Moneywise Monday: A Semi-Frugal Minibreak

I stayed kind of in the middle of the peninsula.  Very nice.

Bf has been working hard for the past month on a presentation for his Ph.D. He has been completely stressed out--sleeping poorly, cranky, etc.  When I discovered that I had three days off over Memorial Day weekend, I knew I needed to have some kind of adventure, and when I asked if he wanted to come with me, the answer was a firm "no".  So, I took myself to Cape Cod to give him some undistracted time, and me some vacation.

Cape Cod is about 90 minutes (barring traffic) from where I live, but since I've lived in Rhode Island, I've never actually been.  Ninety minutes is just a bit too long to go just for the beach, I don't know anyone with a house there, and honestly, I don't really know what you go to Cape Cod to do besides ride bikes and go to the beach.  So this was an exploratory trip as well as an "I want to get out of town if only for 36 hours."

Since it's not the high tourist season, I got a decently-priced hotel within walking distance from the beach.  This hotel also had an indoor and outdoor pool, so I still got to go swimming even though the ocean is far too cold.  but the smartest thing I did--I packed a lunch!  Food on the Cape is expensive, since there are a lot of fancy people who go there.  Since I am not fancy, and already own a lunchbox, what is more sensible than throwing a couple ice packs and some frittata, yogurt and asparagus in my lunchbox and having a lovely picnic?  Since I brought my own food, I only paid for two meals instead of three, one of which was breakfast, which is the cheapest meal of the day.

Aside from the food savings, nothing I did really cost any money at all.  I went to see a play that a friend was in--$20, but the rest of the time I just wandered around, read and lounged.  It was completely restorative, and I highly recommend it.  Total trip cost: $125 + gas, and I now understand the appeal of Cape Cod, and feel slightly closer to the Kennedys.

Anyone else have a moneywise success this week?