On my journey to visit all 50 states, I spent Labor Day Weekend 2022 knocking off two more! I flew into Kansas City and was able to spend some time in Missouri and Kansas. While visiting all fifty states isn’t exactly the cheapest goal, it certainly does not have to be expensive either! For a few of my trips, I decide to be transparent and post my “all in” costs, to hopefully show that there are easy ways to spare your bottom line while traveling! Here are my total costs for a weekend in Kansas and Missouri!
Flights – $11.20
About two weeks before Labor Day Weekend, I was scrambling to find somewhere to go. I had just finished a very busy season at work and hadn’t had time to plan a trip until then. I did a little searching on Google Flights (my favorite search tool) to find out where I could go last minute for as cheap as possible.
Kansas City popped up, and I was so excited to see it was JetBlue. JetBlue is one of my favorite airlines and I’ve accumulated hundreds of thousands of points with them over the years. If the opportunity to fly them presents itself, I always take advantage. The flights were about $180 RT, or 11,200 points. I decided to redeem points. Because I am a JetBlue Plus Cardholder, that means I also get 10% points back on all redemptions. Therefore, this trip only cost 10,620 points roundtrip! You do have to pay $5.60 in taxes each way, which brings my grand total up to $11.20 roundtrip.
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Read More- How to Find Cheap Flights: An Ultimate Guide
Transportation – $231.23
Labor Day Weekend usually brings a lot of fun and sun – but rarely does it bring low prices. Before I booked my flight, I made sure to look into rental car and hotel prices to make sure they were not exorbitant and were able to keep my bottom line in check. Priceline.com had a deal on a rental car for 3 days for only $160.23. Not too bad for a holiday weekend! Over the weekend, I put $41.00 into the gas tank. Everywhere I travelled to, parking was free. The only exception was when I went to the KC Royals baseball game where parking was $30.00. That one stung.
Accommodations – $308.01
By far the largest expense of the trip, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. I am somewhat loyal to Hilton, so I pulled up some area hotels on their site and was lucky enough to find a decent one for $88/night! I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Olathe, KS. It was nothing special, but a perfectly fine home base and a place to rest my head. It was about 30 minutes outside of downtown Kansas City, which didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I enjoyed feeling like I was “out of the city” and had a little space to breathe. After taxes, a three night stay cost $308.01.
Food – $138.32
Ah, my favorite expense. I arrived on Saturday in the late afternoon, so of course I went straight to Q39 for some bbq ribs! They were spectacular and did not disappoint. The total there for ribs, fries, veggies, drink, tax/tip was $40.11 (not bad!). Afterward, I had to get a concrete from Andy’s for $6.21.
On Sunday, I took full advantage of breakfast at the hotel. It wasn’t until lunchtime that my stomach started grumbling so I hit up some regional fast food at Spangles for $7.78. I got a burger on toasted, buttery sourdough and it gave me life. Later that evening, I went to Jack Stack bbq for some more ribs and sides. That cost me a total of $44.60, and of course had to go back to Andy’s for some ice cream for $7.46.
Monday was more of a low-key day. I did breakfast in the hotel again, and then had some fried chicken at Gus’ for lunch. A three piece with fries and a drink cost me $18.77. Later that evening, I went to the KC Royals baseball game and treated myself to a hot dog and fries for dinner. That cost me $13.39, which I thought was surprisingly cheap!
If you’re looking for a KC BBQ review, Q39 was my favorite! The ribs fell right off the bone and the honey bbq sauce was *chefs kiss*
Entertainment – $40
The vast majority of my time in Kansas City was free activities! I spent some time at Grinter Sunflower Farms, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, and exploring downtown Kansas City. All of which were free! In fact, the only attraction that cost money was the KC Royals baseball game! Tickets were cheap. I was able to sit in the lower bowl for $30 (including all the fees!). I did splurge on a 50/50 ticket when I got there for $10. Spoiler alert: I lost. And so did the Royals.
Total: $728.76
For just over $700, I was able to spend a long weekend exploring a corner of the country not seen my many! These flyover states have a ton to offer besides views from a window at 35,000 feet. My journey to visit all 50 states keep proving that time and time again, and I’m so happy to be working on this goal. Spending a total of $700 on a holiday weekend really is not bad- most people I know spend a lot more! If this number seems high to you, there are even more ways I could have saved money. I could have redeemed points for the hotel to cut my total expenses almost in half, or I could have parked in the farther lot at the baseball game to save money there. Travel does not have to be expensive and here is the proof!
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