So I'm trying to plan a business trip to the States and I'm absolutely blown away by the housing prices. I'll have some free time over the weekend and I'm thinking about making a quick trip to Boston. Looking for somewhere to stay. The cheapest hostel in Boston costs over a hundred bucks. It's literally just a bed in an 8-person room. For a sketchy guesthouse with cockroaches, rats, and a 1.6 rating on Booking (one point six, come on!) they want $130. Per night.

Hotels are asking for $350+. Per night. For a single room. In Sarajevo, I could live for a week on that money in a big 3-bedroom apartment near the center (talking about short-term rental, for long-term, you can find a place for a month in Bosnia's capital for $300-400).

And this isn't even for the long weekend of May 25-27 with Memorial Day, when the whole country is frantically trying to get away somewhere, and not during the Boston Marathon days, when prices predictably shoot through the roof. If you shift the dates from the weekend to weekdays, it'll be about 30% cheaper. Better, but still not great.

You can find something for under $100 a night only in a room (not an apartment, a room) on Airbnb. But it'll be nowhere near the center. Some Priceline cheerfully offers motels for 100 bucks half an hour away by car, which I won't have.