The Boyfriend’s first year of law school is over, and soon it will be my turn to take the first-year plunge. But before I dive in and before he starts his summer internships, Boyfriend figured it would be a good idea to take a trip like we’ve done almost every summer we’ve been together.

Last year, when we both had jobs, we went for a week to Negril, Jamaica!

This year, with one of us in school and another getting ready to start, we don’t have the luxury of steady paychecks, so we had to look into more affordable options.

My first idea for a trip was the $99 four-day Carnival cruises that I wrote about last week, but all the affordable cabins had sold out. The next affordable option, believe it or not, was Las Vegas, which is where many Southern Californians choose to get away for the weekend.

Because of the current economy, many Las Vegas hotels are offering great deals on their rooms, especially on the weekdays. But while you can book through the hotel Web sites, I usually opt to search for rooms on sites like Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity to compare rates.

Three-star rated hotels (Sahara, Imperial Palace, etc.) started at about $24, but I opted to book a fairly new hotel called South Point, which I’ve stayed at before. The hotel is off the Strip, which is about a five-minute drive, but you get a four-star hotel for a three-star price. The mid-week rates started at $70, but Expedia threw in one night for free. Because of the free night, the price per night for a three-night stay came to about $46, plus handling charges. Score!

The next thing to think about was entertainment, which I booked through Goldstar Events, another site that I’ve written about before. Many of the tickets are 50 percent off, but, if you’re lucky, you can pick up free tickets, which is exactly what I did. The site offered free tickets to The Mentalist: Live and Sin City Comedy at Planet Hollywood with a two-ticket limit for each show. I had to pay an $8 handling fee for each ticket ($36 total), but individual tickets to those shows would have cost $110 and $99, respectively. Just by booking through Goldstar, I saved $173 on the shows. Score two!

For a four-day, three-night hotel stay, and two shows, we’re paying about $95 a person to start. Factor in gas, food (McDonald’s!; Hey, we exercise!), and a very frugal approach to casinos, and you get a quick getaway for less than $200 a person!

We’re going to be gone Monday through Thursday next week, and I may or may not be able to update from the road. That means sporadic updates, if any, next week until Friday. While I’m gone, visit The Shark, a great blawg for law students!

If you have any other vacation ideas for less than $200 bucks a pop (and, yes, I know I could just stay home and not spend anything, but where’s the fun in that?), please post your ideas in the comments section below!