Budget Travel Tips: The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl will air on ESPN on December 23, 2008 on 8 p.m. ET and will have TCU (Texas Christian University) and Boise State battling it out on the field in San Diego, CA. It is possible to get to the event without breaking the bank regardless of where you may be coming from. At the time of writing this article the best tickets available to purchase on Ticket master at Qualcomm Stadium cost $60 per ticket with a $9 convenience charge (per ticket). You can go to http://www.poinsettiabowl.net/tickets/tickets.html for more ticket information, or call 619-285-5039 Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. For discount tickets there appear to be tons on Craigslist.org under the "for sale" section ranging from $1 to $300. Parking at the event is $15 for cars and $45 for RVs although the most economical way to arrive is to take the San Diego trolley or bus to the event.

If you are trying to get to San Diego from another city or state there are many options. If you are flying in I would suggest you check with at least three websites and play around with the date and times (if you can) to try to assure the lowest airfare. The website Travelzoo allows you to put in your departure and arrival city as well as when you would like to arrive and depart with additional search options to search nearby airports for the cheapest options or request non-stop flights. Once you enter this information the site gives you half a dozen carriers or discount airfare websites to try and direct you to which websites most travelzoo customers preferred for that route. You can find this search engine at http://supersearch.travelzoo.com/. It uses both airline websites as well as discount outfitters such as cheaptickets, orbitz, and travelocity. Once you arrive at the San Diego airport the cheapest way to arrive to your hotel is by catching the San Diego Metro Bus #992 for $2.25 which will bring you to downtown San Diego and connects to the Coaster commuter train, the trolley, and the Amtrak Station. If you are coming in from another city in California, Las Vegas, or somewhere on the west coast the cheapest option may be a bus. Before going directly to greyhound (which does offer the most options for routes and may be your best options) you may want to try GoToBus. GoToBus.com sells tickets to San Diego from Anaheim, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. A roundtrip ticket from Las Vegas was approximately $165 for an adult. Another option is www.luxbusamerica.com/ which offers similar routes for similar prices.

Luckily, California is a big state for backpackers, so the budget hotels and hostels are plentiful. If are just looking for a place to crash there are two hostelling international hostels in San Diego on Downtown and one in Point Loma by the beach. The downtown hostel has rates from $19 for a bed in a 10-bed dorm to $82 for a family room with one bunk bed and one double bed. The rates at Pt Loma are slightly lower. Rates include free continental breakfast, free coffee and tea all day, free day luggage storage, beach trips and walking tours offered by the hostel, movie nights and bonfires. More information including reservations can be found at http://www.sandiegohostels.org. While this hostel has a pretty good deal and an 87% approval rating by prior guests, The San Diego USA Hostel located in the Gaslamp Quarter has an 89% rating and offers free pancake breakfasts! A 6-bed dorm starts at $19 and a private room is $50. They can be contacted at 1-619-232-3100 or 1-800-438-8622 for reservations. You can find a handful more of hostel options at hostel.com for the San Diego region. If you are looking for something a little more upscale, the newly renovated Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina happens to be running a special during the time of the game for $129 per night with a $50 credit toward the spa and restaurant. ($25 each). It includes free self-parking and the only blackout dates are after the 23 of December.

If you think you may be shopping, dining, or sightseeing while in San Diego it may be worthwhile to purchase a Go San Diego card that includes discounts for all these items. They offer 1 to 7 day cards and a full listing of benefits can be found here: http://www.gosandiegocard.com/specialoffers.html