First time road tripper!!!

[leannereel]

Hello all,

My names Leanne and I was planning on heading to the USA for a major road trip. Im from Ireland.

Has any one advice of how I should go about this? Is there any specific route I should consider or even a specific time of year? I was hoping to go for the year- travel and work. (This top of my bucket list). Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Also I am a high school teacher so if anyone knows about teaching registration I would love you forever :)

Thanks in advance for any help received!

Leanne xx

[AZBuck]

Céad Míle Fáilte! Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Many people would love to come to the US for an extended stay and earn money while they're at it. Unfortunately, it is simply not that easy. At a minimum you would need a Temporary Workers Permit, but these are generally issued only to workers in specific categories such as seasonal farm labor, people with specialized skills, or intra-company transfers. You could also apply for a Green Card (permanent residence) which would allow you to work, but that won't be easy either. Even if you just plan to be in the US longer than a few months, you will need to apply for a visa just to be here as you will no longer qualify under the Visa Waiver Program. So my first bit of advice to you would be that you contact the US Embassy in Dublin (or London as the situation applies) or a local Consulate, and make sure that what you plan to do is legal and that you have met all the requirements.

I can tell you that the sad truth is, with unemployment running around 9% here, there is little room and much competition for temporary jobs. Teaching in particular has been hard hit as local governments try to trim budgets. I just don't see that your plan has much chance of success unless you have everything lined up beforehand.

In addition the United States is huge, as large as all of Europe, so it is simply impossible to give you a specific route, time of year, or even area to visit. This is just going to have to be your call. As a first bit of research, get yourself a large map of the country and start surfing the web looking for sites you'd like to visit and marking those on your map. With luck, a pattern will start to emerge that will help you narrow down your search a bit. It's at that point that we can be of more specific help.

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

Hi Leanne, Welcome to the RTA forums ! [I hope you didn't get too battered by todays storms on the Emerald Isle !]

The planning and Day dreaming part of a trip can be as exciting as the trip itself, so enjoy ! However at this early stage in your planning you should get a good map of the USA and start looking at places that appeal and then start your researching to get a good feel of what you want to do. The beauty of the road trip is that you get to plan where you want to go and out of the Millions of miles of the 'Blackstuff' to choose from, there is no one specific route.

To visit by any other means then the tourist Visa [90 days] you would need to apply for an extended stay and work permits and until they are sorted, travelling a year and working won't be an option. With the economy as it is work is hard to come by as well. I don't know if there are any teacher 'swap' schemes or the like that might help, that's something you would have to look into. Honestly, I think you are up against it, but who knows ?

If you do travel for a full year, there really would be no need to start out at a specific time, but perhaps a specific area depending on what time of year you start. You should look into the climate zones etc and work from there. Cold mountain areas can be treacherous in the winter and hot desert areas in the summer, scorching hot. Plan accordingly.

Keep researching and consider your options. Perhaps a shorter visit as a tourist might give you a better feel for things before embarking on the BIG adventure, is something worth considering.

Let us know as and when new questions crop up and enjoy RTA !

[Midwest Michael]

I agree that your dream as you laid it out would be very difficult if not impossible to achieve on your own. Getting a work visa without a job already lined up is next to impossible.

If you really want to teach while in the US, I'd really start looking to see if there are any exchange programs available. I know several people who have gone overseas to teach, to places like Japan and Korea, as part of an established organization. Now, I don't know of any specific ones to recommend, or what the availability of such positions within the US might be, but that's where I would start if you really want to complete this as a dream.

Otherwise, as stated above, the 90 day VWP is probably going to be your best bet.