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6 Cheap Day Trips That Won't Eat Into Your Rent Money

We all know when you say you “love to travel” it really means theoretically, considering the most recent trips you’ve taken probably involved drugs in a field rather than like, getting on a plane. Traveling is expensive and time consuming, but just because you’re not an Instagram model (thank god) traveling the world for likes, doesn’t mean you can’t take chic photos on a budget. Just like you don’t wanna be the jock that stayed in his hometown after high school, you’ll get restless if you stay in one city too long. So here are a couple of day trips you can take that will break your routine without breaking the bank. So you can still save up for that Céline bag and get some new Tinder pics that aren’t all from Spring Break sophomore year.

1. Brewery In A Neighboring Town

So maybe you live in a big city already and you’re not into the tourist thing. Like ugh, who would ever want to go to Times Square? (Unless you’re watching Hamilton and even then you’d prefer to be helicoptered over than have to walk through a sea of tourists.) Instead of visiting your own city’s congested sights, drive a few hours to a local nearby brewery and day drink while checking out a new town.

2. Hike With A Waterfall

I know you’re not supposed to go chasin’ waterfalls, but here we’re going to make an exception. Whether you’re in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, or SF, there’s mountains within a day’s drive where you can find a waterfall to take a pic in front of (which is the only real reason for physical activity anyway). You might not be able to recreate the Robin Hood and Marian kiss behind the waterfall because you’re #deadinside, but you’ll def be able to do shrooms on top of a summit, which is just as picturesque and way less annoying. Just make sure you bring a change of shoes and clothes in case you end up wanting to get into any water.

3. Bed And Breakfast By The Beach

If you live near a coast, you can turn a beach trip into a weekend getaway by booking an affordable bed and breakfast nearby and staying for a night. Even if you live in Silverlake and Malibu is only an hour away, staying in a nice Airbnb or resort room for a night will feel like you took a real vacation. It’s like when your high school prom took place in a well decorated city hall, the change in routine made you feel like you were doing something special.

4. Vineyard Visit

If you live in Northern California, you should obviously go to Napa, but you can also skip the bachelorette and couples retreats and go to Santa Rosa or Sonoma instead, which are nearby but less crowded. But it’s not just the bay area that has vineyards, many other states have smaller vineyards that you can take a day trip to. Sure, the Long Island vineyards aren’t exactly Beaujolais, but they’re only a train ride away from New York and you can get back in time to power nap and rally to go out again. Vineyards are a great way to feel classy while getting shit faced. And visiting vineyards will give you wine labels to look for when you read a wine list, instead of pretending like you know what anything is.

5. Booze Cruise

If you live within driving distance to a coast or body of water, you can easily get trashed on the water. Water’s international anyway, so it’ll be like getting a worldly education in blacking out. Plus, not having phone service for a day will make you seem mysterious and keep you from over texting the guy you’re trying to ignore.

6. Hot Springs Resort

Hot springs aren’t just for Japanese vacations, there are plenty of hot spring resorts in the U.S. where you can go for a day. If you’re in the bay area, you might want to hit up Vichy, or in LA you can hit up SLO. Unfortunately much like hearts of New Yorkers are ice cold, there’s no hot springs near New York, but there are mineral baths in Saratoga Springs. Something about sitting in naturally hot water makes you feel skinnier every time. Plus there’s usually a decent winery and brunch place near the spas.

Hot Spring

Read: How To Go Abroad When You’re On A Budget