Two month trip

Hello,

I am a 23 year old kiwi my friend and I want to do a two month trip around the states!

Initially we had planned on buying a van and using that as a way to travel and as accommodation. After reading a few threads I think perhaps a car, tent and cheap motels may be the way to go?

We will actually be starting in Calgary and would like to cover NV, CA, TX, AZ, FL, NY, WY, PA and any other cool places in between. I'll admit not that much thought has gone into the trip but as we are hoping to go in a few moths I thought to have a rough idea on what people think would be some exciting places to see and visit.

I'm budgeting on about $5-7,000 each for the two months.

If anyone has any ideas and wants to leave them below that would be awesome! The whole trip will be more go with the flow, if we like somewhere crash for up to a week type of thing so it would be cool if anyone has any advise or suggestions.

Thanks!

Welcome to RTA!

I hope you aren't planning on *buying* a car or any other motor vehicle in the US. You may be able to buy one in Canada a lot easier than you can here, but this is something you need to research thoroughly. We almost always recommend a rental. If you rent a car in Canada, it needs to be returned in Canada, same goes from here. If you don't return it to the point of rental, there will be a large surcharge. If you are under 25, there will also be a large surcharge.

Hi,

It is good to see that the information on this site has exposed you to the awful reality of buying a car in the US as a non-resident. Better forget that. Renting when you are both under 25 can be hoirrendously expensive. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

We have heard on this forum of folk who have used a consolidator, and had all sorts of extra charges waived. You might like to try that. One of our members from Brisbane used one with great success. This still will not allow you to rent in Canada and drop the car in the US. That in itself is simply not possible.

You may also like to try Adventures on wheels. Their rental minimum is 23. Although I have not used them, I have looked into them There have been positive reports about them on this forum. Be aware though, that they will not sell and buyback unless you hold a US driver's licence.

Further more, you might look into a local crowd. Another I have looked into but not used so far. (I plan to, though) You might like to try them out at home before you come over, just to see what it is like. Register on their site so you get the email updates. That should give you some idea as to how it all works.

My first two visits to the US all I did was relocate cars, driving some 24 cars and travelling some 45000 miles over the two trips - 13 weeks and 20 weeks.

What I would do, is stay in the place of my destination for multiple days, and then rent a car to go see the local sites, returning the car to the pickup point. (e.g. anything going to LV would give you access to most of the national parks in eastern CA, northern AZ and UT.

Good luck

Lifey