The Zizzler

Living THE life on a shoestring budget. Traveling, DIY projects, general fabulousness.......

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Cheapest getaway ever- San Juan, Puerto Rico.

My vacations choose me, rarely do I choose them. So when JetBlue had a sale from Newark to San Juan for $159.50 (TOTAL!), Puerto Rico was calling my name. Beach vacations have never appealed to me, but after looking into it, San Juan's rich history and 16th Century forts and architecture piqued my interest (not to mention my increasing depression due to the 30 degree Philadelphia weather). And let's be honest, my thriftiness couldn't say no to the cheap cheap airfare.
The catch was that the flight left Newark at 10:30 pm Thursday night and arrived in San Juan at 3:30 Friday morning. After recruiting 3 of my best adventurous ladies, the plan was to go to a 24 hour casino, watch the sunrise on the beach, and lay around until a 3:00 pm check in. After a lot of research from travelers' reviews on Yahoo.com (extremely helpful when looking for a hotel/motel), I decided to go with a brand name, and chose the Holiday Inn Express in the Condado region of San Juan for Friday and Saturday nights. The rate per night was $135, but dropped to a non-refundable $112 if you pre-paid. (total $62 per person). Our flight was delayed (thanks to snow) so we arrived in San Juan at 5:30 am and took a cab to the Wyndham Hotel and Casino ($15, about a 15 minute ride). The casino wouldn't let us in with our bags, so we had breakfast and delicious Puerto Rican espresso and watched the sunrise, then walked along the beach to our hotel to see if we could check our bags until check-in. Puerto Ricans are extremely friendly (prepare to get whistled at NON STOP) and the workers at The Holiday Inn Express were great. We arrived at the hotel at about 8 am (like I said, check-in was at 3pm), and when I asked if we could check our bags, they told us we could check-in right then and told us to grab something at the breakfast buffet first! We grabbed some coffee, bananas and bagels, took a quick nap then hit the beach. The hotel was on a little side street, with the laguna on one side, and the beach 1/2 block away. Also in the area are high end shops (Dior, Cartier), bars, restaurants (from Subway to native food places to nicer restaurants) and convenience stores.

Some of the beaches are "private"...as we soon found infront of the Marriott, after they kicked us out for "sitting on their chairs." Walking along Condado Beach passed the Marriott, we found a natural tide pool surrounded by rocks that broke the waves. The pool is perfect for wading, and the water was as warm as a bath. Its a great place for kids, or for sitting in the water and enjoying a Corona!

We quickly made our residence at the Atlantic Beach Hotel and Bar (on Ashford Avenue and facing the ocean) - the local gay bar. The gay bar RIGHT on the beach, with CRAZY drink specials and HOT straight bartenders. Half Price Happy Hour daily from 5-7 (we decided to soley drink frozen tropical drinks, as we were in PARADISE), good tunes, Sunday Drag show, and most importantly the ONLY bar on the beach. We settled in for the long haul.

Aside from drinks ($5 full price, $3 at Happy hour) there weren't many other costs. We ate cheaply by stocking up at the breakfast buffet, getting take out, or just going to Subway. After all, we weren't in Puerto Rico to eat. We dined at a Puerto Rican restaurant one night, and found little for our vegetarian requirements. For $11/each, we got platters of cheese flautas, cheese quesadilla type things, fried cheese and cheese...something else. I wanted to die soon after. I ran to the nearest convenience store and got a bottle of Bacardi ($5), which is made in San Juan!
Friday night we took a $10 cab to Old San Juan. It reminded me alot of Barcelona, the winding alleys, cobblestones, Spanish architecture. Its also the tourist center, so everything is really expensive. We went to a crappy restaurant for chips and guacamole ($11), and the weak margaritas ranged from $12-$35. (this pic is not mine- I'd forgotten my camera that day)

I wish I'd explored Old San Juan more, but the prospect of relaxation and the beach won out over site seeing. I've never taken a relaxing vacation in my life, I'm very "east coast"..always have to be running around, exlporing, always in a rush...so this time I decided to actually unwind, sit on the beach, relax, swim. So, I missed alot. But the trip was so cheap, I know I'll break my "don't go to the same place twice" rule and spend another long weekend there soon.
Our flight back was at 4 am on Monday morning (another "catch" of the cheap airfare) and we decided not to get a hotel room for Sunday night. The Holiday Inn let us lie by the pool until midnight, then we took a cab to the airport and slept there until our flight.
Honestly, I really expected Puerto Rico to be ghetto. I thought it'd be a cheap weekend of beach bumming and drinking, but instead I completely fell in love with it. It WAS cheap, but so surprisingly cosmopolitan, friendly and historically rich.
Total cost per person from Friday morning until Sunday night:
Airfare $159.50
Hotel 62.00
Cabs 10.00
Drinks/food 70.00
TOTAL $301.50

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

My Traveling Basics...

Some things are true of every trip I take - so instead of being repetitive with each highlighted vacation, I'll put all of my starters here.

  • I don't "do" Thanksgiving... My family lives in Buffalo, which is annoying to get to, plus freezing in November....not to mention my family never cooks anything vegetarian for me. So, I've made a pact with myself to go to Europe every Thanksgiving. The travel deals are great this time of year, and you already have a 4 day weekend, so why not extend it a few days? Even a 4 day trip is worthwhile to somewhere closer, like the Caribbean or Latin America.
  • Buy Streetwise city maps and Let's Go travel books. Streetwise brand maps are my saving grace. I'm an explorer- I'd rather walk an entire city, rather than take a tour or a subway. The Streetwise maps are laminated and fold up to a brochure size - which can be easily read inside of your purse so no one knows you are a lost tourist. They include every tiny alley, street and road imaginable, as well as list attractions and include a subway map. The Let's Go books are written by students who have reviewed and cataloged restaurants, bars, clubs, attractions and museums all around the world. These books are invaluable because they tell you the cost of EVERYTHING, from admission prices, to the cost of beer, wine and mixed drinks in many bars and restaurants (as well as the crowd that might be there). Also helpful are suggested walking tours, site seeing based on your vacation length, and language basics. In stores the maps are about $11 and books $15, but I've purchased them on amazon.com for much less.
  • I don't eat out a lot. I'm a nerd and I love grocery stores. Especially Waitrose in England! When I'm traveling, I'm a site seeing machine, and I hate to spend a lot of time (and money) on dining, so I pick a few essential restaurants (from my Let's Go book, or HappyCow.net), and hit the farmers' markets and grocery stores for the rest. I am also a design nerd and love to see package design of other countries' daily goods. I'm also a coffee addict, and sadly the "to go" coffee is just not part of the European culture. So I DID frequent Dunkin Donuts alot...but I'm happy to say their European chains feature European style coffee, instead of the brown sugar water we have here.
  • I use my credit card. My mom swears you get the best exchange rate when you use your Visa card, and I tend to believe her. Plus, I'll have minimal money to exchange back.
  • I seem analy (is that a word?) frugal, but I splurge on one big thing. Except in France where I didn't like anything I saw in stores, aside from wine. In Barcelona I splurged on this fancy jacket type thing, which come to think of it I've never worn. Maybe this wasn't such a great suggestion.

It's not rocket science, but these things help me with every trip. Oh, and HappyCow.net is a site that lists vegetarian restaurants all over the world. It's pretty cool. Just like me.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

I live my life on a shoestring budget. Friends are always whining "you're SO lucky! you get to travel so much blablabla". Well, the truth is people, I make less than $30,000 a year. Hell, I make less than $27,000. With student loans, rent and city livin', it requires craftiness and skill to live the way I do. So I've created this blog to share my secrets, and to teach my party animal friends that one less night of pounding PBRs a week can equal a fabulous trip to Europe.

Some simple rules/strategies I've learned to live by:
  • Make your lunch/brew your own coffee at work! Seriously, this saves anywhere from $10-$50 a week. Treat yourself to lunch and a latte twice a week.
  • Create a junk email account and sign up for every travel deal site out there. I found 6 nights AND air in Barcelona for a total of $650 on travelzoo.com! I'm patient with internet deal searching, but these sites compile deals for you. I never would've found that one on my own.
  • Subscribe to magazines! Not only will you save tons, but weeklies like New York Magazine provide tons of listings of free stuff to do, and mags like Readymade have tons of easy DIY projects to spruce up your home and life.
  • Buy a flask! You must have no shame to live The Zizzler lifestyle.... and I am not afraid to bring a flask of homebrew to any event. OK, not homebrew. I'd never drink ANYTHING made in MY bathtub.
  • Learn to fake sew. I am a horrible constructionist. Everything I make is messy. However, the clothes I wear aren't exactly going to be sold or anything. So some crappy hand sewing or tucked in edges that only my eyes can see is fine by me. I shop at H&M and Target and customize everything to suit my style. But I NEVER shop at Wal-mart, the most evil of all empires!
  • Buy food at Farmer's Markets and Trader Joe's. I buy a weeks worth of veggies for $9-$12, and everything else at Trader Joe's. I love Whole Foods , but I refuse to pay $4 for an avocado.
  • Put $20 (or more) a week into your savings account. You really won't miss $20. Seriously. You'd piss it away anyway. You'll thank me later.

Those are my starter tips.....enjoy and live well.