Visiting NYC on a Budget: Transportation and Lodging

   Several months ago I was invited to a wedding near Rochester, NY. The option of going with my friend Christina and making a mini vacay out of it presented itself and I began planning a trip into the city (NYC) after the wedding on a pretty tight budget. We only went for 2 days but we hit all the highlights and had a blast. Here's how we did it:

   Getting to NY: Christina is a Delta Sky Miles member so she took care of booking the plane tickets. We had to take 3 flights - JAX to ROC for the wedding, ROC to JFK for city trip and then JFK to JAX coming home. She was able to cover 2/3 tickets for both of us with her sky miles points and we were only $116 (each) out of pocket for our flight expenses. Sweet deal!
   A coworker suggested looking into black car service from JFK to our hotel in Manhattan instead of a cab. I priced out both options and it was actually cheaper to reserve a black car for pick up through WIRO Limo (4.5/5 star rating on Yelp) than to cab it. Black car was $80 flat rate including tax and tolls if you pay cash. Taxi was average $70 + $18 for tolls + tax/gratuity. Black car wins. Plus it's much cleaner and you don't have to wait in the taxi line at the airport, which is crazy by the way.
   On the way home, our original flight had a "mechanical problem" that could not be fixed in time and we were put on another plane - thank you Jesus! When boarding the new plane, they handed us tickets that indicated we had been upgraded to first class seats thanks to Christina's sky miles. I had so much leg room I could fully extend my legs and still not touch anything. We also got free in-flight WiFi, premium snacks like brownie bark, and snazzy red blankets. My first time in first class was awesome!
 
  Getting around NYC: After our first hella expensive taxi ride from the Empire State Building to Battery Park (lower Manhattan) to take the ferry to Statue of Liberty, we knew we could not afford 2 days of taxi rides. While wandering around on foot, we found an amazing thing - bike rentals! There are CitiBike (sponsored by Citi Bank) bike rental check points all over NYC. It's $10 flat rate for 24 hours or $30 for 7 days. We only needed them until the following evening so we did the 24 hour deal. You can only rent for 30 minutes at a time but there are check points EVERYWHERE so it wasn't hard to hop around. We got to do a ton of sight seeing this way, get exercise and save money. It was also nice to stop and rest our legs every 30 min, get a snack or go in a shop. I highly recommend this mode of transportation for exploring the city. If a pregnant girl can do it, so can you!
   Next MTV special: True Life, I Biked Manhattan. We rode 7+  miles the first day, another 4-5 miles the next day, and it took us 3 hours to get from the 911 Memorial site to our hotel. But it was good fun.
 
   Where we stayed: I book nearly all my hotel accommodations on Hotwire.com now. It is the way to go for best deals on 4-5 star hotels. After my stay, I can call my credit card company and apply my accrued travel points to reimburse my travel expenses if I have enough (which I did this time to cover my 1/2 of the hotel). I planned to stay near Time Square and the Theater District since we were seeing Wicked Monday night. The best deal ($190/night, split 2 ways) landed us in the "Yotel", an uber modern hotel I would liken to a space capsule. The check-in process is completely electronic on a kiosk on the first floor, no person there. The kiosk spits out your room key and you jump elevators on the 4th floor to get to your room, by swiping your card before selecting your floors button. The first room was literally a tiny box with a full size bed for both of us and my baby bump to share. The bathroom was part of the room - studio style - with a glass shower. The lack of privacy in this room was only appropriate for an intimate couple. I understand everything in NY is compact, but this was not going to work. We found a help desk on the 4th floor and requested a different room and they "upgraded" us into a king room. It was a bit bigger in every way and the bathroom at least had a giant white curtain dividing it from the sleep area. The toilet had a "privacy" door with frosted glass. Still, very, very modern and space-like. Later, I fell in love with it. I am easily persuaded by amazing bathrooms. The shower had a rain faucet from the ceiling and essential oil bath products. There was also a mini fridge for my preggo snacks. Sold.

 We made a quick run to the CVS across the street and bought mud masks for an in-room spa treatment ($3). It was a relaxing end to a very fun day. Below: audition for Blue Man Group? :)

   P.S. By taking the lobby elevator straight to the 4th floor and then changing elevators to get to the room levels, we never saw floors 2 & 3. They were not even button options. We are still curious where those floors are and what's on them! 

   So our total, per person, for a 2-3 day vacay, round trip transportation and lodging in NYC was $406 (or less when I apply my travel cash back). Not bad! We were ONLY able to do this by using our sky miles and travel points we both have been saving diligently for just such an occasion. If you want to learn more about earning credit card points for travel and cash back, read my previous post, "Credit Card Rewards". 

Check out the sequel to this post later in the week on NYC entertainment and food on a budget!