As an Australian looking to come to USA to travel with my partner next year, most likely starting in Vancouver and work our way down the west coast, is there anything I should be aware of safety wise. What’s the cheapest but best way to travel around? Train? Should I go to the Bible Belt?

27 comments

  1. What exactly are your safety concerns?

    >should I go to the Bible Belt

    Probably not, purely because a west coast trip would put much of the Bible Belt over a thousand miles out of your way.

    Best way to travel down the west coast (in my humble opinion) is via the [Amtrak Coast Starlight ](https://www.amtrak.com/coast-starlight-train) train. Goes from to Seattle to LA. Very pretty ride.

  3. I would recommend not visiting during late summer early fall, that’s fire season.

  4. Biggest thing I can think of is that we drive on the correct side of the road. This isn’t the wild west anymore. I can’t see why you would visit the Bible belt, it’s a full 2 day drive from where you’re planning to go. The West coast is so big that it’s been seen with a car.

  5. The Bible belt is a continent away from where you will be, so I don’t know why you would go there.. If your question was about safety in “The Bible Belt” unless you feel being called sir or mam and hearing general pleasantries you shouldn’t have any issues.

    As for travel. Train is not your best bet as far as efficiency is concerned, but it is a nice ride.

  6. Rail is probably the best bang for your buck, but there is no cheap version of a multi-country (assuming you mean Vancouver, BC as I don’t imagine you’re flying in to Vancouver, WA), multi-state west coast trip.

    After that its up to personal priority on what you like to do and what you want to see. Have to weigh your options.

    There are plenty of reasons one would visit ‘The Bible Belt’, but make sure you have a reason before traveling well over a thousand miles.

  7. >Should I go to the Bible Belt?

    I don’t see why you’d want to. Especially after spending a lot of time on the west coast.

  8. I would just keep in mind that California gets snow, and a LOT of it, in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The mountain roads in the Sierras are stunning, but they tend to also be narrow, with a giant cliff on one side. Just be careful if you are driving in the Sierras, especially in the winter.

  9. You could spend 2 months exploring California/Arizona/Utah and not even make a dent in what there is to see and do. Seriously. America is best seen one region at a time

  10. Should you go to the bible belt? On another trip maybe! Train isn’t a bad option but you would miss a lot of natural beauty. Safety wise? Act the same as you do in Australia, I guess. Here in California: Don’t light stuff on fire, be respectful to wildlife, don’t give too much information away to people you don’t know, don’t expect it to be a magical place, and protect yourself from the sun. (Lol)

  11. Not really a safety tip, but if you want to make friends keep your opinions about guns to yourself. No one is interested in lectures from foreigners.

  13. As mentioned, Amtrak Coast Starlight will be a pretty good way to travel up and down the coast. In terms of cities if you’re prioritizing good public transit, Portland, Seattle, and San Diego would probably be the bigger ones.

    But the west coast is big and a lot of places you may want to visit will almost certainly require a car. That doesn’t mean you have to have a car. In Los Angeles for example you can just use Uber and you’ll be fine. But if you want to really get out into further flung parts, there’s no substitute for a car.

  15. The Bible Belt has a lot to offer and is a ton of fun, but I wouldn’t go from the west coast to the southeast, unless I planned to fly. As far as safety, there are bad parts of any city, but you should be fine as long as you don’t go out of your way to be a complete asshole

  16. >there anything I should be aware of safety wise.

    If someone tries to rob you, you can generally ask to keep your ID and stuff (they just want cash). Shouldn’t happen in the touristy spots though.

    >What’s the cheapest but best way to travel around

    Cheapest is the train, but you’ll miss out on a lot. You will almost certainly need to rent a car at some point if you want to see more things (especially national parks). Part of the fun of driving is being able to see something cool and pull over for it

    >Should I go to the Bible Belt

    Why would you visit Kiev on your trip to Barcelona?

  18. My most fav trip ever was my Pacific Coast Highway trip. It’s the highway that wraps the west coast. So many great stops along the way with great sight seeing and picture opportunities. It doesn’t hit Vancouver but somewhere in Washington. Goes from there all the way down to San Diego. Can’t recommend it enough.

  19. >Should I go to the Bible Belt?

    That’s on the other side of the continent.

    To translate that to Australian “I’m coming to Australia, starting in Perth and seeing Western Australia, should I go to Melbourne?” The west coast is about *that* far from the “Bible Belt” states (I sat down with Google Maps to figure out a good approximation of the distance).

  20. I’d definitely save the south for a different trip. It’s worth a trip; but that’s a lot of land to cover for 1 visit.

    Shouldn’t have to worry about anything safety-wise.

  21. People are nice in America. You and your partner could ask for rides and hitchhike the route for free. You could buy cheap motorbikes and drift around one town at a time. Some people walk it. You might choose to buy a small boat and row row row it along the coast.
    You can go to the bible belt. The big cities are nice just don’t go down any dirt roads

  22. Just sick to the west coast if that’s where you’re planning on spending all your time anyway. Best way to travel around is to rent a car, cheapest is train/bus.

    Come in early summer, like May/June. It’ll be warm enough but the fires won’t be as bad.

    I’d recommend starting at the south end of your trip and working your way up, as the climate gets cooler the further north you go. That way you can roughly hit everywhere while the heat levels are similar (very roughly, and near impossible to time).

    You’ll want to spend a long time everywhere you go, just because there’s so much to explore. Hope you have a lot of vacation time saved up!

  23. The “Bible Belt” is on completely the opposite side of the country from the west coast. To my understanding, it’s fairly culturally similar to rural Australia.

    The main train system is Amtrak, which is not very good. If traveling between states, you might want a car. Otherwise, you’d have to rely on a bus service like Greyhound.

    Safety-wise, the most obvious risk is street harassment, but in congested urban areas you might face pickpockets and muggings, not that this is too different anywhere else. If you travel with your partner you should likely be okay.

  24. I wouldn’t recommend going to the Bible Belt just because it’s so far away from the West Coast, but I would recommend going sometime! There is nothing wrong with the Bible Belt. I find that most people who hate on it have either never spent any significant time there or outright have never been there at all. Beautiful nature, lots of cool cities and things to do, and polite, friendly people.

  25. Drive/rent a car. You’ll be able to do so much more. I’d not stay by the coast, but venture inland to national parks (which may be smart to book well in advance), visit Lake Tahoe, and Vegas. And definitely go as far south as San Diego (unlike LA, ok to stay downtown and different vibe than most of LA).

  26. Since you’re going down that coast, you should definitely stop at Hearst Castle and the Monterey Bay Aquaroum. They’re both amazing.

  27. If you’re into trains:

    I’m a recovering Californian and I’ve taken the Coast Starlight from AMTRAK a few times and recommend it. It runs along the coast for much of California and it’s beautiful to see and you don’t have to worry about driving. It goes from Los Angeles to Seattle and you can pick any part of that route. The bit between LA and San Francisco is the coastal route.

    I’d drive down and see Napa and the Redwoods and if you want to go to Southern California, take the train. If you drive to Southern California from the Bay Area you have two routes: 5 is the fastest but it’s a boring road because it runs up the center of the state, which between LA and the Bay is all farmland so you’re just looking at crops for 4-5 hours. The alternative is to drive down the coast on 101, which takes longer but much more scenic. The Coast Starlight runs parallel to the 101 route in between the Bay and LA which is why I recommend it as an alternative to driving. The train takes a bit longer than the car but no hassle of driving.

    LA isa car town though so you’ll need a car when you get south, one way or the other. Or Uber budget to get around…

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like