NYE on the cheap

December 20, 2011 10:06 PM

What can I do for New Year's Eve? It's my first time single in five Decembers. I work for the airlines and need spur-of-the-moment inexpensive advice.

I will be home (San Francisco Bay Area) from my family's Christmas celebration on Wednesday night the 28th. I can travel from Friday afternoon the 30th until Monday night the 2nd. Places I could go include Puerto Vallarta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Seattle. But the kicker is I don't have a travel companion, so I need to pay for hotels and such myself and therefore they need to be cheap and safe. I'm sort of a chatty introvert and while I'd love to spend the evening getting drunk with a few friendly, smart, talkative people I know that's not going to happen. Any recommendations of where I can find a low-key NYE celebration with relatively cheap (<=$150 night) accommodations?

posted by bendy to Travel & Transportation (2 answers total)

As a generic suggestion, I would look for a hostel at any one of your prospective destinations -- maybe others will have specific recommendations, but Hostelworld and Lonely Planet/The Thorn Tree are two places to look for reviews/recommendations. If you're comfortable with hanging out in the common areas and introducing yourself to people, hostels can be a good way to meet folks. With an evening or two lead-up, you might find some cool people at the hostel to hang out with on NYE.
posted by EvaDestruction at 2:48 AM on December 21, 2011

Seconding Eva's advice -- hostels are THE BOMB. If you're looking for a "playmate" for the day, just hang out in the lobby a while -- you'll find someone.

Or just go to the hostel's kitchen -- lots of hostels have an open-access kitchen so guests can save by making their own food. And sharing a kitchen is a great way to meet people because you've got natural conversation openers ("...Oh, THAT smells good, what are you making?")
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:24 AM on December 21, 2011