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Travel from Midwest to the Western US Mountians, how should I travel cheap?

2K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  mosf88 
#1 ·
:yahoo:I want to travel out to the Western US a lot this coming season. I am from Chicago so I have access to a few different forms of travel.

I am looking at all places to snowboard in the Western United States (Colorado, Utah, California, Montana, Washington, etc). I don't really care about where exactly, just whatever is cheapest. I would probably go during the weekend (Thursday-Sunday) and will be traveling with anywhere from 1-4 people. I AM open to more unique routes to take to get out west and places to stay. A traditional flight/hotel works but can be expensive.

If anyone has stories or scenarios where they were able to travel to a resort very cheap PLEASE share them here. I am looking for any advice that might be outside of the box thinking compared to traditional routes


Travel-Any site like Expedia, priceline, etc work for low fares or wait for Southwest deals but does anyone know of back end routes to get cheap flights. Credit Card points, 2 for 1 deals, stand by discounts, currier discounts?
what about Amtrak or a bus?

Transportation: besides bus/taxi/shuttle/car rental. does anyone know of a cheap way, a share car service? can you pick me up?

Accommodations - What routes do you take to find places to stay that are different from the common priceline/expedia/hotels.com sites? Maybe a route to get a last minute deal on the place to stay? Has anyone tried couchsurf.org in some of these mountain towns like park city, Vail, aspen, etc?
maybe some site has a service for people to watch your home for the weekend?
hostels?

cheap lift tickets? where to get discounts?



a future thank you for all the advice!
 
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#6 ·
Wish I knew a few single ridin' buddies so I could go that route myself. All the guy's I've met and ridden with here are married /w kids. Besides, goin' that "dirtbag" route,.. Always a chance of hooking up with some Shred Betty who has a room there at the resort, right? ;)

(...another reason to find some more single guys to ride with. Of course, I'll likely wind up with her Gnargoyle friend!) LOL! :laugh:
 
#7 ·
Europcar has pretty low rates with no hidden additional costs (had to pay huge additional insurance with a different rental company, somewhere mentioned in font size 0.5 :huh:)
 
#9 ·
How much are you trying to spend each trip? and how many days on the slope?

Not counting lift, you should be able to get air/car/lodging for $300 and 3 full days on the slopes. And that assume staying at the resort with 1+ bedrooms/kitchen and <5 minute walk to lift. I get that rate with only one other boarder. If you have 4, you can get even cheaper.
 
#15 ·
Awesome, thanks for the advice. The past few years I've road tripped, but definitely getting too old for that, so this is the first time having to book flights and a rental car.

Do you usually look to book two one way tickets rather than a round trip?

And for rental cars any tips on where to find promos? Don't have the luxury of a company account and after some initial research everything I've found is closer to $100 per day.
 
#19 ·
Awesome, thanks for the advice. The past few years I've road tripped, but definitely getting too old for that, so this is the first time having to book flights and a rental car.

Do you usually look to book two one way tickets rather than a round trip?
I don't think it matters if you do one way or round trip, no discount. We also have had good luck with frontier. It seems booking direct with southwest or frontier, maybe with a promo code or not, is always cheaper than travel engines.
 
#20 ·
Southwest - stalk their site, and look at Milwaukee flights too. Last year I went twice at $99 each way, and paid even less during December, all out of MKE.... and parking there is $6.50 / day! Remember they don't charge for baggage. Recently they had a fare sale $79 each way from Midway.

...also, since you are in Chi-town, try to connect with WCB Windy City Boarders they are a friendly group and have enough people stalking airfares you will hear about good deals when someone finds one.

Cars - I paid under $100 for a Dodge Avenger or equiv for a Fri - Mon stay last year. Go to the flyertalk site to learn more about rentals.

Lift Tix - if you are making a few trips then $289 for a Keystone / A-basin unlimited pass. Or pay $550 and get Breck and Vail as well, and stay at the Bivy in Breck its like $40 / night. If you are going to buy day tickets Keystone is one of the least expensive of the "big" hills

Lodging - Bivy in Breck, otherwise get on the Vail mailing list and hunt all the sites. Get on the Orbit mailing list and a few others and look for coupon codes and other deals. Some independent hotels might give a little better rate if you call them directly so they don't have to pay the Orbitz commission. Keystone has some lodging deals at the moment I believe.


good luck!!
 
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