FootInMouth

In Venice my wife really wanted to take a harbor cruise. I managed to convince her that the vaporetto (water-going equivalent of a city bus) was just fine... so we picked the route that visits most of the islands and our harbor cruise cost us about $1.50 each. And no tourists to put up with.

I used to visit a previous employer's office in Stockley Park, about 5 miles north of LHR. I always took the city bus from LHR, cost 80p. This really irritated my colleagues - who told me to shut up about it - they liked taking a cab for £8. Of course they didn't care that they totally screwed the cabbie, who would have to go get in the back of the long line again at LHR and hope next time for a better fare.

RobbieRunner

I just remembered! This, by FAR wins the "Cheapest thing to save on transportation" contest in my traveling career... although it was not my decision to do so.

I was in a ridiculously long taxi line on a very rainy day in Chicago at McCormick Place Convention center. This was many years ago and I worked for a company and the CEO was with me. A very nice limo driver came up and said "Gentlemen, you are going to wait here for well over an hour, maybe two since they will run out of cabs before you get to the front of the line. I offer you my limo service. It's roughly $20 more than a cab, but you can leave now and I'll have you at your hotel in 10 minutes."
The CEO gruffly said "We'll wait!" and that was that. I pleaded, "Are you sure? We'll be here for hours!". He said, "I'm not paying an extra twenty bucks for a ride to the hotel!"

So, we waited. Sure enough, the cab line halted about 1/2 way to the front when they ran out of cabs, and we stood in place for over an hour until the cabs started to return. It took us OVER two hours to get to the hotel... for lack of not spending $20.

Yep, that was the CHEAPEST thing I can recall in my traveling career!

And you wonder why I run my own company now?

mapleg

RobbieRunner--looks like that CEO is one of those people who never truly realized the value of money.

Probably the same kind of guy who drives all the way across town to save a a few pennies on a gallon of gas.

PHLflying

didn't need a rental car during most of a 4 day or so trip to FL. Had someone's friend in the area take us to the hotel. On the final day, I woke up at 5a took two buses to the airport to get a rental car so we could do some sightseeing on our final day before going back to the airport.

mapleg

Wow. You have me beat there. When I was a student I used a "thank you Canada" pass--99 bucks for one month Greyhound bus. I would try the bus overnight 2 nights, then get a cheap hotel for the 3rd night. My final ride back was from LA to Buffalo NY, more or less non stop. Never been on a Greyhound bus since and that was 30 years ago.

My cheapest stunt was leaving the Hotel Nevada in Las Vegas (price $21 per night) and checking into some hotel room for $14 per night. Looked like the transient hotel in Blues Brothers, except for fact room did not have a window.

Ugh!

RobbieRunner

^ Exactly right. Save the pennies and lose the dollars. Not very wise. Time is money in business. It's the most precious commodity we have. You can earn more money, but you can't create more time.

jaesun

I am flying into SIN next month, and I fly in at 1am. Rather than pay for a hotel or whatever, I am planning on just sleeping in the airport (hey, its a top rated airport, so why not?) till the morning, then go about my plans in Singapore.

EmailKid

You'll also save on the cost of a taxi, because you can take the rail to town in the morning.

Myself, I was on the same flight a few years ago, but spent the money for a taxi and got a good night's sleep in the Geylang district, which is full of cheap hotels like Fragrance chain and such.

And I tend to take the bus to my home airports

EmailKid

chemist661

I did that a couple of times about 10 yrs ago. I had a late arrival due to a mechanical and I used the free internet (at that time it was free after 11PM) and walked around. I used the rail service to the city and went to the hotel at about 7AM. Since it was shared (hostel) accomodation, it was only $9/night. I was willing to pay for the extra night but when they asked why I was late, I said my plane had a mechanical and I wanted to arrive when it was not dark.

The hotel only charged me for the 2 nights ^ instead of 3 and let me check in at 7AM. I took a long nap, woke up at about 1PM and walked around the town. That was the new 7th Storey Hotel (built 1953--old but clean).

A fun trip and at that time, I paid <$500 that included stopovers in Tokyo, Hong Kong & a 24 hr layover in HNL. ^ Got a boatload of EQM's and RDM's. Those were the days!!!

LesBesTes

After finishing grad school (translation - very poor!), my husband and I went to the South Pacific for several weeks on the cheap. Our flight was set to arrive into PPT at 4 am and we were boarding a cruise ship at noon, so we figured we didn't need to spring for an expensive Tahitian hotel room for those few hours -- and we figured that time clearing immigration and customs would slow us down anyway. We had called our cruise line and confirmed that there was a terminal building at the cruise port where we could set up shop until boarding started. Our flight arrived 90 minutes early and we cleared customs and immigration in minutes, so we found ourselves in the country at 3 am. Our transfer took us to the cruise port, and - of course - there wasn't a waiting area there at all.

We paired up with another couple in the same boat and wandered the streets of Papeete in the dark until we could find a motel in the cruise port area that let us camp out in the lobby until their restaurant opened for breakfast. Slept in one of their chairs until the sun came up and then had a $10 breakfast. We were miserable after a transpacific flight, but we didn't have the money at the time to pay $200+ for what amounted to the Tahitian equivalent of a Motel 6.

Gamecock

Slightly OT....While an undergrad, back in the mid 80s, a friend and I went to Myrtle Beach for spring break with maybe 40USD in our pockets. We knew of several hotels that had sundecks on the roof, so we would sneak up there at night and sleep for free.

EmailKid

In Shanghai the other day the hotel wanted 10 RBM per bag to store luggage after checking out. Since i travel with a couple of small backpacks, I consolidated most (especially heavier) things into the larger one, and walked around (well, also took a bus) for half day with the smaller backpack instead of just my camera bag.

And of course yesterday took the City Line from BKK to the city for 35 Baht instead of the 90 Baht for the Express Link

EmailKid

sent

I live in NYC so to take public transportation versus a cab to JFK, you're looking at $7.25 versus $45 + tip. I almost always opt for public transportation and leave with plenty of time, but one time the AirTrain broke down causing me to nearly miss my JFK-ZUR-HER flight. I had planned to carry on my roller board and back pack and had packed a duffle bag with only sunscreen and water bottles to check in. I was beyond the time allowed for checked baggage so I threw all bottles out all out, stuffed the book bag inside the duffel, and RAN. Before I had left for that trip, everyone in the office had told me to take a car service but I wasn't about to pony up an extra $50 for such fanciness. That was the only time I wished I hadn't been my usual frugal self. I ended paying $50 once I got to Europe to replace all the water and sunscreen I had to throw out at JFK.

We recently went to Hawaii for the first time. I booked our flights to arrive at LAX at 1:30 am so we could take the first flight to HNL at 8 am and have a few extra hours in Hawaii. I made it clear to my husband that we had to overnight in the terminal for this trip because paying for a hotel or even using points for a hotel for such a short time would be beyond silly. For his efforts, I was able to use Coupon Connection and a get a few passes to the AA Admiral's club that opened at 5:30 am. On top of that, all the sticker upgrades I had been hoarding for 5 years went through on the LAX-HNL leg so he got to fly up front. I didn't hear any whining about having to sleep on the terminal floor for that trip.

Shimon

I have spoken to a CEO type that does similar things in front of his employees. He says the reason is that we wants to convey the importance of price to his employees. The business is completely price sensitive.

Libenitz

Do unpaid Italian traffic violations count?