Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Budget, Buffalo International Airport, Cheap, Coach Canada, Expedia.ca, Florida, Fort Myers, Megabus, Naples, Planning, Tips, Tourism, Travel, Vacation
Haha, what a lame picture.
We all know how much this summer has been a rip off. The weather has been spotty as hell, and up until yesterday, things started to clear up—you know, when it wasn’t pouring buckets outside.
Summer school is clearing up and I wanted to plan a last resort getaway out of the city before things picked up again in September. The month ahead is shaping up to be pretty busy with all these new and exciting projects coming through and I’m transferring schools.
I’m a cheapass and I managed to book a trip to Florida that is probably going to cost me somewhere around $500. Granted there were some advantages, but here’s how I did it:
1. Free Accomodation.
Luckily, Elena’s grandparents have a condo in Florida that is pretty much empty right now. Right off the bat that is a huge chunk of our travel costs gone. Kitchen + free living for the win!
2. Fly out of Buffalo.
This isn’t something new, but I will admit that it needs to be stressed. Direct flights out of Toronto to certain parts of Florida are hella expensive, but a hop across the border to Buffalo will seriously save you somewhere between $200 and $400.
This time I booked with Expedia.ca and the list of cheap flights is just awesome. Granted there are some retarded connecting flights to get to Florida, it is still way cheaper—and in CDN dollars!
I suggest taking either Coach Canada or Megabus. They have direct bus routes to Buffalo International Airport and man are they cheap. If you time it right, you can grab a seat for $1; if not, it’s only about $16-20 one way.
3. If you can, use the kitchen.
If your accomodations allow it, I highly suggest buying groceries and using the kitchen. We all know how cheap food is in the US, so why not take advantage of it?
Filed under: Travel | Tags: Budget, Canada, Cheap, Downtown, Extended Stay Deluxe, Finance, Good, Holiday, Hotels, Ideas, Ottawa, Recession, Tips, Travel, Trip Advisor, Trips, Vacation, Value
Things are about to get busy this week—I’ve got a full work schedule that’s gearing up for some crazy projects, and I start summer school tonight. In between that and my writing, my life is going to be pretty jam packed. Elena and I decided a quick, cheap getaway was in order before things got hectic. We headed to Ottawa to visit some friends and walk about, soaking up the “beauty” of our nation’s capital.
We’re not people who like to spend big. I mean, we do have a tumblr blog that tracks our cheapness. Here are some ways we cut down on costs—and I mean really cut down on costs, but still managed to enjoy a great little holiday:
Book a hotel with a kitchenette.
Hotel rooms can be expensive, and for a two night stay you’re looking at somewhere between $300 to $500 with taxes. Screw that. I did some searching and found the Extended Stay Deluxe, Downtown Ottawa. All rooms have a kitchen and it’s apartment style accomodation. Room was great and had everything we needed for cooking. We managed two nights for around $200.
A room with a kitchen means cheaper eats.
So we got this room with a kitchen. That meant that we wouldn’t have to spend a lot on eating at restaurants. In fact, the only time we ate outside of the hotel was to get a quick dessert after dinner one night. That was probably our biggest splurge…at $20. We bought groceries for the entire weekend; enough for two breakfasts, and fixings for our steak dinner (my dad had steaks he wasn’t going to cook, so we took them along with us). In total we spent around $30 for groceries that lasted all weekend.
We walked everywhere.
This is a given. Our hotel was conveniently located minutes away from all the major spots in downtown Ottawa.
Budget when going out.
We managed to barely spend $40 on drinks when we were out with friends. We bought a case of beer that was good for dinner and hanging about before going out. We still managed to party. Our second day was long and full of walking, so after dinner we opted to stay in and watch a movie I had brought along. We also splurged on a deck of cards. Our last night included drinking wine and playing cards until 2 am.
If you’re driving, make sure parking is decent.
Parking can be a huge drain to your wallet, even for just a weekend stay. I scoured TripAdvisor reviews on the area and hotel to see what other people were saying about parking. The hotel charged $11 a day; the lot around the corner charged $5 a day, but the ticket would run out at 6 am and you’d have to change it; Cooper Street, where the hotel was located, had free parking all weekend. BOOM! Because we left early enough and arrived before any weekend rush, I managed to snag a free spot on Cooper street right in front of the hotel. Take a look at reviews and comments before heading to your destination, especially for little things like this.
Filed under: Food | Tags: Bargains, Cheap, Couples, Food, Free Date Night, Milestones Restaurant, Nightlife, Things To Do, toronto
Wednesday, April 29th was Milestones Restaurant’s free date night. I tacked up the promo here on the blog for everyone else. It was a pretty good deal—buy one appetizer, entree or both and your date eats free! They even had a secret promotion going on that they didn’t advertise: $5 off a bottle of wine!
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: April 29th, Bargain, Canada, Cara, Cheap, Deals, Dinner, discount, Food, Frugal, Milestones, Nightlife, Relationship, Restaurant, Tips, toronto
I’ve been telling everyone I know about this. It’s a great deal and the food is great. I told my parents, Elena’s parents, and as many friends that I’ve seen in the past few days. Free meal guys! This is an ultimate cheap thrill!
For a menu and more, check out the Milestones Restaurant website.
Offer: Nationwide (Canada): Buy any entree, appetizer or both, and get the other one free!
Date: April 29th, 2009
Time: 4pm to close.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Burgers, Cheap, Dance, Disney, Food, Friends, Hoedown Throwdown, Life, Miley Cyrus, Nightlife, Recipe, Sunday, Things To Do, Thrill, toronto, Tutorial, Video, Youtube
The purple apartment is famous for their “family dinners”. It’s been a while since they’ve had one; at one point it became a staple of every Thursday night, and after stuffing ourselves with good food, we’d head to the Grasshopper for some karaoke fun. Even though the dinners aren’t as regular, I still manage to get invited over for a meal. It’s great fun and we talk and laugh while cooking, preparing home style meals with recipes learned or handed down over time.
Kaitlyn had just come back from a weekend away in upstate New York, and she cooked an awesome meal of burgers, potatoes and a salad for Michelle and me.
We finished the night sipping tea and making fun of cop dramas on TV. When I got up to leave, both Kaitlyn and Michelle were trying to learn the Hoedown Throwdown from Miley Cyrus.
Yes you can steal these photos, Michelle.
Filed under: Sports | Tags: Bargain, Baseball, Cheap, Deals, Discounts, Major League, Nightlife, Rogers Centre, Savings, Sports, Thrill, toronto, Toronto Blue Jays, Tuesday
"It looks like a model."
I’m not the biggest fan when it comes to baseball, but I enjoy the game. I played it for five years in elementary school and Dwyer and I would toss a ball around for a couple of hours before devouring something unhealthy at Wendy’s.
Tuesday nights are cheap nights at the Rogers Centre; for $5 you can get a decent seat up in the nosebleeds or out by the outfield, and the stadium sells $1 hot dogs. It’s a bargain and a great little “thing to do” after a long day at work. The game is even better if you’ve got a beer to sip on, but because of a supposed 12 game liqour license suspension, the Rogers Centre is spreading out the punishment across the season rather than in one lump fortnight. Last Tuesday happened to be one of those nights.
The Jays did lose this particular game, but after $4 worth of hot dogs, who really cares.
It’s early in the season and even if the Jays don’t get far, it’s something fun to do.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Blogspot, Cheap, Disney Movies, Food, JunJun, Michelle Melski, Molly Bloom's Irish Pub, Nightlife, Party, Sushi, toronto, Weekend
I’m not big on sushi; I’ve had it a few times in the past, but it never sits well with me. Sushi is bland, and I guess I just can’t stomach raw food. I need food with flavour and spice and you know, cooked ingredients. I don’t get what the fuss about it is. I promised that I’d go on Saturday night and eat it, so Elena and I went to JunJun on College. To be fair, the restaurant has amazing prices. Two people can dine for almost $40 including drinks and the portions are huge. It’s a bargain place and the wine was only $4 a glass! I chewed through a few pieces of sushi before giving up and realizing that I still wasn’t a fan. I enjoyed the experience though! If you like sushi and better value prices (the cheapest meal was $5 I think) and portions that are huge, then definitely check this place out.
After that we headed to a house party that our friend Fabian was hosting. Fabian’s pretty awesome and he’s from the Caribbean! He’s spending most of his summer back home, so this was the last chance to party at his place for this school year. Stuck around for a little bit but had to jet to see a show at Molly Bloom’s. Michelle’s friend was playing in a band that night. I can’t remember the name of the band, but I left early because I was too drunk. The bar was packed though.
Sunday was spent lounging—nothing beats making sandwiches and watching Disney movies.
