Travelling across America

[HankScorpio]

Hello all, just after a little advice, as I'm thinking about going to the US around July for about 1 or 2months and visiting as many states as my money will allow me to. I have about 5 grand and a 1.5k overdraft so looking to fly to NY and start there. Thinking of moving eastward and sticking to the southern states, so I don't have to carry winter clothing. not looking to visit each state, but would like to take in a few of the attractions like R66, Kentucky, Grand canyon, maybe Vegas and finish in LA. Mightn't be possible on my budget, but I should be able to do some of it right? Would be living on a budget with hostels/cheap food and looking to spend my money on coaches/trains to move about.

Advice would be much appreciated. Starting a PGCE in September so looking to have a great time before the chaos ensues. Only got the idea at the moment, so looking to get as much advice as possible in the coming months, so I can book cheap flights in advance. Cheers

 

[Spursingham]

Do you ride a bike at all? as in cycling.

Or maybe even drive.

Road trip?

 

[bsoltan]

Flights will be your biggest outlay, work out how much budget you have left after flights and transfers.

On the face of it that seems like a decent budget for 4-8 weeks. I'd even look at hire cars assuming you can drive.

 

[MickeyFinns]

Do you ride a bike at all? as in cycling.

Or maybe even drive.

Road trip?

+1 for Bicycle touring

The most rewarding way to do big overland routes. Tips for the states, many Fire stations and churches will let you camp outside. Police stations are less friendly from what I've heard.

 

[jas72]

hire car go for a drive roads are great in US.

Would love to drive from NY to LA or even just do west cost from LA to Canada

 

[Spursingham]

IF you cycle, then you could always cycle the West coast from Vancouver to Tijuana then take a coach from San Diego and spend a week in Vegas.

I done this back in 2010 and spent well under £5k including flights and equipment etc. Stayed in hostels or wild camped on the way down. Camping gets easier the further you go down with National parks etc.
It can be hard work but it's massively rewarding.

You get to meet more people and see more things compared to driving and going on designated tours.

 

[Marzipanogram]

I would avoid all that cycle BS.
You won't cover as much ground as you'd like on a bike.
Also remember it's going to be no swearing please - even disguised hot when you're there, you don't want to be cycling during the day time, especially if you're not used to it.
You'll end up in hospital with dehydration.

Rent a vehicle, car or camper van. And remember about possible one way drop off costs.
If you plan to start in NYC and head South and then West in 2 months, you'll need proper transport.

Plan your journey and day to day travel with something like Google Maps, to give you an idea of travel times, then add extra for rest stops and any sight seeing en route.

I've been on month long road trips to the US, but I only stick to the West.

Have a great trip

 

[[TW]Fox]

We do this most years – though usually for about 2-3 weeks

Based on two sharing the cost tends to work out at circa £100 a day per person for everything (ie total cost inc flights / number of days). I don’t stay in ultra-cheap motels but I don’t blow huge amounts on posh hotels either, the average accommodation cost is usually about £40-60 a night. Typically a rental car is £20-25 a day for a generic saloon or £30ish a day for something higher end.

You could definitely do a month or perhaps 6 weeks on your budget but your money will go far further if you have somebody to go with, it halves your accommodation, fuel and car hire costs.

Careful with huge one-way car rentals. The further you one-way the more it’ll cost and large one-way fees are just wasted money. Look to do as many loops as you can and then perhaps take internal flights to other areas. One-way rentals between California, Nevada and Arizona are generally free so you can one-way from say San Francisco and finish up in Pheonix or Vegas to fly elsewhere without much of a problem. Rent your car from one of the UK brokers like netflights.com or carhire3000.com. The prices are all inclusive with zero excess and all the insurance you need.

I’d look to focus on perhaps 3 areas of interest. Perhaps start in New York City and go up to Boston and/or down as far as Washington DC. Then move onto the Southern States. Finally take in Utah/Nevada and California. Don’t be too ambitious because 4-6 weeks really isn’t THAT long if you try to cram too much in. A few years back I did the East Coast by renting one car from New York to Washington DC and then taking an overnight Amtrak to Florida before picking up another car – limited one-way fees by doing it that way and the train was.. an experience, too

My favourite area so far was the Pacific Northwest, an area most people don’t tend to think of for some reason. Stunning scenery.

Don’t waste a pile of money ticking boxes doing things like ‘driving from LA to New York’. You’ll see far better things if you plan it properly rather than go arbitrary box-ticking.

 

[Kutter]

The last thing you'll need in july-sept is winter clothing.

we still have nearly a foot of snow on the ground here, and in july we can expect temps of 100F.

 

[Spursingham]

I would avoid all that cycle **.
You won't cover as much ground as you'd like on a bike.
Also remember it's going to be ***** hot when you're there, you don't want to be cycling during the day time, especially if you're not used to it.
You'll end up in hospital with dehydration.

Rent a vehicle, car or camper van. And remember about possible one way drop off costs.
If you plan to start in NYC and head South and then West in 2 months, you'll need proper transport.

Plan your journey and day to day travel with something like Google Maps, to give you an idea of travel times, then add extra for rest stops and any sight seeing en route.

I've been on month long road trips to the US, but I only stick to the West.

Have a great trip

How exactly is it "Cycling **"?
Just because it doesn't appeal to you, don't instantly label it **.
Is MickeyFinns trip **? Would he have a better time driving there instead?

Sure, you could cover more ground in a car. You could do the west Coast really quickly and spend more time in the Larger cities. Great!

But covering ground quickly in a car means you miss all the middle parts of the trip. You miss all the small towns. The unique parts of America. You skip a lot of great people you would have spent time chatting to. You miss some proper amazing views because you're either sticking to the motor-way and/or mostly concentrating on the road so cant really stop and take it in.
I done this at the end of July. Yes, it was pretty hot but if you keep yourself hydrated by drinking water, there wont be a problem.

Next time, how about just putting your idea on and not calling someone else's idea BS? It stinks of ignorance and it's insulting.

 

[StevieP]

Trains imo - we went down the East cost on the Amtrak trains - very comfortable and quick at a very reasonable price!!

 

[HankScorpio]

Would love to do the rental car thing, but unfortunately I don't have a licence or have ever driven before. Could get my licence before I start, but that's eat about 1 or 2 grand in getting lessons.

Looking to get some friends to go with me. Hopefully I'll have at least 1 and possibly up to 4 of us going. Depending on how well I can convince them. They have a driving licence and we could hire a mini bus for the whole leg.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Would love to do the rental car thing, but unfortunately I don't have a licence or have ever driven before. Could get my licence before I start, but that's eat about 1 or 2 grand in getting lessons.

The USA is the 'home' of the car. Yes, there are buses, trains and planes but IMHO you need a car to see the place properly. Don't go spending thousands of quid on a trip to the USA until you can drive, you will get SO much more out of it.

If you want to spend a month somewhere without using a car then go and do the East Coast of Australia instead, its far better set up for backpacking etc without your own vehicle.

If you don't have a driving license and you have some spare time and thousands of quid in the bank then learning to drive and a 2 week holiday somewhere else might be the better choice! It's a valuable life skill. And it makes your holidays better.

 

['Harry]

Go south if you want to have a real holiday experience. For a generic holiday, stick with the bog standard west coast rubbish.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Go south if you want to have a real holiday experience. For a generic holiday, stick with the bog standard west coast rubbish.

Seriously? Slightly over-dramatic there, don't you think? The West Coast has some of the most varied scenery on the planet - everything from high mountains to fascinating desert, stunning rock formations, beautiful coastline, huge forests and world famous cities. There are few places on earth which have quite the level of variety the West Coast of the USA has. It's a fantastic place - a 'generic holiday' would be a week in Benidorm not a trip to the West Coast of the USA.

Where else can you be in a ski resort one day and a 200 metres below sea level in the hottest place in the Northern Hemisphere the next?

The South has it's appeal too, but mostly for culture and people rather than stunning natural history.

 

[kwerk]

if I was by myself and wanted to be off the tourist track I'd probably do:

Fly to NYC for a quick stopover
Vegas (gambling/prozzies)
Rent a Tahoe SUV or similar
* grand canyon *
Albuquerque (see Walter White's house)
Santa Fe (artsy)
Buena Vista CO (backwoods... fishing, hiking, various peaks you can drive up).
Up through Wyoming (bit of open plains cowboy country).
* Yellow stone *
Through Montana or Idaho (all backwoods)
Couer De'Alene (artsy, big lake, lots to do)
Seattle.
Home.

This should cover desert, mountains, plains, temperate rainforest and city.

 

[leicrao1]

First of all, if you are flying to New York and heading East you will need swimwear.

Secondly, if you are cycling I recommend going West to East. That way you are benefitting from prevailing winds and doing the hardest stuff first. I cycled from LA to NY in August 2010. Blooming hot (40C+ most days) yes but easily doable. Land of the car so never more than 30-40 miles from petrol stations and therefore water and food.

 

[pitchfork]

Buy an old American car (the type which can be fixed with ducktape and pliers) for about $1000 and drive it accross as many states as you can.

Then destroy it by doing top speed all the way down the nevada highway.

 

[D.P.]

The last thing you'll need in july-sept is winter clothing.

we still have nearly a foot of snow on the ground here, and in july we can expect temps of 100F.

Depends where you end up. Places like Bryce Canyon often dip below freezing right through the summer. I've camped in sub-zero (*C) temps in most of the mountainous places of N.A. in the middle of the summer (Yosemite, Lassen, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Bryce, Crater Lake, Mt Hood, Kings Canyon, Tahoe backcountry, Banff/lake Louise, jasper.

 

[Schlong&Stable]

Would love to do the rental car thing, but unfortunately I don't have a licence or have ever driven before. Could get my licence before I start, but that's eat about 1 or 2 grand in getting lessons.

Why on earth would it cost you that much to learn to drive? About £200 would cover it. But it wouldn't be smart for an inexperienced driver to be on the road anyway.