It’s my dream to tour the US or a month or two. The only problem is that hotels, airbnbs and even hostels are so expensive that I’d go broke in no time. Not to mention the cost of renting a car. I’d love to go across the country. Perhaps down the coast and through the south. Do you have any tips or advice to save? Or is it a pipe dream to travel the US on a budget.
All advice is welcome and it be great to hear some tips and tricks to save money while having fun
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Stay at camp sites, avoid eating out, use trains and buses when possible.
Save your money and budget responsibly. Think London price rather than Lisbon prices
The US isn’t really a budget vacation but there are ways you can mitigate costs with some planning. But it’s mitigate, not eliminate. Just like any other generally wealthy, developed nation.
Camp.
You probably won’t be able travel long distances, but you could focus in on one area and see some diverse landscapes. For example, you could fly into the Bay Area, visit SF and some of surrounding areas on public transit (Oakland, San Jose). Then you could take Amtrak to Lake Tahoe (possible stop in Sacramento) or take a bus to Yosemite. Both areas have bus systems.
Budget bus systems like Megabus or Flix can be inexpensive ways to travel between cities, especially if you book in advance. However, you shouldn’t have high service quality expectations. Major cities will often have decent quality public transit systems to get around.
If you can find a cheap AirBnB with a kitchen, you can rely on groceries to feed yourself, which is a cheaper than eating out. Camping is an option, but most campsites are located in places that don’t have transit systems, so you’d need to rent a car. I’ve never tried couch surfing, but it’s an option to help reduce housing costs.
I’ve known people who couch surfed across the country, the trick is making connections long in advance with like-minded and flexible people. Make a list of towns to visit and for every hop check into local forums and ask if there are couches to sleep on when you will be in town.
Another way is car-camping, most towns have nearby campgrounds. A cheap vehicle is easy to come by, the trick here is being good at car stuff to make sure the car does not break down along the way. At the end most towns have junk yards that will come to you to haul the wreck away so you are not stuck trying to offload the car.
Speaking of camping, if you are hardy you can just free-camp it across the country(campgrounds are rarely near public transit) Not legal exactly but can usually be done without getting hassled.
Cost it out and save up for it so you can budget appropriately. You can also couch surf. I did it in Europe. Not sure how it is in the US but it’s fun
This all depends on what you want to do while you’re here.
The trains in the northeast from DC to NYC/Boston are great, but it’s also one of the most expensive areas in the nation. Just an FYI
Camp where you can. It’s can be 30 bucks versus 700 bucks in the same area.
Go to grocery stores instead of restaurants.
A month or two trip will be expensive. You could save money by travelling with a cooler and buying groceries. Renting a car is too expensive for a long term trip. Take a bus or train. Amtrak has cross country routes. Locally owned motels are crappier, but cheaper.
Camp. Easily done cheaply.
Visit national parks more than cities. Cities are much more expensive, and each of our national parks is spectacular in its own unique way. When you do visit cities, look for inexpensive or free attractions to enjoy.
Instead of eating at restaurants all the time, buy some of your food at real grocery stores. Please note that real grocery stores are not the same as a convenience store that happens to sell food. When you do want to eat at a restaurant, check online ahead of time using something like Yelp or TripAdvisor to find decent budget-friendly places to eat.
I mean…what do you want to do for a month or two? You could spend a whole month just seeing NYC
How old are you? It’s fairly common for summer camps here to hire foreign counselors; they’re mostly from the UK or Australia but can be from all over. You get free room and board for three months or so, so most of your expenses are covered, and then the counselors often take a month or so and travel around. After working with people for a summer you should have enough connections across the country (or at least in one area) to get some free places to stay.
If you’re really flexible, one-way tickets on Southwest Airlines can be REALLY cheap. They won’t necessarily get you to the most popular cities, but, hey, why not see what Cleveland has to offer?
Major cities often have youth hostels (though not as many as in Europe), but book early if you’re traveling in the summer.
Traveling through the USA is like traveling through any other developed nation in some regards. You can make it as expensive or as inexpensive as you plan for.
Just plan all your travelling between destinations prior to arrival so there are no unexpected costs and you know how much that portion will be prior to arriving in the USA. Then budget accordingly as you travel about, budget “X” for food each day (ie. purchasing food from grocery stores rather than restaurants will cut a huge portion of your expenses).
– Stay in hostels where applicable (most likely your cheapest accommodation depending on your destinations)
– Budget how much you will spend each day prior to arrival (ensure you have slightly extra as an emergency fund)
– Plan your attractions, events, outings for each destination (no unexpected costs)
– Plan out travel prior to arriving (pre-book when ever possible, ie. long distance transportation between destinations)
Hope you are able to fulfill your travel ambitions, have fun and stay safe.
My god just camp for free lol
Save up for a tent and get a cheap sleeping bag and sleeping pad find places to sleep for free and your golden. Don’t need hostels we got open space
no if you can’t afford a hotel or car rental
Instead of thinking of a cross country trip, find a region or even a city to stay in the whole time. But not something like NYC. Something smaller and less travelled. And if you like camping, it’s apparenrly better here than other places. A lot of people can get a site, with a small cabin or whatever for a month or a season for a decent price.
Another idea is a college town in the summer. I used to live in Madison, WI which is a pretty awesome city, and you can get to Chicago and other places from there for a day trip/couple of days and go back. Other cities, too. Now, college students rent off campus apartments for a year but don’t need them in the summer and will sublet them to help cover rent. Live like a local! Also check if any universities rent out dorm rooms for the summer. I’ve seen that in the past. That could work out well for you, too.
If you can swing a car then https://freecampsites.net/ is very useful. I lived out of my car for a month going across the country using it then staying at a cheap hotel once in a while for a shower and bed.
You will need money to be here at all. If you want to have a good time 10k will be needed for a month, hell my 10 day trip to Germany was almost 5k and my buddy lives there so i slept at his house. You can camp, do small jobs and get by but it’s likley illegal and won’t be a relaxing trip.
Well what is your budget?
Couchsurfing and other apps like it hook you up with people and places to stay.
Hit redditors up for places to stay if you aren’t picky. I’d put you up for a few nights
Nomad Matt has some tips:
https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-guides/united-states-travel-guide/
Couch surfing might help
https://www.couchsurfing.com
Amtrak sometimes puts its USA Rail Pass on sale. Google that and see
For road-trips in a car, look for weekly or monthly rental rate instead of daily rate. It will be cheaper that way. Also look for unlimited miles.
Also try camping?
Lonely Planet guides are good for budget travel. They have USA guides and also a USA camping guide- “under the stars USA”
Also try Rough Guide. They publish good travel guides too
You could sleep in the car, especially if you rent a hatchback with foldable seats. Do it in the spring or fall, and park at truck stops. No one will bother you
Pick one region. Note weather for the time of year.
Pick one coast.
Hostels or campgrounds where you can park.
For example, if you want to see the Pacific ocean perhaps fly to PNW and drive the 5 from border to border.
Do you know anyone else who wants ro do this? Will they help driving? You can split the cost of a car/fuel/charge.
It sounds like you’ll want to visit the US a few times and pick a different region each time.
Just get a tent, it’s not that bad.
Before you enter each region stop and look up the weather and local wildlife. We have lots and lots of things that want to kill you here depending on the state. Weather is very different too. I would just stay out of the deserts and off the back roads as much as possible unless you have survival skills. There is no cell service in a lot of areas and you will be hours away from help if you wander off.
Camping is the go to for cheap stay. You can also just sleep in your car if the weather is ok. Find a rest stop, truck stop or camp ground. You could ask locals too if they know any businesses or parks that allow overnight parking. There are a ton of cheap/free places to stop and check out. Little museum’s, welcome centers, small town main streets, roadside attractions, etc so you won’t have too much trouble finding budget friendly things to do.
Either shorten your stay, reduce your travel within the country, or increase your budget. Can you do it cheaply? Sure. Will it be a desirable way to live for 1-2 months? Absolutely not. You’re more likely to wind up miserable if your budget is too tight. Note that train travel in the US is ridiculously expensive once you get outside the Northeast, and camping can be difficult depending on where you are, not to mention the weather might be a factor.
I know a lot of people are suggesting camping, but the length of time makes that much less workable than, say, a weeklong stay, especially if you’re not an outdoorsy person. That’s a choice you’ll have to consider based on your personal preferences for accommodation. The amount of gear you’d need would also make using an intercity bus difficult (they often limit how many bags you can bring for free), so you’ll likely need to rent that car for the whole trip anyway.
There are some tours that are affordable. I can recommend this company because I took a tour with them.
https://greentortoise.com/
There used to be an app for international travelers where people would post availabilities for guests to sleep on each others couches. And it seemed pretty vibrant. You might look for it, but I can’t recall what it’s called.
Amtrak is cheaper and much more pleasant than renting a car. Get a sleeper compartment and meals are included. Hostels are expensive, yes, but still 1/2 the price of an average hotel. AirBnBs are getting dodgy and are often illegal.
A month or two isn’t really enough time to see much of anything, if you want to run up and down a coast and then zip to the other. America is VAST.
It’s totally possible if you go West and plan on camping every night.
If you are fine with sleeping in a car rent a car. Sleep in the car every night. $30 dollars a month membership gets you access to any national gym chain for daily showers. Lots of truck stops havw showers too but they are pricier. Only get a hotel a few times if you want. I recommend shopping at Walmart (a fun for foreigners trip) for breakfasts and only do dinner or lunch out to eat.
Yes, but the question is: how low are you willing to go?
I’ve met people who got by entirely on hitchhiking and couchsurfing. I assume couchsurfing is still a thing? But anyways, it can be done.