Watch out Dallas, here we come!

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Vacation number two is coming up and we are headed to Dallas. When you are planning a vacation, do you budget? Or do you go on vacation and pay for it later? Whether you are planning an extravagant trip to Hawaii or a quick trip to see family, budgeting is key. 
The average vacation costs $1,145 per person.
JP and I are headed to Dallas at the beginning of April. We are going to a friend's wedding and it will be another quick trip. We have found ways to cut costs by using points for our flights, using Priceline for hotels and using Uber instead of renting a car. One handy trick that I found out is that you get a lower rate on Priceline if you call in the hotel reservation versus reserving online. I will usually do all the research online and then call the number and reserve over the phone and it saves you more money. We have been debating what we should eat while we are there since this is Texas but it is such a short trip, we will not have much time for eating out really. Side note: Dallas has one of the best fried chicken places that everyone should check out, Mike's Chicken.

 When I was researching if we should rent a car on Turo again or just use Uber, Uber was the one that made the most sense. It saves us on gas, hotel parking charges, plus we would need an Uber anyway for the wedding, so it just made sense to not rent a car. I like to use Uber Estimate to find an estimate cost of a ride from one destination to another. This is how I was able to determine to use Uber over Turo as well. We would need an uber from the airport to the hotel, uber to the wedding and back and an uber back to the airport. All other times we will be able to walk since we are staying downtown.

Above is how we record our budget to actuals, we do this for every trip. After this trip, I will usually include notes for our next trip to that place. Like, bring cash, eat at x restaurant, budget more for food, etc. Doing so has really helped for when we return to cities, like New Orleans. Since this is a quick weekend trip to Dallas, we don't really have any other items to plan for. But you should thoroughly plan out what you are doing and how much that may be. You should also check your hotel stays and see how much the parking fees are. But this trip is pretty straightforward for us and not much to really have to budget. We did increase our DIA parking so that we can park in the garage this time. We did not have a great experience parking in the lots and taking the bus to the airport on our Houston trip. Upgrade, please!

 How do you budget for your trips? What is your most expensive category when traveling? Be sure to comment and subscribe.


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