Vacation Planning: New Orleans Essence Music Festival 2015

LL COOL J CONCERT
(I took this picture!)

Hotel
I started planning for my yearly vacation to New Orleans for the Essence Music Festival.  I have my hotel booked. The hotel is booked for 5 days, 4 nights for $1,422.31. I plan on sharing my room with 4 People, which will be $355.58 each. The hotel includes a free southern (grits) breakfast,  free internet, and a pool/jacuzzi. This does not include Concert and Airfare.  

Concert
I looked at the 3 day concert ticket package and it ranges from:

• TERRACE LEVEL SEATS - Starting at $130.50 = $43.50 per day
• LOGE LEVEL SEATS - Starting at $235.50 = $78.50 per day
• PLAZA LEVEL SEATS - Starting at $300.00 = $100.00 per day

Because I'm  frugal, any concert tickets above these prices is out of my budget, there are some very expensive tickets closer to the stage.

Airfare
My airline of choice is Southwest (LUV). Southwest is my favorite airline,  I'm a stockholder and I genuinely love the service. The reservation calendar is not open yet for July 2015, but I've been buying the Southwest Giftcard, which is a travel hack that I learned about, that allows me to pay for the airfare in $50, $100, or $200 increments.

Food and Tours
I'll be updating this blog post with more information about food and tours.

Links:
The Frugal Guide to New Orleans
My $50.00 Cheap Seat Ticket for the Essence Festival.
Essence Music Festival Budget Calculators
Essence Music Festival Budget Tips
General Vacation Info: (all vacation info will be listed under this link)

Budget
My total budget is $2,250 or  less.

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