Bookings and Expenses
In this section, I will discuss everywhere/ everything that I booked, how I found the deals, and some of the research that went into the choices
To see how all of the bookings turned out and reviews, check out the “Daily Vacation Journal” section and “What We Learned” sections
Alena and I would be traveling to St. Thomas together, but we would be traveling home to Las Vegas separately. She had to be home earlier than I did and I wanted to take the opportunity to go to New York for a weekend!
Alena:
Vacation: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 - Sunday, December 5, 2021
-Tuesday, November 30th: Las Vegas to St. Thomas
-Sunday, December 5th: St. Thomas to Las Vegas
Jill:
Vacation: Tuesday, November 30, 2021- Tuesday, December 7, 2021
-Tuesday, November 30th: Las Vegas to St. Thomas
-Sunday, December 5th: St. Thomas to Newark
-Tuesday, December 7th: Newark to Las Vegas
For this trip, I was the master planner. Alena is typically planning trips for her children so she wanted her own carefree vacation! I was still focused on making a budget friendly trip but we had guidelines. I chose our dates based on her availability and my work schedule. I am lucky enough (being in theatre) to have certain weeks out of the year when the show is closed and we don’t have to us our allotted PTO if we don’t work.
FLIGHTS
Something that made this trip different from the rest is it was VERY spur of the moment. Everything was planned and bought within a month of the travel dates. Honestly, although it is a gamble, this can sometimes make flight prices pretty cheap!
I had decided when planning this trip that I wanted to be gone for a full week. Alena would have to be back in town no later than Sunday, so I decided to take a little “mini” trip up to New York. Flight wise, it barely made a difference in price. It meant we would be buying one ways flights on multiple airlines rather than one round trip.
For our flight from Las Vegas to USVI (stopover in Houston), Alena and I flew together. We bought two one tickets on American Airlines for $569 USD or 284.50 USD per person.
For Alena, her flight from USVI back to Las Vegas (stopover in Ft. Launderdale) on Spirit was $187.02 USD
My direct flight to Newark on United was $137 USD and my flight from Newark to Las Vegas on Spirit was $80 USD
In total, Alena spent $471.52. I spent $501.50
Down below are our reservations.
LODGING
St. Thomas, USVI
I searched on Kayak for hotels. Most of the hotels were resort style and were pretty expensive.We knew we were going to want two beds, so for that reason, Airbnb just made a little more sense. I hopped over to Airbnb and found us the CUTEST looking place.
The island is fairly small and I knew we were going to driving all over it. Location didn’t matter as much. We were more concerned with how the space looked, the view, and the reviews.
In total, we paid $1026 USD for 5 nights. Which ended up being about $205 USD a night. Although this is a little more pricey then I go for, we needed two beds. And that view was just too good!
New York
In New York, because it was so last minute, it was difficult to find a hotel within my price range. New York is not a place I would use Airbnb since most will be a “private” room inside someone’s apartment. I tend to want the whole place to myself.
I wasn’t going to be in New York for very long and I knew I wanted to be near Times Square and Broadway. Most of my friends were in that area as well. I found the American Inn for a reasonable price.
It had decent reviews and was right in the heart of the city. In total, I spent $294 USD for 2 nights, or $147 USD per night
Transportation
St. Thomas
In St. Thomas, we decided to rent a car. As far as I can tell, public transportation isn’t too prevalent. I personally really enjoy having the freedom of a personal car.
I booked through AVIS, a recognizable company that had a location right at the airport! For 5 days for an economy 4 door hatchback, we paid $540 USD, or $108 USD a day. This is without insurance since I typically opt away from that.
While we were in St. Thomas, we knew on one of the days, we would be heading to the neighboring island of St. John, home of the Virgin Island National Park. In order to get there (with our car), we would be take the BIG RED BARGE. Roundtrip with our car would cost $65 USD.
New York
In New York, there is an extensive subway system and public transportation. Getting from any of the 3 main airports to the city isn’t “too” difficult. I will explain how to navigate the subway system and options for airport to city transportation in another section. There are ALOT of choices. All I know is, don’t bother renting a car!
ADVENTURES
St. Thomas
For our first night in St. Thomas, we decided to do something I have always wanted to do. A BOOZE CRUISE! Or the more commonly title, Sunset Catamaran Cruise with an open bar and free appetizers.
This cruise was reasonably priced at $100 USD per person and would last about 3 hours.
Scuba Diving
For this trip, I wanted to do some scuba diving. St. Thomas has crystal clear, warm water and beautiful reefs. The other islands in the Virgin Islands are known for better diving (such a drifts, drop offs and wrecks) but St. Thomas would still be beautiful. Alena doesn’t dive so I wanted to make sure I didn’t take up too much time since we would only have the one car.
There are a couple of dive shops on the island, but I decided to go with Aquamarine Dive Center. They offered a 2 tank morning dive started at 7:30 and getting back at 12:30 (hopefully before Alena would even be awake!) It was $120 USD for the dive and another $20 USD for a BCD and regulator rental.
After further research, I found a dive shop right on a beach we wanted to visit! They offered an easy, one tank beach dive in the late morning. This meant Alena and I could both go to Coki Beach Point for the day together, and I would just disappear for an hour on the dive while she enjoyed the sun!
A 1 tank Shore Dive through Coki Dive Center was $95 USD plus gear rental.
New York
For my birthday, I wanted to go and see one of my favorite musicals Phantom of the Opera (which sadly closed in 2023. Tickets for broadway shows are very easy to purchase online. They also offer last minute tickets in Time Square for a discounted price, but you have to stand in a long line and they might not have the show you want.
I bought my ticket for Monday December 6th at 8pm for $133 USD.
