After spending the past 12 months going back to university, budgeting was at
the top of the agenda when my partner, David, and I started to plan our trip
to the United States as a reward for finishing my degree. My aim was to save
as much money as possible or even try to get part of it for free.
House swapping and rentals
Step one was to join a house-swapping organisation, and attempt to get our
accommodation for nothing. My sister joined one a few years ago and
successfully swapped with a family from the US, so I knew it was possible.
I had a scout around to find out what was on offer. The downside is you have
to pay a fee to join and in some cases the fee was substantial, over £100.
Joining www.homelink.org.uk costs £115 and Intervac (www.intervac.co.uk)
costs £65 for online membership. In the end we opted to join one of the
cheaper ones, www.ihen.com, for £22 ($39.95).
I joined in May, filled in the page with photographs of our flat and listed
our preferred destinations, then detailed a plan to travel in September.
Weeks went by and we didn't get any offers, so we decided to try to be
proactive and email others who had listings. Sadly everyone we emailed had
already arranged a swap. It turned out that you needed to join about a year
before travel to get the most out the system. In fact, after we returned
from our trip we suddenly received plenty of offers from locations as
far-flung as Alaska and Brazil.
Because of our miserable failure at swapping we decided instead to rent a
house, and found the house-swapping network still came in handy. Many
swappers in the US also rented out their properties for a week or two. We
quickly realised a weekly house rental was far cheaper than staying in a
hotel, especially if you can deal directly with the owner, and don't have to
pay an agency fee. Via our house-swapping network we were offered a house
that slept eight in Cape Cod for £333 per week and a one-bedroom apartment
in Brooklyn for £416. Finally we opted for a week at a pretty three-storey,
four-bedroomed country house in Vermont's Green Mountains for £444.
Compared to hotels nearby, which were charging at least $130-$160 (£55-£70)
per night, it was a bargain, plus we had huge amounts of space, our own
kitchen and garden, as well as luxuries like a washing machine/dryer.
Finally instead of a house-swap we added to our trip by staying with New
England friends for five days and promising them room in our home in London
any time they needed it.
Saving: ££
Discounts
I was hoping to take advantage of some student discounts when putting together
the holiday, but most airlines don't offer discounts to students aged over
25, which leaves us mature students out in the cold. And other student
discounts are few and far between (although I did get into a US art gallery
for free).
Far more useful in the US is AA or RAC membership. Both motoring organisations
are affiliated with the US version, the AAA, and thousands of US hotels and
attractions offer discounts for AAA members. We found if we asked for the
AAA discount and turned up with our AA card we were able to take advantage
of these bargains, too. For instance, we saved 10 per cent off our $170 per
night rate at the Irving House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and 10 per cent
off tickets at the Hancock Shaker Village just outside Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. The AAA also runs helpful centres for members in almost every
city where AA/RAC members can pick up free road maps for any state,
excellent guidebooks, and get advice from really friendly staff. It's an
excellent service.
Saving: £
Air miles
My plan had been to get our flights to the US and accommodation for free. My
bid to find a free flight was the most successful. After years of travelling
I had accumulated both BA Miles and Air Miles, but never managed to use any.
I had reached the target for a US flight, but I was cynical about whether I
would be able to get availability on the days we wanted to travel as on
other occasions when I have tried to use "miles" I found flights
closed to awards customers.
Happily my cynicism was unfounded and two months in advance of our trip I was
able to get my "free" flight for the exact day I wanted, and
arrange it all online. The catch was having to pay £128 in tax, but it was
still a saving of £223 on the cost of a flight. Using online booking we paid
for a ticket for my partner five minutes later and grabbed him a seat on the
same flight just in case it sold out immediately. Using online check-in we
were even able to sort out seats next to each other before departure.
Saving: ££
Paying deposits
Having started arranging our US trip online, booking hotels and B&Bs
direct as well as arranging to rent the house, we ran into problems when it
came to paying deposits at places which didn't accept credit cards (which
appears to be a trend in the US right now). In a couple of cases we were
asked to pay by cheque or bank transfer and, since UK cheques are not
generally accepted in the US, bank transfers looked like the only option.
But money transfers are expensive.
I explored other options such as Moneygram (www.moneygram.com) which charges
£18 to transfer £200 to the US. Then I thought of Pay Pal (www.paypal.com).
Many people already have a Pay Pal account if they sell anything on Ebay and
it costs nothing to transfer money to another member, although the person
receiving the money may have to pay a small fee (about 25p). Compare this
with a bank. Barclays, for instance, charges £20-£35 for an international
money transfer, and the US receiving bank often makes a charge of around £20
as well.
Saving: ££
Accommodation
We booked most of our accommodation in advance, via the internet, after plenty
of price comparisons and with a calculator ready to work out the exchange
rate. The Bed & Breakfast Agency of Boston (0800 895128;
www.boston-bnbagency.com) is well worth checking out if you are looking for
somewhere to stay in Boston for two nights or more. It has a toll-free
telephone number for anyone calling from the UK. And it found us a sweet
little studio apartment with its own kitchenette, on a quiet side street,
between trendy Commonwealth Avenue and the beautiful Back Bay. We couldn't
have been in a better area, with shops and restaurants on our doorstep, and
our bedroom was bigger than a hotel room that we stayed in later in the
trip. For our apartment we paid $130 per night, plus a £20 transaction fee
(but no hotel tax), a snip compared to average $160 or higher charged by
central hotels, such as the Radisson Omni Parker Hotel and the Marriott
Residence Inn.
However, if you are booking US hotels try checking out the US hotel websites
rather than UK sites, we found they had lower prices. We found other B&Bs
in Boston on websites such as www.bedandbreakfast.com were more expensive,
with prices such as the Golden Slipper B&B at $175, and La Capella
Suites at $200. Many US B&Bs seem to be aiming at the high-end customer,
and are often priced above hotels.
Here's my money-saving tip for staying in the US countryside, forget B&Bs,
opt for a farm-stay instead, and take in some great views, and brilliant
home-cooked food. Try Shearer Hill Farm in Vermont
(www.shearerhillfarm.com), they make their own maple syrup, keep cows, and
served baked apples for breakfast. Rooms start at $70 for a single, $95 for
doubles. Another accommodation tip is to opt for motels over inns. Many
motels are independently run, have big rooms and gorgeous views. Watch out
for hotels using the word inn, this usually means a hotel that wants to
charge far more than a motel. Motels along Route 7 in Massachusetts and
Historic 7A in Vermont have some great deals.
Saving: ££
Phone calls and e-mails
Save money on mobile phone calls and hotel phone charges when you are in the
US (and when phoning before you go) by using your internet telephony kit. If
you have an account at home with an internet telephony provider such as
Skype or Ekit (www.ekit.com), then using the internet to make calls while
you are away can bring big savings.
Most US motels, many hotels, and many cafes now offer free, unlimited Wi-Fi.
On our trip around New England we were amazed at how much free Wi-Fi was on
offer. We even had it in our studio apartment in Boston. If you have your
laptop along and take your headset, then you can make calls for a few cents
or less. Buying a local SIM for your phone in the US is still quite costly
and shops offering them are hard to find. Meanwhile if you just need to
check your email, many libraries, and in New England every village had one,
also offer free internet use.
Saving: £
Money matters
Perhaps the last thing you think about when you are saving money is where to
get the cash you are going to spend on your trip. It is well worth shopping
around for the best deal as you will find lots of different exchange rates
and commission rates. After a price comparison we opted for travellers'
cheques from Halifax, over Barclays, the Post Office, and Thomas Cook, as
they had an exchange rate that was better than the others and didn't charge
any fees. These days I don't bother with travellers' cheques much when
travelling but in the US bank cashpoints almost always charge a transaction
fee of around $2.50 if you are not a customer of theirs and this can add up
during a long trip. Travellers' cheque cost nothing to cash, and you can use
them like cash in most restaurants and shops. Saving: £
Eating out
Our final money-saving tip for travelling in the US is an easy one. Always
order the smallest portion on the dinner menu and share it, there's always
enough for two.
Saving: £
My bid to get a holiday for free may have failed but at least I could feel
good about making some significant savings along the way, and hanging on to
a little cash.
