I want to travel around America next year. need help!

My boyfriend and I travelled up the West Coast and down the East coast last year for just under 3 months, and we spent around £4000 each altogether, including all flights, hotels/motels/hostels (we didn't stay in any dorms so if you do this it may be even cheaper), buses, trains, food, attractions etc. We didn't do any tours, we just did it all ourselves.

We visited LA (staying in Hollywood/downtown/Venice Beach), Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Washington DC, Orlando and Miami.

I'll be happy to give any advice

Did you find the buses and trains where reliable? How much where you're flights within America? how long did you stay in the east coast, i think i would like to stay around boston, new york, philly and washington for a good bit, How long did it take you to do these cities?

Did you pre book any hotels,motels or hostel before leaving for the states?

Thanks

I travelled on Megabus, Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains and found them all to be reliable. Megabus is the cheapest option but only available on the upper East coast, and when you can get a bus from Boston to New York for £4, you can't really complain! Greyhound is slightly more expensive and more widespread, but we had no problems with it. Some people say that you get weirdos travelling on these type of long distance buses but to be honest, you get weirdos everywhere, and we never found this to affect us at all. Amtrak is the more expensive option, but is a lot more comfortable, as you get a lot of space - the seats recline back and a leg rest comes up so you can almost lie vertically, even just on the regular coach seats. I only travelled on Amtrak up the Pacific coast (which has amazing views of the coast - it literally hugs the shore and the beaches) and then later from Orlando to Miami, and both journeys were very comfortable. The journey time wasn't really any less than if we had got a bus (for some reason the trains seem to move very slow!), but it would have been a long, uncomfortable journey had we been couped up on a regular coach seat on a Greyhound.

Our flights within America were £168 each altogether. We booked all of our internal flights at the same time on Expedia (multi-city option), so that price was for a flight from San Francisco to Boston (with a stop at Atlanta on the way) and also a flight from Washington DC to Orlando.

We stayed in Boston for 7 days, New York for 7 days, Philadelphia for 5 days, and Washington DC for 5 days. I think this was plenty of time to see everything that we wanted to see in each city, but if you like museums and stuff, you may want to stay 7 days in DC to get round all of the Smithsonian museums, archives and zoo, which are all free.

We pretty much prebooked everything before we left the UK, we made a plan of all of the places we wanted to visit and how long we wanted to stay in each place, then booked whatever travel we could, and picked the best option for hotels/motels/hostels in each city and booked everything a couple of months before we left. I think because it was our first time doing something like this, we wanted to be prepared and know what we were doing next, rather than risk getting to a city and finding that there were no nice places to stay, or where to go next, or how to get there. It worked for us, but some people prefer a bit more freedom, it depends how brave you feel about it really!

Did you find the buses and trains where reliable? How much where you're flights within America? how long did you stay in the east coast, i think i would like to stay around boston, new york, philly and washington for a good bit, How long did it take you to do these cities?

Did you pre book any hotels,motels or hostel before leaving for the states?

Thanks

Hi! I am going to the US to stay with some relatives at the end of August, they live on Long Island and in NYC. However, I plan to stay with them for a week or so, and the remaining two weeks exploring some East Coast areas. Any recommendations? I quite like your itinerary - NYC - Boston -NYC - Philly - DC. Are there reasonably priced hostels in these cities? What is the standard? I only have experience of hostels in Asia.
I'd also like to visit some smaller places too if possible.

I've spent a bit of time traveling to East Coast. I would recommend checking the trains, buses and planes for each of your journeys, as prices do vary. Jet Blue are often quite cheap. Last time I was there I flew in and out of NY as it was cheapest, and then took a bus to Boston. From Boston we flew to DC, and then took a bus from there to NY. Other times I've been there I have always flown between Boston & DC as it's cheaper and quicker. I once took the train from DC to Philly which wasn't too expensive. However, on the whole, trains in the US are more expensive, and quite infrequent. The Chinatown bus services are pretty good.

You should be able to find hostels in all of those cities, but I would suggest pre-booking.

In terms of timing, you can spend weeks in New York, but I would say make sure you have at least four days. Do a whole week if you can. I only spent one day in Philly, and that was fine, but I'm sure it would be good to have a couple of days there. Boston is definitely doable in three days, but I'd give DC four or five if you can...



Would you be looking to cover NYC in those two weeks, or do you plan to see it while you are staying with family? If you only have a couple of weeks, coming back to NY to go to Philly will take up quite a bit of time. The bus takes 5 or 6 hours.

Hi! I am going to the US to stay with some relatives at the end of August, they live on Long Island and in NYC. However, I plan to stay with them for a week or so, and the remaining two weeks exploring some East Coast areas. Any recommendations? I quite like your itinerary - NYC - Boston -NYC - Philly - DC. Are there reasonably priced hostels in these cities? What is the standard? I only have experience of hostels in Asia.
I'd also like to visit some smaller places too if possible.

Well I've been to NY before obviously, but still like to do thing when I'm there. I'm staying with family for one week out the three weeks I am there. I am quite keen to see some of New England, as I haven't been there before. I know it's in the other direction, but is there actually much to do in Philadelphia or is it just another US city?

Well I've been to NY before obviously, but still like to do thing when I'm there. I'm staying with family for one week out the three weeks I am there. I am quite keen to see some of New England, as I haven't been there before. I know it's in the other direction, but is there actually much to do in Philadelphia or is it just another US city?

Did you find the buses and trains where reliable?

Thanks

.....but one thing I can tell you is they they are not reliable. I have seen trains come in over 20 hours late. It's a little misleading because a train journey there can last over 48 hours, but nonetheless, that is late. It's unusual for them to be that late, but not unusual at all for them to be late by a few hours. This most commonly occurs for two reasons:

Problems with the tracks - especially in bits like Texas where the heat in the summer months is exceptionally hot and it warps the tracks

Freight trains - Amtrak don't own the tracks in most states, and freight often gets priority. Get stuck behind one of those bad boys going 30 MPH a hundred or two miles from the next stop and you're in for a slow few hours of sight seeing.

Slow - Amtrak are not fast trains. You'll be lucky to hit 50mph. I like this.


The food is very decent and most trains have dining cars where you can eat proper cooked meals. They also have a bar that's open in the day and the evening where you can buy reasonably priced, decent beers and retire to the viewing carriage. You'll meet a lot of people travelling on trains because of the amount of time you're on them.