SOUNDS IMPOSSIBLE RIGHT? BUT IT ISN’T, HERE IS HOW I DID IT….

Let me start by telling you how the idea of Coachella even came about. Two of my friends and I decided to spend the day on Newbury, shopping and hopping around to bars and stores. It was a good time, we grabbed food and spent the day catching up. It was when we got to Lolita that things got serious. We each grabbed a stool at the bar and ordered margaritas. Then out of nowhere one of my girls said she was going to Coachella and all hell broke loose.

First of all, anyone who knows me is aware that I would legit trade my left arm to got to Coachella. So imagine my excitement. When we finally gathered ourselves and downed our drinks, Maddy and I decided that we HAD to go. There was only one problem. The ticket was 500 by itself at retail, the festival was sold out, the hotels were booked up, and there were no flights under 600 in such short notice. This was just at first glance though, Maddy and I took to the internet for a solid 6 days straight scavenging for tickets, flights, and hotel discounts. On the sixth day we had executed a plan, checked off everything on our Coachella checklist, and began making pin boards for outfit inspo.

This is how we did it.

We started with the ticket because you can’t get into anything without that, so we went to Ebay & Craigslist. Ebay was honestly so aggressive and we did not have much luck there, but we did find a guy on Craigslist who was selling his tickets. We arranged something with him and quickly checked that off of our list.

Next was a hotel which was super simple because I am going with two other people. We got to split the fee three ways, which put me right at my budgeted amount for a hotel. My biggest piece of advice is to travel with your friends! It makes things so much cheaper, and the memories will be that much more amazing. With the ticket and hotel established I had only spent about 650 which was AMAZING because I thought I would already be in the hole. The next piece of info is really important.

FLIGHTS

Buying a round trip flight anywhere is expensive unless you are buying it 6 months in advance. Sometimes when you buy it early you still get played. That’s because the airlines are super creepy, and stalk your movements whenever you enter their sites. Did you know that?

For example, lets say you start looking for flights with JetBlue to your destination. Just because you are on an airline site, you are being tracked by other airlines because they see that you are looking for a flight. Typically you will see a price that is super high when you generate a round-trip flight for the first time. Then when you go back in to change a few settings they lower it only by a few dollars. Try going to a site like Kayak orPriceline right after you look for a flight on an independent airline site. The prices you get will be a couple hundred cheaper just because you are on a site that looks for discounts.

2 HUGE MONEY SAVING STRATEGIES FOR FLIGHTS:

1. INSTEAD OF BUYING A ROUND TRIP TICKET, BUY TWO ONE WAY TICKETS.

(1 TICKET TO YOUR DESTINATION & 1 TICKET BACK HOME)

2. GO TO PRICELINE AND USE THEIR NAME YOUR OWN PRICE TOOL. DO SOME RESEARCH ON ROUND TRIP FLIGHT COSTS FOR WHERE YOU WANT TO GO, THEN NAME YOUR OWN PRICE AT A NUMBER 40% LOWER THAN THE LOWER PRICE LISTED FOR YOUR DESTINATION. PRICELINE THEN GIVES YOU THE LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICE FOR ROUND TRIP, AND IT IS TYPICALLY SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN WHAT IS LISTED INITIALLY. DO NOT GET PLAYED.

Overall I spent $130 for my ticket to LA and for my ticket back home. Totaling to about $260 for the trip, so now that I am thinking about it….I didn’t even spend the whole thousand. Now that’s how you budget.

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”

– Saint Augustine

XOXO

THE BEAUTIFUL BOSTONIAN