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America
I am wanting to do some travelling next year, and one of the options I am considering is travelling across the United States of America for 10 - 12 weeks. My question(s) are;
(A) Would I be better off going alone or with a company? I am pretty confident in the sense that I like to do my own thing, and go my own way, so I was thinking about staying in hostels etc?
(B) Does anyone know the best way to travel from state to state or city to city?
(C) How much approx. would you reckon I would need, excluding flights to and from the States?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(A) Would I be better off going alone or with a company? I am pretty confident in the sense that I like to do my own thing, and go my own way, so I was thinking about staying in hostels etc?
(B) Does anyone know the best way to travel from state to state or city to city?
(C) How much approx. would you reckon I would need, excluding flights to and from the States?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Scroll to see replies
Hey there, i checked out doing this in my gap year. I think the best would be renting a car as your over 21 or buying a second hand one and selling it at the other end. If you go with friends taht would probably be your best option. Going with a company for example, Trek America is pretty expensive for the long trips £4000-5000 i think and thats to a pretty tight rouine so not best if you want to do your own thing. As for money id guess petrol and food could cost $30 -40 a day depending what you do and hostels around 10 for a night. You can always sleep in the car..
Hope that helps
Hope that helps
Rodders
Hey there, i checked out doing this in my gap year. I think the best would be renting a car as your over 21 or buying a second hand one and selling it at the other end. If you go with friends taht would probably be your best option. Going with a company for example, Trek America is pretty expensive for the long trips £4000-5000 i think and thats to a pretty tight rouine so not best if you want to do your own thing. As for money id guess petrol and food could cost $30 -40 a day depending what you do and hostels around 10 for a night. You can always sleep in the car..
Hope that helps
Hope that helps
Top gear tried to do that... "your in a hick town" bang bang bang "that was kind of scary".... comes to mind! lol
I don't think the driving would be my thing, while I can drive, I am not the most confident driver in the world, and this trip is something I will have do do alone, as my friends are in no real position to come with my due to other commitments. Ideally I was thinking about using public transport, ie. trains, plans on buses (grey hound service) I think they call it, so if anyone had any advice on them, that would be great.
I myself am doing this trip with two friends in 09.
Maybe we should meet up, haha.
We are driving, buying a car in san francisco and then driving all the way to new york city, stopping off at las vegas, los angeles, seattle, phoenix, chicago, kansas, toronto, vermont, philadelphia, new york city and washington dc.
I would advocate a car, as america is such a vast place and ideally, you want to be able to explore it easily. The car also gives you the flexibility to miss out destinations or alter your plans, essentially it gives you the freedom to let you go where you want, when you want.
However, as per your above post, if you really dont want to use a car, then i suggest internal flights and the greyhound.
Internal flights are relitively cheap in america, from 100 - 200 dollars depending on what season you're going in and the distance etc. Additionally, the greyhound runs routes literally all over america and is very financially affordable. The only bad thing about the greyhound is that obviously, there are standardised stopping points so journeys will take much longer than by car, and as far as i know you'll be tied to travel at a designated time, so wont get as much flexibility, check their website.
It all depends what your budget is really, if you can afford internal flights then perhaps best to combine both forms of transport, say fly from england to chicago, then get an internal flight to new york, and explore the east coast by greyhound. Then maybe get a flight to LA and explore the west coast etc. I'm just suggesting things but its very difficult to advise as I don't know your budget..
A) - Travelling alone in the states is relitively safe, as in general they're a friendly population and love welcoming foreigners to the country. That said, never ever be tempted to hitch hike and be aware that you are on your own in a country you know very little about, so just be cautious and give your parents/friends details of where you are and when.
B) - Sort of tried to answer that above..
C) Well annoyingly, if you'd gone last year the exchange rate was practically 1 pound = 2 dollars, now its a lot worse, if not disastrous. Basics are pretty inexpensive in america, in some places you can even expect to pay the same amount in dollars as you would in pounds, i.e. a cheap meal = £10 over here, and you may be able to get one for $10 over there.
I cant tell you what your budget will need to be, it actually relies on you sitting down and doing the sums. Just work out what your daily budget will be, thats food, travel, spending money,accomodation. And definately overbudget, you dont want to roll into town to find all the hostels are booked up and you dont have the money to get a room at a small hotel or something.
Hope all this helps, feel free to keep the questions coming as I'm pretty clued up on things
Maybe we should meet up, haha.
We are driving, buying a car in san francisco and then driving all the way to new york city, stopping off at las vegas, los angeles, seattle, phoenix, chicago, kansas, toronto, vermont, philadelphia, new york city and washington dc.
I would advocate a car, as america is such a vast place and ideally, you want to be able to explore it easily. The car also gives you the flexibility to miss out destinations or alter your plans, essentially it gives you the freedom to let you go where you want, when you want.
However, as per your above post, if you really dont want to use a car, then i suggest internal flights and the greyhound.
Internal flights are relitively cheap in america, from 100 - 200 dollars depending on what season you're going in and the distance etc. Additionally, the greyhound runs routes literally all over america and is very financially affordable. The only bad thing about the greyhound is that obviously, there are standardised stopping points so journeys will take much longer than by car, and as far as i know you'll be tied to travel at a designated time, so wont get as much flexibility, check their website.
It all depends what your budget is really, if you can afford internal flights then perhaps best to combine both forms of transport, say fly from england to chicago, then get an internal flight to new york, and explore the east coast by greyhound. Then maybe get a flight to LA and explore the west coast etc. I'm just suggesting things but its very difficult to advise as I don't know your budget..
A) - Travelling alone in the states is relitively safe, as in general they're a friendly population and love welcoming foreigners to the country. That said, never ever be tempted to hitch hike and be aware that you are on your own in a country you know very little about, so just be cautious and give your parents/friends details of where you are and when.
B) - Sort of tried to answer that above..
C) Well annoyingly, if you'd gone last year the exchange rate was practically 1 pound = 2 dollars, now its a lot worse, if not disastrous. Basics are pretty inexpensive in america, in some places you can even expect to pay the same amount in dollars as you would in pounds, i.e. a cheap meal = £10 over here, and you may be able to get one for $10 over there.
I cant tell you what your budget will need to be, it actually relies on you sitting down and doing the sums. Just work out what your daily budget will be, thats food, travel, spending money,accomodation. And definately overbudget, you dont want to roll into town to find all the hostels are booked up and you dont have the money to get a room at a small hotel or something.
Hope all this helps, feel free to keep the questions coming as I'm pretty clued up on things
tasGooner
Top gear tried to do that... "your in a hick town" bang bang bang "that was kind of scary".... comes to mind! lol
Everything on top gear is staged. The show is just for entertainment, nothing more.
I recently did something similar, use Greyhound, Megabus and cheap flights with Jetblue and US Airways! Trains in America are usually slower than the buses and they aren't very reliable in my experience! I used flights when I was going long distance (LA to Miami was the furthest at the end and that cost approx £80) and buses for shorter distance, i.e. Las Vegas to LA was approx £10 I think. But then I had a shorter time scale - 4 weeks, so bus journeys that took several days were out of the question for me.
Organised trips are useful if you're on your own and nervous about that I think, but otherwise hostelling is great, I was with a friend and we travelled and stayed in hostels on our own for the whole thing. I can recommend you good, cheap places to stay In New York, Miami, LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Colorado if you like - some hostels aren't always what you expect! It's also much much cheaper to do your own thing and you get to do what YOU want, not what the itinery says!
As for costs - I spent approx £550 on travel around the states and hostel accommodation, I think and then I spent a hell of a lot more with spending money - prob about another £800-ish :-s and that was for 4 weeks and packing a lot in! For 12 weeks I'd say you could do it on £3000-4000 if you keep to a strict budget!
Organised trips are useful if you're on your own and nervous about that I think, but otherwise hostelling is great, I was with a friend and we travelled and stayed in hostels on our own for the whole thing. I can recommend you good, cheap places to stay In New York, Miami, LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Colorado if you like - some hostels aren't always what you expect! It's also much much cheaper to do your own thing and you get to do what YOU want, not what the itinery says!
As for costs - I spent approx £550 on travel around the states and hostel accommodation, I think and then I spent a hell of a lot more with spending money - prob about another £800-ish :-s and that was for 4 weeks and packing a lot in! For 12 weeks I'd say you could do it on £3000-4000 if you keep to a strict budget!
carrotdog
i dont think it staged, but the fact that they've got a huge production team and its not just 3 guys in the middle of nowhere means that they're never in any real danger...
It was staged. Lots of reasons why:
•
There are lots of signs of sloppy editing in an attempt to bring several hours of gas station footage together. The same cars are shown leaving and then they are there again, actors are in two places at once, cars and their occupants appear and disappear.
•
Owners of these gas stations NEVER leave the register unattended. Especially not to harass customers.
•
The truck the rednecks drive up in shown parked up front at the start of the video.
•
The dodge pickup that comes onto the lot that is full of the rednecks becomes a ford when all the rednecks are climbing out of it. At least the color is the same even though it's a different make!
•
The owner of the gas station announces to the camera (in a non-southern accent?!?) that they are in a hick town for the benefit of the audience. I guess American accents are very hard to properly impersonate for Brits?
•
How would someone who is supposed to be uneducated be able to read "country western is rubbish" and understand that it's an insult? The word "rubbish" is not really used in American English.
•
Some of the scenes with Hammond fumbling with the jumper cables were filmed in different locations and then spliced in with the rest of the footage.
•
How could so many people have come so quickly in such a rural area?
•
I don't think there are rocks in Alabama. There are a lot of houses made out of stone in new england, but that's because there are stones everywhere. Where would you get enough rocks to make that rapid pitter-patter sound?
•
Which brings me to my last point. Why didn't they just shoot a few shots in the air with their guns if they really wanted to scare these idiots?
We know top gear has faked almost everything else they've ever done, so this is no exception:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/31/no-really-top-gear-admits-that-the-caravan-fire-was-a-hoax/
I wouldn't recommend traveling by bus. A lot of homeless people use buses to travel because it's the cheapest transportation, so you never know who you'll be traveling with.
quizster
I am wanting to do some travelling next year, and one of the options I am considering is travelling across the United States of America for 10 - 12 weeks. My question(s) are;
(A) Would I be better off going alone or with a company? I am pretty confident in the sense that I like to do my own thing, and go my own way, so I was thinking about staying in hostels etc?
(B) Does anyone know the best way to travel from state to state or city to city?
(C) How much approx. would you reckon I would need, excluding flights to and from the States?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(A) Would I be better off going alone or with a company? I am pretty confident in the sense that I like to do my own thing, and go my own way, so I was thinking about staying in hostels etc?
(B) Does anyone know the best way to travel from state to state or city to city?
(C) How much approx. would you reckon I would need, excluding flights to and from the States?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
To give you an idea of what you can expect to spend on groceries for a month here, I generally spend 250 dollars, without alcohol.
If you're looking to travel easily state to state without flying and you're not on the eastern seaboard, good luck, because there isn't really one.
Unfortunately we don't really have quite the train system you guys do....and it's a lot bigger of a country, so that would less practical aswell.You should post a list of cities you want to visit:
I personally would recommend New Orleans, San Francisco, New York City, and L.A....
Rodders
Hey there, i checked out doing this in my gap year. I think the best would be renting a car as your over 21 or buying a second hand one and selling it at the other end. If you go with friends taht would probably be your best option. Going with a company for example, Trek America is pretty expensive for the long trips £4000-5000 i think and thats to a pretty tight rouine so not best if you want to do your own thing. As for money id guess petrol and food could cost $30 -40 a day depending what you do and hostels around 10 for a night. You can always sleep in the car..
Hope that helps
Hope that helps
I've thought about this. Came across a few problems.
Visa. You get 3 months as far as i know, enough time yes but you may want more.
Renting a car, can you drive on the other side of the road?
Also, sleeping on your own in a car is frightening in the middle of no where, America has a lot of open lands without an authority in sight!
If your fine with living in a car or small van, go for it, food is cheap in America, but I'd rather go with a friend anyway. Also, you arent really experiencing the country living on £20 a day.
I'd ideally, given the money, fly to New york or New Jersey and go through cheap Hostels, enjoy the nightlife then move onto Washington/Chicago, and towards the west coast before going downward and through the bible belt, and making a turn back for a cheaper flight from new york at the end of it.
Its a massive country, buses take a lot of time, I know a friend (American) who spent 42 hours on a bus going from one location to the next, I'd not want to do that and miss out on the in-betweens.
quizster
I don't think the driving would be my thing, while I can drive, I am not the most confident driver in the world, and this trip is something I will have do do alone, as my friends are in no real position to come with my due to other commitments. Ideally I was thinking about using public transport, ie. trains, plans on buses (grey hound service) I think they call it, so if anyone had any advice on them, that would be great.
Grey Hound is really terrible.....really dodgy people ride it....
curryADD
Grey Hound is really terrible.....really dodgy people ride it....
It's not that bad! I've been on quite a few and it has been fine, in fact I've never been on one where there haven't been at least a few other people who are obvious backpackers so you can always start chatting to them etc. I had worse problems with dodgy people on ordinary buses in California than on Greyhounds anywhere, especially getting from Santa Monica to the Greyhound station in dowtown LA! The worst thing about Greyhounds is that the depots tend to be in the worst parts of town.
Having said this, I'm sure I read that someone got beheaded on a Greyhound once....
Zoe1986
It's not that bad! I've been on quite a few and it has been fine, in fact I've never been on one where there haven't been at least a few other people who are obvious backpackers so you can always start chatting to them etc. I had worse problems with dodgy people on ordinary buses in California than on Greyhounds anywhere, especially getting from Santa Monica to the Greyhound station in dowtown LA! The worst thing about Greyhounds is that the depots tend to be in the worst parts of town.
Having said this, I'm sure I read that someone got beheaded on a Greyhound once....
Having said this, I'm sure I read that someone got beheaded on a Greyhound once....
Yup! My boyfriend was riding on a Greyhound when it happened in Canada....I was worried sick because it was apparently the bus directly on the schedule before him!
Yes seconded....Greyhound bus stations always seem terribly unsafe to me, so to the OP I would recommend steering very well clear of people trying to sell you stuff etc.
I didn't think the greyhound was a problem at all, it's just like the megabus - you get what you pay for! As long as you keep your wits about you as you would with anything you'll be fine. I always choose someone to sit next to rather than sitting in an empty seat and having someone chose to sit next to me. That way you can select a nice looking student/mummy type/old lady/foreign backpacker!
Don't leave all of your stuff such as ipods, purse lying around when you're asleep, and don't make it obvious that you're a tourist (obviously the accent will give you away, but I just made out I'd been in the country ages as I couldn't be doing with chatter as I wanted to sleep) then it's sometimes useful to get off the bus at each stop to ensure your bag stays on the bus and someone hasn't gone off with it!
I got around America fine using greyhound, amtrak (they don't have as good trains as us, but when you can use them go for it as the trains are pretty nice and cheap) and flying. We drove sometimes because I was with people from the camp I worked at in the summer, and they were American and had a car. You can also find lift shares in hostels to various places.
Don't leave all of your stuff such as ipods, purse lying around when you're asleep, and don't make it obvious that you're a tourist (obviously the accent will give you away, but I just made out I'd been in the country ages as I couldn't be doing with chatter as I wanted to sleep) then it's sometimes useful to get off the bus at each stop to ensure your bag stays on the bus and someone hasn't gone off with it!
I got around America fine using greyhound, amtrak (they don't have as good trains as us, but when you can use them go for it as the trains are pretty nice and cheap) and flying. We drove sometimes because I was with people from the camp I worked at in the summer, and they were American and had a car. You can also find lift shares in hostels to various places.
thanks for all the advice guys, I have been doing some pricing up using the greyhound website and pricing up some flights, plus I bought a lonely planet guide to the USA, hopefully will help me out even more.
I thought grehounds would be a little shady, but, it won't be anything I don't get at home, only I will be on the bus longer, I guess I should avoid long haul rides though.
I thought grehounds would be a little shady, but, it won't be anything I don't get at home, only I will be on the bus longer, I guess I should avoid long haul rides though.
Hey guys I did trek america. Brilliant is all I can say. Your looking at between 400-2000 pounds for the tours. Depending on how long you want to go for. I fully recommend it.
Heres a vid of my trek: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aJz1f8hPRGc
Anyway I am using them again for two more trips next year. I don't think I would ever want to travel alone or with just a friend again after being on trek. Made some real good, hopefully life long friends.
Talking of greyhound I passed the greyhound murder scene the morning after when I was on trek. There was blood all over the windows and various towels all put up. Pretty skank. Thats put me off from traveling publicly lol - Always sit at the back now so I can see whats going on.
Heres a vid of my trek: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aJz1f8hPRGc
Anyway I am using them again for two more trips next year. I don't think I would ever want to travel alone or with just a friend again after being on trek. Made some real good, hopefully life long friends.
Talking of greyhound I passed the greyhound murder scene the morning after when I was on trek. There was blood all over the windows and various towels all put up. Pretty skank. Thats put me off from traveling publicly lol - Always sit at the back now so I can see whats going on.
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