Over the years, I have been fortunate to see many, many Springsteen shows. My most recent trip was to Atlanta and Greensboro; they were great shows. Often I am asked how I can afford to see all the shows I see and the key is to minimize the costs.
The tickets are pretty much a set cost, but traveling there and hotel costs are easily minimized with some thought and some experience with some online apps.
Car Rental
You may be asking yourself, "Why would I need to rent a car when I already have one?"
My SUV gets 21 miles to the gallon on the highway. My rental got 37.7 miles to the gallon for a Toyota Yaris. I drove a total of 1324 miles from Louisville to Atlanta to Greensboro and back to Louisville.
In my SUV, that would have taken 1324 (miles) / 21 (miles/gallon) = 63 gallons of gas.
In my rental, it was 1324 (miles) / 37.7 (miles/gallon) = 35.1 gallons of gas.
Gas costs along the way ranged from $3.56 to $3.95. Average was about $3.77.
Cost in my SUV would have been $237.51.
Cost in the rental was $131.95.
Thus, the key is to get a rental for cheaper than ($237.51 - $131.95), or $105.56. If you opt for the insurance for the rental, be sure to include that into your cost-benefit analysis.
We got our rental for $74.00 for 4 days.
It was a great price. Plus I did not put 1324 miles on my car! Using the IRS designated rate of 55.5 cents per mile, that represents a quasi cost of $734.83 that I don't feel indirectly on my car.
It was also timely as when I pulled in to get the rental, I kid you not, my check engine light came on!
When traveling by a car, you can easily minimize the cost with Hotwire.com in aquiring a rental. My experience is to wait until the two weeks leading up to the show. You can get the 4 cylinder high mileage cars for $14.00 to $16.00 per day plus all the taxes they heap on you.
Having a travel companion always helps as well to cut this cost in half.
Hotel
Priceline has been a godsend for me. With Priceline, I have gotten 4 star (their designation) rooms in Boston for $65.00. That was even during May when about 8 colleges had graduations going on. The regular price for that room would have been $324.00 as I recall.
We got the rooms in Atlanta at the downtown Hilton for $55.00 using Priceline. Parking at the hotel was $21.00 for the night, but we were walking distance to the arena and did not have to pay $10.00 at the venue.
To create a strategy for Priceline, I would advise you become familiar with BiddingForTravel.com. It is a site where folks share their winning bids for the various hotels in every city throughout the country. It also has strategies for hitting certain areas and certain star rated hotels. It's here where you can save the most money for your trip.
Our Greensboro room was $50.00 each (plus all the taxes) and it included a free continental breakfast.
If you desire to save more money, you can go for lower than a 2 1/2 star hotel.
You can do this for more than just Springsteen, of course. There are lots of bands that have big fan followings that can use these two strategies.
If you chose to split a room, it halves the cost. I chose not to, so all my savings come just from the Priceline savings.
Airlines
Yes, I have flown for shows (Boston, Fargo, Orlando, Memphis.) Using Priceline is tricky though as they can pick your flight and time for you. Use Priceline cautiously unless you plan on arriving a day before the show.
To have more control over the time, I have used Southwest's site, Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia. Check the option for neaby airports as well. When I lived in Marysville, Ohio, I was almost directly between Columbus and Dayton's airports. Cincinnati was 2 1/2 hours away. Consider the cost of gas and parking when determining the cheapest overall price plus what you consider the cost of your time to travel an extra hour or two.
Risks, in general
Priceline and Hotwire are non-refundable.
Read that again and say it out loud so you realize this.
At one time, Hotwire did allow you to cancel reservations without paying.
If a show gets canceled, you eat those costs. When Danny Federici died, I had tickets to three shows in Florida, hotel rooms in Orlando and Tampa waiting and the cost of my airline ticket I ate. I was lucky though to have family to stay with and was able to spend a 6 day vacation in Ft. Lauderdale and see my nieces and nephews.
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