Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Trip Update: Road trip from GA to NY on student budget

I posted at the end of February asking for help on my road trip from Georgia to New York and back for a week, under $400 (titled :Student-budget trip to NewYorkCity HELP please). This is just an update for those who asked, on how we did this trip for under $350.

We are four college seniors who wanted to do something big for our last spring break. Also since graduation is creeping way to close this might be one of the only times we could do something like a road trip from Georgia to New York and back. Since we are students we have a small budget of under $400 but wanted it closer to $300. We called up any family we had in the north and managed to road trip from Georgia to New York and back in 6 days for around $340, and still see everything we could fit into our trip.

This whole trip was made possible with the generosity of extended family who let us stay and fed us for a couple nights.

The Trip:
The left Georgia in Saturday morning and drove to Richmond, VA where we stayed with family for free. We went out that night for dinner and music, then wandered around sightseeing the next morning.
On Sunday, we left Richmond and headed for Larchmont, NY where we stayed with family for the night and left my car. On Monday morning we took the train from Larchmont to New York City.
We stayed two nights and three days in New York City. We stayed at a hostel near central park and a subway stop. In two and a half days we managed to do most touristy things you can do. We went to Central Park, took the Staten Island Ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty, went to a comedy show, went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Natural History Museum, had a picnic in Central Park, visited Time Square and the Empire State Building, we wandered around the Financial district a little, went to Little Italy and Chinatown, ate cheesecake, bagels, pizza, cannoli's, saw the St. Patrick's Day parade, walked all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge, went to Grand Central Station, mastered the bus and subway system, and more.
On Wednesday late morning we took the train back to Larchmont and drove to Philadelphia, where we stayed the night with family again. Then on Thursday we wandered around Philly. Here we went to Independence Hall and the surround buildings, the Liberty Bell, the LOVE statue, Reading Terminal Market (amazing!!), and wandered around sightseeing, ate a cheesesteak and a pretzel.
Then we left around 4ish and drive straight back to Georgia, got back early Friday morning.

Cost per person
Lodging: $90 for two nights in New York City (rest of the nights were free)
Gas: $41 for the road trip (over 2000 miles)
Train Larchmont to NY: $8.50
Train NY to Larchmont: $8.50
Subway/bus: $40 (we were not strategic in where we went, kept hoping around Manhattan)
Food: $110 (many breakfast and dinner were free, we didn't eat much on the drives b/c we brought food our self, and found places that were good but cheap/not tourist trap places)
Tolls: $17
Souvenirs: $15 (Didn't buy much beyond postcards and a few knickknacks, took a ton of pictures instead)
Museums: $10
TOTAL: $340

It was an amazing trip and I would not change anything. The whole experience between road tripping, visiting the north (we saw snow flurries!!), seeing New York City (I would move their in a heart beat), and other cities, and seeing all the places you only read about or see on tv (a few I was definitely less impressed with than I imagined), all on a budget that I could afford, best trip ever! Now time to sleep for a week (or until classes start again on Monday).