Working toward my “all 50 states before I’m 30” goal, I had a plan to one day road trip through the Badlands of North & South Dakota! I dreamed of cruising through the Black Hills, exploring old Western towns, and watching the sun set over the flat horizon. If that’s what you’re looking for, the Dakotas have it all! These are my total costs for a long weekend in North & South Dakota!
All amounts are in USD
Airfare – $185.20
I had been tracking roundtrip airfare prices to Rapid City for the better part of a year. They always typically fell in the $400’s range, which was way over my limit. The awesome thing about Google Flights is setting up alerts when fares drop. I received an alert in April (right at the peak of the coronavirus outbreak) for $185 round trip on Delta and I jumped on it immediately. At the time, I figured the world would definitely be back to normal by September. It wasn’t, but it also wasn’t terrible. I wore a mask whenever I was near people and washed my hands frequently. Small price to pay to travel again!
Accommodations – $382.69
Definitely more than I typically spend on accommodations, but I had to be flexible. Traveling over Labor Day weekend, everything was of course more expensive. Plus, my itinerary had me staying in a different city every night, some of which were pretty rural and had limited hotel options. At the end of the day, coming out less than $100 per night is still impressive in my mind. I don’t need anything fancy, just a hotel to cover my 4 S’s (Shit, Shower, Sleep, Safety). That’s all anyone needs!
Keystone, SD (Night 1) – $87.50
Spearfish, SD (Night 2) – $138.24
Dickinson, ND (Night 3) – $68.98
Rapid City, SD (Night 4) – $87.97
Transportation- $183.48
As this was a road trip, my car was my BFF these four days. I rented a car through Priceline for $130.48. Not bad for 4 days! When booking with Priceline they give you the option to choose your rental car company, or to book a low rate without knowing the company until after you book. Always choose the latter! You can save a bunch of money, and all the car rental companies are the same. They all have new cars and will offer the same service. Save money wherever you can!
I did a lot of driving on this trip. My drive to and from North Dakota was 4 hours each way! Thankfully, newer cars that you get from rental car companies are amazing on gas so I only spent $53.00 total on fill ups. I never incurred any parking fees at any attractions.
Meals – $100.00
I’ll spare you the details about every little thing I ate, but I did try extra hard on this trip to cut costs wherever I could. Food adds up quickly while you’re traveling, and it might not hit you until you look at your credit card balance at the end of a day. I made sure to take advantage of every free breakfast that hotels offered. As an added bonus, hotels were typically doing breakfasts “to go” due to coronavirus (giving you a brown bag of water, fruit, snacks), that often held me over through lunch too! They were perfect for road trips – two meals for the price of one!
Each day, I spent $25, $21, $20, $34 (respectively) on meals and food.
All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar, for ease.
Entertainment – $92.06
While almost $100 on entertainment may sound steep, when you break it down it really was not as bad as it sounds. I visited two National Parks (Theodore Roosevelt and Badlands) and each cost $30 per day for entry. The passes are good for up to 7 days, so you can really make up some money if you plan on visiting more than once. Unfortunately my schedule was tight and I could only spend one day in each park.
I also visited Crazy Horse Memorial, which charged $12 per person for entry to the grounds, their museum, and the viewing terrace. While in North Dakota, I spent $20.06 on a ticket to the famous Medora Musical.
Pro Tip: If you’re a student (or held onto your student ID after all these years), always bring it with you on your travels! The Medora Musical ticket was originally $48, but because I had my ID I was able to get it for more than 50% off!
Misc. – $0.00
Typically the “miscellaneous” category covers anything that is a personal buy (such as a souvenir), or any unexpected expense. On every trip, I always try to be budget conscious and only splurge for extra buys when something really speaks to me. If anything, I would usually get something small like a necklace or a magnet, but I never got the urge this time. Thankfully, no unexpected expenses came up either!
Total Cost – $923.43
Definitely one of my more expensive trips, but when you consider the length of the trip and everything I did, it was not that bad! For under $1,000 I was able to spend a long weekend in North & South Dakota, visit 2 National Parks, 1 National Monument, and check off two more states on my Journey to 50!
This cost could have been cut substantially by utilizing points/miles for airfare and hotels. In hindsight, I wish I would have (seeing a number over $900 shocked me), but the costs were all so spread out that it didn’t feel like much at the time.
People spend $900 every day on clothes, gadgets, and other items. And while that is perfectly fine, I try to be transparent in my trips to prove that a little bit of reallocating can give you the adventure of a lifetime for the same cost (or even less)! Personally, I’d rather spend a long weekend in North & South Dakota than have a new iPhone (which is why I’m still rocking the iPhone 6S in 2020). It’s all about prioritizing. Travel absolutely does not have to be expensive, and here is the proof!
Looking for more insight into the costs of my trips? Check out my Total Costs page for transparent looks into the trips I take.
Traveling soon? Check out my Travel Tips page to help you score good deals on flights, packing tips, tools to help you plan, and more!
