. By nice dinner I usually mean about a twenty-five dollar plate. Now we may have different ideas of what the term \u2018nice dinner\u2019 means. For you it may mean a 4 course hundred dollar meal, if that\u2019s the case we are on totally separate pages and you probably shouldn\u2019t be reading a blog on cheap travel.<\/p>\n Although you might not realize it, there are plenty of amazing restaurants in New York that are reasonably priced. Skip out of the tourist traps and wander down a quirky side street and I promise you will find a nice restaurant where you can dine with locals at a price where you can actually enjoy your food. And of course if you\u2019re in New York, you can\u2019t leave the city without eating at one of the famous hot dog carts, which is also a quick and easy meal. My favorite is stopping at one inside Central Park where you can walk, eat and burn off the calories at the same time!<\/p>\n Would you believe me if I told you home-cooked meals are possible even if you\u2019re thousands of miles away? Just because you aren\u2019t at home doesn\u2019t mean you need to eat out. \u00a0Sticking with a rented-apartment or room 99% of the time you will also get a kitchen, so go out and grab a couple groceries for a cheap homemade meal. Hostels and backpackers motels usually come with some sort of kitchen too and sometimes even offer free breakfasts and dinners.<\/p>\n Food to avoid: Sketchy Walgreens salads. Trust me, I\u2019ve made this mistake. After a fourteen hour travel day, a terrifying greyhound bus ride and a terrible snowstorm we landed at our apartment. It was 10:00pm, we were exhausted, starving and looking for any food at a close range. There was a Walgreens on the corner we decided would be a quick and cheap meal so we headed out to get our long-desired food. Sitting down to my salad and my friend to her sub we each took one bite and almost threw up. My \u201cCeaser Dressing\u201d was as thin as water and my chicken like eating raw meat\u2026not that I\u2019m exactly sure I know what that tastes like. Long story short, we went to bed that night eating nothing more than three pieces of lettuce we ripped apart with our fingers and the Tim Horton\u2019s bagel we had for breakfast.<\/p>\n Overall, food is not something you can avoid so plan wisely. Give yourself a night to go out and enjoy a nice restaurant (I recommend Rue57) but remember that cheap places do exist and a home-cooked meal is possible even in a foreign environment.<\/p>\n Transportation<\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, this is the part that can get a little tricky.<\/p>\n We come from all over the world and obviously transportation can be the most expensive part. Fortunately I live in Michigan, which gave us the option to drive. However it still was quite a trek as we had to travel through Canada and totaled 15 hours of driving one-way not including a 3-hour bus ride into the city from Hartford, Connecticut thanks to a snowstorm.<\/p>\n If you do need to fly check discount airlines (Southwest, AirTran) and if you are a student try STA travel which gives discount travel options.\u00a0 Another good trick for cheaper flights is to check smaller surrounding airports. Instead of flying into JFK try flying into LaGuardia or Newark, even if cab fare to the city may be a little more expensive.<\/p>\n I would say anyone who lives on the east side of the Mississippi river and north of Georgia can drive to New York no problem.<\/p>\n If you do drive, expect the unexpected. Expect there to be a crazy snowstorm that follows you the entire way and expect you to get lost off an exit and get stuck in a traffic jam in the middle of the Appalachians. If I\u2019ve learned anything through traveling it would be Murphy\u2019s Law; \u201cAnything that can go wrong, will\u201d. If Google maps says it will take 15 hours\u2026give yourself 18.<\/p>\n Whether you decide to fly or drive, this will be your most stressful part. Be prepared for a stressful moments and a few swear words along the way.<\/p>\n Groups<\/strong><\/p>\n Team up; bring as many people as you can stand for a long trip. If you are driving, the more people, the less expensive it is for you. Splitting gas costs between four people is a hell of a lot better than paying for it by yourself. This is also a great way to save money for accommodation if you stay in an apartment or hotel, some of the homes on airbnb.com charge for extra people, but usually no more than $25.<\/p>\n If you are the driver of the group talk to the others about not putting as much in for gas. I mean it’s your car that is getting the mileage and you are the one taking the risk of something happening. Even if your car is brand new you never know when a tire can blow.<\/p>\n This being said, do NOT bring someone you hate in order to cut costs\u2026unless you plan on ditching them as soon as you get into the city.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n