In September I took a quick US trip for about 2 weeks. Because I didn’t have anyone to road trip with, I decided to take flights use budget airlines to fly super affordably.
How to Plan Your 2 Week US Trip
My itinerary looked like this:
- Sept 6 – Denver, Colorado (overnight layover)
- Sept 7-11 – Austin, Texas
- Sept 11-14 – Chicago, Illinois
- Sept 14-16 – Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Sept 16-19 – Los Angeles, California
Everyone asked me why I went to Minneapolis saying it was random. But I believe there is beauty in every location, however remote and ‘unpopular’ it may be :)!
I ended up flying with Spirit and Frontier airlines. They aren’t the highest rated, but they are affordable and get the job done. The biggest thing to note is that if you don’t want to pay extra fees, you can only carry a personal item instead of a carry-on suitcase or check-in bag. This limitation actually ended up working well for me cause it made it easier to travel with, especially when I was trying to find my way to and from airports.
Cost of Travel – Transportation and Accommodations
Transportation: Flights + Bus
- (Frontier Airlines) San Francisco -> Denver –> Austin – $52.10
- (Frontier Airlines) Austin -> Chicago – $25.60
- (Spirit Airlines) Chicago – > Minneapolis – $41.19
- (Spirit Airlines) Minneapolis -> Los Angeles - $40.20
- (Megabus) Los Angeles -> San Jose - $7.50
Total: $166.59
Accommodations: AirBnB + Hostel
- (AirBnB for 1 night) Denver – $29.27 (I interviewed the AirBnB host about how he started his AirBnB business. Check it here!)
- Stayed with a friend in Austin
- (AirBnB for 2 nights) Minneapolis – $66.51
- (Expedia – Hostel for 3 nights) – $86.93
- Stayed with a friend in Los Angeles
Total: $182.71
Total Cost
$349.30 for Flights, Buses, and Accommodations. I spent around $60 for transportation to and from the airport to accommodations, so I would say the grand total is closer to $409.30.
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If you want tips on getting cheap flights, click here and here. Also you can use my AirBnB link to get $40 towards your first trip. $409.30 allowed me stay + travel between 5 cities (4 states since I am from California). I thought that was pretty good! What do you think?