To wrap up my June travels, I visited Miami, Florida for a mini-reunion with my study abroad besties from our semester in Trier, Germany in 2010. I had never been to Miami before and loved it! Not only was I able to catch up with two of my favorite ladies, I also managed to make the trip affordable!

In my final year of college, I spent a semester abroad in Germany. (I had lived in Germany once before as an exchange student several years prior.) In Trier I was fortunate to study with great folks from all over the world and really clicked with two ladies - one from my home university and another from Finland. Five years later, Miami became our reunion destination. Angie flew down from Minnesota, Noora traveled from Finland, and I had the shortest distance to go coming over from New Orleans. It was the first time the three of us had been together since Trier and, like any strong lady bond, we picked up right where we left off!

In addition to loving the beach, we're all pretty frugal gals so we were able to travel on a budget. Let me share some of the ways I was able to make this girls weekend on the beach affordable. . .

MegaBus. That's right! I took a bus from New Orleans to Miami. (Actually one bus from New Orleans to Orlando and then another from Orlando to Miami.) Honestly, it was a great experience. Everything was orderly and easy. It's not super classy but efficient and vastly cheaper than a plane ticket.
Airbnb: We were able to get a pretty nice condo on the beach that cost less than a hotel stay and included a kitchenette. It wasn't super glamorous but was perfect for us. I have had good luck with Airbnb before! It's just important to read through reviews so you have a better idea of what you're getting in to.
Uber: Uber is new to New Orleans so I still wasn't familiar with it. (Thanks, Angie, for exposing me to this great service.) I am sure many of you use this on the regular. It was a great way to get around and provided some very entertaining interactions with our drivers.
Food & Drink: We didn't eat out every meal. We had breakfast, coffee, and sometimes lunch and snacks in our room from groceries we purchased on our first day. At the grocery store we also bought drinks for the beach so we could avoid the costly swimming pool bar. (And, most importantly, this also allowed us to expose Noora to American frozen breakfast sandwiches! Ha ha!)