Cheap Ride With Car Share

I recently bought a round-trip bus ticket from Boston to Montreal, and I was astounded how expensive it was. Greyhound charged $180 to Montreal and back. While perusing Craigslist "Ride Share" page I noticed a number of people offering the same ride for less than half that price. I will definitely check Craigslist before I charge a Greyhound ticket again.

Airport Transfer Deals and Directions

An important connection during any trip including an airline flight will be the transfer to and from the airport. Many airports naturally herd tourists to expensive cabs or shuttle buses, but often there are cheap alternatives that require a little work to recognize or discover. Arthur Frommer recently blogged that the reason most airports offer a budget option is that the workers at the airport need an inexpensive option to travel to and from the airport, everyday. I personally like to research this leg of the trip before I leave, so I am not stuck with a huge cab bill. A cab from the airport in Boston today costs me $60, compared to less than $2 on the subway/bus system. An important consideration when using public transportation can be opening and closing times, such that flights may leave or arrive when the trains/buses aren't running.

Hostels generally include directions to travel by public transportation to and from the hostel. The Barcelona Dream Hostel offers directions through a Photo Guide, a handy idiot-proof guide to reaching the hostel. (mentioned on the hostelmanagment.com forums) This photo-based guide is a remarkable improvement over the simple text directions found on many hostel sites. The future of travel directions may be short videos that can be uploaded to Youtube for easy dispersal. Another option for quickly traveling to a destination could include using mobile phones or other devices, but I haven't found these quite as effective yet for public transportation. I think preparing directions before you go is crucial, and you can augment this with a device when the original directions are not sufficient for arriving at your destination.

Website Review: Sleeping in Airports

Public transportation in many cities is unavailable during the morning hours, which can make it expensive to arrive early for a morning flight. To avoid taxi costs and the prospect of over-sleeping a flight, I have on occasion slept in the airport the night before. I don't recommend this, but there is an Internet resource available to prepare you if you plan to do so: http://www.sleepinginairports.net

With some of the best airports for sleeping over, offering comfortable chairs, showers, and Internet, skipping a night at a crummy hostel might be the best move you ever made. During the night, security will ask for proof that you have a flight the next day. So be sure to have a ticket or reservation available showing your departing flight or you will be kicked out. Also, keep in mind that many airports do shut-down, and sleeping over is not always an option.

The only US airport to make the top 10 worst list is Chicago O'Hare, long known for stranding airline passengers during the winter months. Check out the comments about O'Hare here.

If traveling by ground transportation, this site also includes some train and bus stations, so be sure to check these out, too.

City Review: Atlantic City [Daytrip from Washington DC]

Greyhound offers the Lucky Streak® Service to Atlantic City, NJ Casinos from DC. The fare includes a cash-back bonus in the form of a voucher for casino chips. I gambled my casino chips at the nickel slots at the Trump Taj Mahal in order to win a free lunch buffet. I found the free lunch deal on the Fatwallet Hot Deals forum a bulletin board of great deals I have used on other occasions to buy cheap jerkey and computer parts. I had to keep playing the slot machine for an hour on my casino card, so I slowly inserted the nickels and hit the spin button at the slowest rate it would allow. The only annoying part about this plan was waiting inline for my free buffet coupon, while I listened to other people's stories about sitting through Time-share hard-sell pitches to get a $100 check. I stuffed myself with crab and desserts at the buffet before walking down the boardwalk.



The Taj Mahal had all sorts of carnival games on the pier by the casino. This seemed apropos considering these games are well-known for swindling the players out of their money. I spent the afternoon roaming the boardwalk.



That evening along the boardwalk there was a free jazz concert that I was able to watch before catching the bus back to DC.



After going to Las Vegas a few years before, I was pleasantly surprised with Atlantic City. Outside of the casinos, there is a busy boardwalk along the beach, where you can swim, shop, or just people watch. Atlantic City has something to offer besides blowing your money in the slot machines.

Note: I took this trip in 2003.

Brother, can you spare a dollar?

BusinessWeek recently featured an article about discount bus operators, BoltBus, DC2NY, Vamoose, and Megabus.

The new competition in the inter-city bus travel industry is pushing prices as low as $1 for a trip to NYC. While I suspect you need sniping software to get this cheap fare, many seats are available much cheaper than you can find on Greyhound. I found some for $6 in November on MegaBus [NYC <-> BOS]. The buses even offer such amenities as power plugs and Wi-Fi for techno-travelers.

While NYC may not be at the top of your list of desired destinations, it can be a great launching point for cheap flights around the world. I have personally flown out of NYC after arriving on the bus from Boston and DC, and I saved hundreds of dollars on European flights. These bus companies are expanding, so hopefully they will start offering similar fares to international hubs like Houston, Miami, and Los Angeles.