Can you backpack around the US?

Ahleckz

Ahleckz

Ahleckz

Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2009
Posts
19,868
Location
Glasgow
Obviously, there are plenty of hotels and motels in the US but is it possible to backpack around the place in a similar way you can in Europe?

Would it be possible to live on a budget or is this going to be incredibly expensive?

Plus, with the distances between places would it even be worth it?

People seem to do roadtrips, or just stay in one area or if you're mentally ill you walk across it! But backpacking? Unheard of!
 
Ahleckz said:
Obviously, there are plenty of hotels and motels in the US but is it possible to backpack around the place in a similar way you can in Europe?

Would it be possible to live on a budget or is this going to be incredibly expensive?

Plus, with the distances between places would it even be worth it?

People seem to do roadtrips, or just stay in one area or if you're mentally ill you walk across it! But backpacking? Unheard of!
Click to expand...

You can get Amtrak train passes that work in a similiar way to Europe's Interail - but the trains aren't half as reliable in the US as they are over here. The large problem is American passenger trains (for example, Amtrak) are often government subsidised, but operate on very busy private freight lines. This means they have very limited slots on the lines and if they're late, have to wait some times up to 24 hours for the next one. In America if you're train is late, it's not 30 minutes like over here. It's a whole night or more if you're going long distances over often single track lines.

I did a lot of reading about backpacking on public transport for my own trip to America later this year (I opted to fly for the reliability). There's a reason everyone gets the coach or drives everywhere. Check out Greyhound and see where they serve that you'd like to visit.
 
SideWinder said:
Would the US really be worth doing that way? I am not an expert but i don't think there is as much variety as say Asia/Europe.
Click to expand...

It depends what you mean by variety, in terms of geography you've potentially got everything from arctic tundra through deserts, mountain ranges, great plains, huge national parks and all in between excepting perhaps tropical rainforest. If you mean culturally then there might well be somewhat less variability than Asia or Europe although even within that there will doubtless be a very different feeling in New York to say Texas.

You almost certainly can backpack in the US but it's worth remembering that lots of it simply isn't set up for pedestrians in the same way that much of Europe (or indeed the rest of the World) is. I think if it was me I'd be more likely to hire/buy a car and do it that way assuming I was going to be there for a few months at least.
 
I would imagine it extremely likely you will get mugged, it's not like the UK, there are a lots of people on the poverty line who sleep rough and they will see your rucksack as their next meal ticket.
I'll also be pretty obvious you are European and therefore not carrying a gun.

My brother hitched all over the West Coast, but I think times are very different now.
 
I remember several years ago reading various blogs about train hopping across America. Fascinating stuff. There's a romanticism about the hobo soul. I wish I could remember the names of the blogs, though I imagine they're long gone now.
 
HitchHiking is probably the best method.
But it would be quite boring being on the road for hours and hours between towns. I don't think it would be as good as Europe or even Africa.
 
bitslice said:
Some States don't allow hitchhiking

this might be useful:
http://hitchhiker.50megs.com/custom.html


Ahleckz, before you die, can I have all your stuff?
Click to expand...

Actually with most of them you can do it, it just has restrictions on where you can stand.
j3MDt.png
 
I landed in and made my way across the states and Canada to LA using only the grey hound buses. They were really reliable and the site/ phone line made it really easy to plan. If I remember I bought a ticket that lasted for a number of days that fave unlimited travel rather than paying for each trip.

My trip was the followig

NY, Washington, philadelphia, ny, niagra, Toronto, Chicago, (through central America we just stopped over at places to break up the journey. There's not really much there. The buses don't go to national parks unfortunately), boise, denver, salt Lake City, portland, vancouver, seattle, San Francisco, la, vegas, back to la to fly out to Fiji.

I think our pass was for 60 but it might have been a bit longer than that.
 
What's all this mugging nonsense about?

Yes the US allows gun ownership but its not the wild west, people aren't waiting to mug you on every street corner. Backpacking around Eastern Europe and the Far East its true that there are people who pray on the backpacking crowd, but its nothing like the US.

Its really only the cities in the US and Canada where it can be a bit rough, but even then, areas tend to be so segregated that all the bums accumulate in one area, so just avoid it.

I've travelled about on Greyhounds when I lived in Canada, but that was because I didn't own a car. They were quick and reliable.

Personally I'd say you are far better off picking a state or area in the US than trying to see lots of it, as its a huge country. It makes far more sense to rent a car and get about that way, such as travelling the length of California, you can see a lot over a number of weeks and do it at your own pace.
 
Nexus said:
What's all this mugging nonsense about?

Yes the US allows gun ownership but its not the wild west, people aren't waiting to mug you on every street corner. Backpacking around Eastern Europe and the Far East its true that there are people who pray on the backpacking crowd, but its nothing like the US.

Its really only the cities in the US and Canada where it can be a bit rough, but even then, areas tend to be so segregated that all the bums accumulate in one area, so just avoid it.

I've travelled about on Greyhounds when I lived in Canada, but that was because I didn't own a car. They were quick and reliable.

Personally I'd say you are far better off picking a state or area in the US than trying to see lots of it, as its a huge country. It makes far more sense to rent a car and get about that way, such as travelling the length of California, you can see a lot over a number of weeks and do it at your own pace.
Click to expand...

I think you're right, just seeing a state would probably be a much better idea.

This isn't a serious proposal btw, I was just wondering if people had any experience of it. However, I'd quite like to craft brewery crawl round California...
 
I never felt treated in my 2 months travelling there. The people on the greyhound and in the hostels wee great.

Where as in oz everyone who uses the grey hound is a backpacker. In the us this isn't the case. Since it is so cheap and easy to drive there the people on the bus tend to be real characters. We met soldiers cokig back from the war, people sffrisd of flying (another option on getting around the states), families relocating, and people travelling between college and home. If you are quite sociable and don't mind striking up conversations with people you can meet some great people on these buses with local knowledge of the places you are visiting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom