Here are some other tips submitted to our contest:
Tip 1:
Carry your lunch, or some of the components. I take water, nuts, fruit, carrots and celery, yogurt, raisins, etc. along in my “briefcase.” Nuts don't need refrigeration. Fruit, carrots and celery (cut up, in a baggie), and yogurt can be perched atop ice in the ice bucket in your room to keep them cool, if you're in a hotel that doesn't have a fridge.
Tip 2:
Carry your breakfast cereal and eat breakfast in your room. You can usually find a little corner grocery near your hotel where you can buy milk, juice, bagels, more fruit, yogurt, etc. for lunches. While the prices for these things may be more than you would pay in your grocery at home, they will, overall, be less than you'll pay for breakfast and lunch in restaurants.
Tip 3:
Walk or take the ALA provided shuttle busses, rather than cabs unless you are in a dire situation where you must be at a meeting a long way off instantly. It's good exercise to walk, carrying your stuff.
Tip 4:
Take public transportation from airport to hotel and vice versa.
Tip 5:
When you must eat in a restaurant in order to participate in something or other, you can lessen your costs by not ordering alcohol, or coffee, or soft drinks. Just drink the water they provide. Order an appetizer instead of an entree, perhaps with a salad or soup. Don't order dessert or coffee.
Tip 6:
When you are able to have input into the restaurant choice suggest a place that isn't upscale, doesn't look upscale, isn't in an old and famous hotel.
Tip 7:
Don't go shopping if it will tempt you.