Welcome back to another trip report post! In this post, I will recap my recent trip to San Francisco, California!
Posting my trip reports are one of my favorite parts of having my blog as I get to recap how anyone can travel for cheap if they want to. I see all too often that people make excuses why they can’t travel. I hear: “I wish I could but I have no free time,” or “I can’t afford it right now, but maybe in the future.”
For me, I want to prioritize travel now because I am not guaranteed anything, and I want to explore the world as much as possible now. I can still meet my financial goals and travel the world at the same time.
To travel cheaply, I utilize Travel Rewards (Travel Hacking) to get flights, hotels, and rental cars for free or much cheaper than average costs. I put my everyday spending on travel credit cards and strategically open up new travel cards when I know I have high future expenses that will meet the minimum spend requirements. I always pay off my credit cards in full every month and never accrue any debt.
Related posts: Introduction to Travel Rewards & How Much I Saved This Year by Travel Rewards
If you’re interested in getting a customized Travel Rewards plan, check out my Travel Rewards Consult page!
Check out some of my previous trip reports below:
Let’s see how my San Francisco trip compared to the rest!
Flight
Since starting my new job in July, I don’t have too many days off accrued yet, so taking advantage of 3 day weekends is super important.
So in early August, we made our search where we wanted to go.
Luckily we have the Southwest Companion Pass so I can get my fiancée* (more on this later) to fly free with me when I book through Southwest. After researching the potential places we wanted to visit and comparing the costs (in points of course) we decided that travel to San Francisco by flying into Oakland.
For some reason, a flight from San Antonio, Tx to Oakland, CA was cheaper than many other cities – Denver, San Diego, New Orleans, Phoenix, etc.
Total Costs: 24k points + $22.40 (mandatory taxes)
Hotel/lodging
Whenever I am picking a place to stay, I always compare Hyatt (my favorite hotel reward program), Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and Airbnb to see what the best value is for my trip.
San Francisco lodging is probably one of the most expensive places to stay in the country. Because of this, I decided to look at nearby locations to see what kind of deals I could find.
Hyatt ended up having a few locations in Emeryville (Oakland), which is the first exit after crossing the bay bridge. Those properties were category three (3) properties, and they cost 12k points per night.
I like staying at Hyatt because the rooms are nice and they have an excellent free breakfast in the morning. Having free breakfast eliminates one extra cost that I usually would have to pay.
I did some research with Chase Ultimate Rewards, but I would have to use 18-20k points per night for a regular hotel room. Also, because the trip was only for my fiancée and me, Airbnb didn’t make too much sense if I could book with points.
I ended up booking a Hyatt Place in Emeryville for a total of 24k points for two nights.
Total Costs: Free with points
Entertainment
For most of my trips, I keep my entertainment costs down by doing a lot of outdoor activities that are free.
This trip we spent the majority of our time outside as expected.
We arrived in San Francisco around noon on Saturday, and we parked by Chrissy field and walked down to Golden Gate bridge area. We also went to Ocean Beach and went on a hike around the “Lands End” area.
On the 2nd day, we drove north to Muir Woods and Muir Beach. It was super foggy that day, but we made the most of the views.
After, we drove to Sausalito and hung out there for a little bit.
In the afternoon, we drove to the south of San Francisco and went to a little town called Pacifica and hung out at some beaches in the area. These beaches reminded me a lot of beaches in the San Diego area, only much colder.
After that, we went back up to San Francisco and spent some time at Baker beach, just south of the golden gate.
The Proposal
I have been together with my girlfriend for almost four years now and decided to pop the question on our San Francisco trip.
I had traveled out to San Francisco for work earlier this year, and while driving along the Pacific coast, I thought that the San Francisco coast area would be an excellent spot to propose. Luckily with how things worked out, I was able to book the trip and make the proposal a reality.
I ended up (successfully) proposing on Baker beach. Somehow I kept the proposal a secret and managed to keep the ring hidden throughout the trip.
Total Entertainment Costs: Free (except for the ring which I will include in a proposal/wedding planning post in the future)
Rental Car, Food, Souvenirs & Miscellaneous Costs
Rental Car – we ended up booking the rental car with points from Chase Ultimate Rewards. The cost was free with points.
Gas/Tolls: We had to pay tolls every time we crossed the bay bridge into San Francisco and also the Golden Gate bridge
Total Toll Costs: $18 – bridges are expensive to pass
Total Gas Costs: $27.21 – compact cars for the win, this is with the gas prices being $3.69 per gallon
Food
Most of our money on this trip went towards food. This was an intentional decision as we wanted to try as many new places as possible that we couldn’t get back home.
The food was great, and we got to check off many new places off our bucket list. After the engagement, we treated ourselves to Ghirardelli ice cream sundae.
Some restaurants we liked:
- HAN ll Kwan (Korean BBQ)
- Pompei Grotto (Seafood @ Fishermans Warf)
- Yukol Place Thai
Total Food Costs: $173.69
Total Costs for the Trip: $241.30
San Francisco Review
Overall, we had a great time in San Francisco. I had been there a few times already, and this was my fiancée first time visiting.
Ideally, I would love to spend a few weeks in the area, but due to work schedules, we had to squeeze in the trip in this timeframe.
However, we still had a great time and saw a lot of places during our time there. We got out of the city and explored the other areas, and we got engaged. So I would say it was a pretty successful trip.
Because of travel rewards I cut out 90% of the trip expenses and made this trip affordable. Paying just over $241 for a trip across the country to the most expensive city in the US doesn’t seem real, but it is.
If you’re interested in getting a customized Travel Rewards plan, check out my Travel Rewards Consult page!
Travel rewards with a combination of my automatic savings plan make planning trips a lot easier.
My Automatic Travel Savings Plan
To pay for my trips throughout the year, I put money away automatically 2x a month in my Capital One 360 savings account* (refer a friend link). I have separate savings account just for Travel, so it makes the $200-$500 trips very doable because I already have the money in my account. So I never really have to adjust my monthly cash flow for travel. I withdraw from my travel account to pay for the trip.
Question for You!
What’s holding you back from traveling more?
How do you get the most value when you travel?
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