One week into this 2-week blogging challenge, and I really needed a blog idea. I can definitely see why it is a challenge to write everyday, especially if you want your writing/blogging to be something people would actually want to read. No pressure or anything…

So last night, we decided that we’d waited long enough and we should go ahead and book our hotels for Rome and London. Troy and I have accumulated an impressive number of hotel points over the years and we had scoped out which hotels we wanted months ago.

Turns out, hotel rewards are not always finite. The hotel we wanted in Rome was no longer offering Points+Cash options, and our hotel in London was only doing Points+Cash options, and the points per stay had skyrocketed. Both put a wrench in our plans and we scrambled a bit (at 11pm) to find alternative hotels within our points budget.

While we did find and book our alternate hotels, it also put a bigger dent in our hotel points than I had hoped and I found myself searching for New York City hotels at 2 in the morning. I was planning a birthday trip to NYC in the fall with one of my girlfriends, using hotel points to alleviate costs. But, the above-average seasonal hotel rates threw me for my second loop of the night. No rest for the Wicked, even if weren’t planning on seeing it on Broadway.

While I have no problem playing tourist, I do have a problem with $300+ per night and still having to share a communal bathroom down the hall. Now, our options are:

• AirBnB someones apartment ($200/night)
• Stay on the floor of a friends places
• Go in December
• Befriend a generous New York millionaire

I’ll be 30 years old this year. Staying in a hostel isn’t exactly my cup of tea anymore. Any ideas for traveling New York City without breaking the bank?