How I Traveled to NYC for 3 Nights for $384 [Travel Cheap]
This post is the prequel of my trip to Taipei in May, 2017. In this post, I’ll show you how I traveled well to NYC but still was able to travel cheap.
It’s a bit of a complex itinerary. Most people probably would not want to go through these complexities. But as for me, it runs in my blood and I love it because I get to travel cheap.
Before my trip to Taipei, I had a work trip in May to help host a race in New Jersey for one of the cities there.
It was really an awesome event that helped raise scholarships for some of their high school students.
Flights: $137 on Southwest
Note that this was only one-way. However, round trip prices weren’t too much more – I just didn’t book a flight back to Dallas because I wanted to advantage of a cheap flight from NYC. When looking for Cheap International flights (particularly to Asia or Europe), there’s usually a few good airports to check… LAX, SFO, NYC, and CHI.
Also I had A LOT of equipment I needed to bring; hence why I booked a slightly more expensive flight on Southwest. Southwest airlines allows up to 2 check in bags and 1 carry on bag at no extra cost.
There were a number of low cost carriers but the extra baggage fees I would’ve needed to pay for would have been very expensive.
Accommodations: $95 for 3 nights
If you ever travel to NYC, you’d know hotels are very expensive there. $200/night would get you an average hotel. If you’re staying in Manhattan, prices would easily run higher.
On top of that, I didn’t want to stay in a hostel because I had so much expensive equipment with me.
So I searched for an Airbnb. This is also where location makes a huge difference to travel cheap with cheap accommodations. I searched for a place in New Jersey, not far from NYC. Yes, you would need to drive (ideally) but it gives you a lot more freedom to go where you want to go.
I’ve been to NYC several times. I’d say every situation will always be different. Sometimes if you truly want to explore and see as much NYC as possible – then it’s better to take public transportation and stay closer to the City. You wouldn’t want to drive due to the heavy traffic and expensive parking fees.
But staying in New Jersey is always a great alternative and there are lots of buses that run into NYC.
I had this entire bedroom to myself for about $25/night. It was wonderful aside from a bit of noise from the nearby airport. Consider hiring a maid service if you’re on an extended trip. Here’s for me the best maid service Manhattan.
Transportation: $152
I rented a car since I had meetings and equipment. It was also convenient since I was staying in Jersey. The only thing I had to note was my drop-off was different from my pick-up since I was flying into LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and flying out of John F Kennedy (JFK). I rented with Costco travel and didn’t have to pay any additional fees for a different drop-off.
For this particular trip, I didn’t go visit NYC since I had been there plenty of times. But my itinerary easily allowed for me to visit NYC and its awesome eats, sites, and things to do had I wanted to.
I’ll likely do a more “normal” NYC post elsewhere.
Until then, I hope you’ve found some ideas here on how to travel cheap and well to NYC.
You can find my complete list of travel hacks and ways to find cheap flights and travel deals without a travel agent here.
What are some of your tips for traveling to NYC?
