I’m starting to realize just how important travel is in our lives now that I’m documenting each trip we take. In this case, it was a solo trip for me to meet a buddy for a short weekend so we could use up some expiring points and hotel nights. What was the total cost, and how much did I save? Check out my Travel Hack Recap of Charlotte, North Carolina below!
Where I Went
I spent a long weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, a city I had never visited before. To be honest, Charlotte really wasn’t on my radar either. But since this trip was in the middle of Spring Break season where all other warm-weather destinations were much higher in price, we settled on a couple days in Charlotte. Worst case scenario, we check out the local food and craft beer scene while getting to know a new city…and that’s exactly what we did.
Flights
Unfortunately, traveling to a less popular destination in the Eastern time zone tends to limit your options for convenient flights. Those options are further limited when trying to use one single airline (Southwest) to use up some points. I flew out of Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) at 10:40am on a Friday and didn’t arrive in Charlotte (CLT) until almost 5:30pm after a lengthy layover in Chicago. But when it comes to free travel, beggars can’t be choosers.
The return flight was supposed to be less time-intensive, with just a 2 hour flight (1 hour after the time zone change) from CLT to Chicago Midway and a quick turnaround to fly home. In what seems to be a common occurrence with Southwest these days, our flight out of CLT was delayed by over an hour! We arrived in Chicago just as our flight home was lined up to start boarding.
At that point, we were already a bit perturbed. Then our flight home was delayed by over an hour, arriving at MSP just before midnight on a Sunday. A sternly-worded email to Southwest’s customer service got me…absolutely nothing.
Transportation
I got a bit thrifty on this trip and ventured into the world of public transportation. After my debacle upon arriving solo in Phoenix, this was no small commitment. Luckily, I was able to navigate the flights into Charlotte and did a fair amount of research on the city bus line that runs from CLT airport to the downtown transit station, just a block or so from our hotel.
Upon the bus’s arrival at the airport stop, I realized I didn’t have exact change to buy a ticket (rookie mistake). However, the driver was nice enough to let me ride for free – sometimes it pays to look like a helpless tourist. About 30 minutes later and I proudly arrived at the downtown transit station, walking another block to meet my friend who had already made it to the hotel.
As you’ll see below, we also took the tram from Center City to the outskirts of downtown for some of our culinary escapades. At just $2.20 per ride, it was far cheaper than taking a Lyft/Uber for areas that were a little further outside walking distance.
I also saved a fair amount of money by Mrs. FIby35 generously delivering me to and from MSP airport when I normally would have had to pay for a Lyft or parking at the airport. I owe her big time for the late arrival…
Accommodations
Nothing too exciting here, except for FREE hotel stays. We spent 2 nights at the Hyatt House Charlotte/Center City using 1 free Hyatt award night certificate each. The Hyatt House also provided complimentary grab-and-go breakfast each morning, so we saved some money there too. The hotel was centrally located to the downtown area, so we were able to walk to just about anywhere we wanted to go, including the tram and bus station.
Entertainment
Given that neither of us had been to Charlotte before and we’re both interested in learning about our travel destinations, we spent a good chunk of our time and money on tours of the city.
We had planned on taking a historical city tour of Charlotte early on Saturday morning to get the lay of the land, but our tour guide from Queen City Rides called to reschedule, since the tours are done on open-air golf carts and the forecast was a bit brisk (still comfy by Minnesota standards). For about $35 per person (plus tip), we got a great tour of several of Charlotte’s neighborhoods. Since it was in the midst of COVID-related restrictions, we were the only ones on the tour. I highly recommend this tour if that’s something you’re interested in – our tour guide catered the tour to our interests and even dropped us off at a brewery when the tour was done.
The other bit of entertainment we participated in was the Funny Bus. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s basically a city tour on a school bus with a professional comedian as your tour guide. It was a bit more expensive at about $40 per person (plus tip), but it was pretty entertaining. We were allowed (encouraged, really) to bring our own alcoholic beverages along for the ride. The only downside is not having a great view of the landmarks, since you’re in a bus with limited visibility.
Food & Drink
Lastly, but maybe most importantly, was the food and drink. We were on the hunt for some local southern cuisine and were disappointed that there wasn’t much available in the Downtown/Center City area – maybe things were still closed due to the pandemic, or maybe we should have ventured to a different neighborhood. Outside of a decent burger or two, we spent the majority of our budget on drinks.
As a craft beer enthusiast, I came across the most exciting attraction when researching what to do in Charlotte: the Charlotte Beer Garden. This monstrosity of a tap room boasts the world’s largest selection of draft beers in one restaurant: 3 stories of 400+ unique beers on tap. Truly heaven on Earth for beer lovers, and I could have spent a lot more time (and money) there. Located just to the west of the Center City neighborhood, we took the tram for about $4 round trip and drank some fantastic beer while watching the March Madness basketball tournament.
The real question is, how do I get a massive beer garden like that closer to home???
How Much We Spent (and Saved)
Did the Charlotte Beer Garden blast my budget? Let’s take a look at the Travel Hack Recap spending breakdown:
| Category | Budget | Actual | Notes |
| Flights | $11.20 | $11.20 | $5.60 per flight + 18,616 Southwest Rapid Rewards miles. |
| Hotels | $0.00 | $0.00 | 1 Hyatt free award night each |
| Food/Drink | $170.00 | $209.09 | Got a little spendy at the Beer Garden; long layover in Chicago didn’t do me any favors either |
| Entertainment | $100.00 | $100.48 | Historical city tour and Funny Bus |
| Transportation | $30.00 | $24.33 | Public transit for the win! |
| TOTAL | $311.20 | $345.10 |
I would have been in good shape had I not spent $42 in food/drinks at the airport along the way, but what else are you supposed to do during a layover? The cash price of MSP-CLT was $145 the return flight was $157. The Hyatt House Charlotte/Center City was going for $119 per night at that time, a savings of $238 using our free award night certificates. Even excluding the savings of taking public transit instead of Uber/Lyft/Taxi/Rental car, I saved $540 by travel hacking my trip to Charlotte.
Conclusion
I sound like a broken record at this point, but the Charlotte Beer Garden was well worth it for me. Tack on the historical tidbits learned during our two tours of the city and I’d consider this quick trip a success. Alcohol and education, what’s not to love? Though the cuisine failed to measure up, I’ll give Charlotte the benefit of the doubt and assume it offers plenty of delicious Southern cooking under more normal circumstances. Maybe a return trip is in order…
Have you ever been to Charlotte? What hidden restaurant gems did we miss? Comment below!
