Palm Springs Getaway (on a budget)

It's funny. Whenever Ryan and I go on vacation, people always ask us where we're from. Inevitably, when we tell them we're from San Diego, we get the same response. "Why do you need to vacation if you're from San Diego? You're whole life is a vacation!".

Let's just set the record straight. San Diegans work just as hard as everyone else, and they too could use a break every now and then, even if it's for only a couple days. And many of us choose to escape to Palm Springs, which is less than two hours away.

Not only is it close by, but you can get some awesome deals if you're willing to travel last minute. My husband prides himself on finding these deals. Granted, we never end up saving much money, considering our extra cash is still spent on the hotel (usually at the bar), but it's still a game we constantly play. For our latest trip, we used Priceline and ended up saving $320 per night on our hotel room. That's right! We paid $80/night when the regular guests were dropping $400/night. That's a lot of lemon drop martinis!

And it all happened at a place called The Riviera. Stars such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Elvis Presley originally made this place a hot spot. But when the celebrities left, the place (like most hotels in Palm Springs) started to deterioriate. In October, the hotel re-opened after 70 million dollars in renovations. And, judging by the amount of scantily clad bodies by the pool, I'd say this place is definitely making a comeback. You know how the public loves a comeback. We're just happy to be it's guinea pigs!

Ahhh... being cheap never looked so good ;)