3 months in USA!!

Me and my wife are planning to travel USA next April (2007) for around 3 months before moving on to OZ for a year's work/travel. We are trying to decide how to plan our trip so we can make the most of our 3 months. There are so many places to see and ways to travel, how do you decide? Some articles say it is better to see the country by coach, some say by car? We both fancy the idea of seeing the country by car but are concerned that it will cost alot.

We have a certain number of places we want to see such as major cities, Grand Canyon, Memphis and many more.........We are keen to travel the East Coastal Highway then maybe Route 66 from Chicago to LA.

Has anyone got any advice on how we can make the most of our 3 months? Also, what is the best way to see the country i.e car/coach and how much would it cost roughly?

Any help would be very much appreciated as we are both unsure on how to plan the trip?

And welcome to the RoadTrip America forums!

If by coach, you mean train or bus, you need to realize that the bus and train systems in this country are more limited than in Europe. Trains have fairly limited routes and, for the most part, only go between major cities. Busses go all over but they are slow and it will be difficult to plan connections to take you where you want to go. I've only done a few short train trips and have no personal experience on our bus systems, so my knowledge here is limited. I would suggest that you scope out the Amtrak website for information about train travel, and Greyhound for busses.

Out of curiousity, I plugged in a route from Seattle to New York City to see what the fares would be.
* On Greyhound, it was $198 per person so, for two, that would be $396.00.
* On Amtrak, it was $184 per person/$368 for two.

To figure fuel costs, I used a vehicle getting 30mpg and fuel costs of $3.00 per gallon. Fuel for the trip would be about $287. So, just for fuel, the car is cheaper. However, this doesn't include the car rental fees.

Hertz will rent you an economy car for $621 for 3 months that should get about 30mpg, or maybe even more. However, bear in mind, there might be extra fees for insurance, a fee if you pick it up at one location and drop it off in another, and there might be some limitations on the number of miles you can drive. If these fees aren't too prohibitive, over the course of 3 months, it appears that the car rental and cost of gas would be cheaper than traveling by train or bus. But more thorough research would need to be done to confirm this. You might do a web search for the following car rental companies which are some of the major ones in the US: Hertz, Avis, Nationwide, and Thrifty to get more information on this.

With the train/bus, you will have limited opportunity to stop and check things out. And, when you do stop, you will need to find alternate transportation to get to what you want to see. Sometimes this will mean finding another bus. Sometimes this will mean renting a taxi. And sometimes this will mean renting a car. It depends on where you want to go. And there will be many times where you will be unable to stop at all and will simply zip past areas you might be interested in seeing. A car gives you far more flexilibility.

You might want to check out the International Visitors page on this website for some good information to get your started on your research. Near the top of that page is a book called "Drive USA". This was written by a visitor from the UK and should have tons of great information for you. It might be a worthy investment.

Hope this helps a bit.

Judy has already given you some excellent advice. I'll just add a few things.

Amtrak does offer an unlimted ride pass for foreign visitors that is similar to a Eurorail pass. However, Amtrak isn't nearly as nice as the European rail system and your possible destinations are fairly limited.

I would think a car would be far and away the most pleasant way to see the country. I would recommend renting a car, but try to drop it off at the same place you rent from. You'll find this is much cheaper than trying to drop off a rental at another location, and with 3 months you should have ample time to do a good sized loop of the US, starting an ending from the same place.

Plus, if you do your trip this way, you can shop around to find the best rates for both Airfare and Rental car costs, as they will vary widely from city to city.

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Originally Posted by Judy

Hertz will rent you an economy car for $621 for 3 months

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Hertz will be happy to rent you such a car for that price for 3 weeks, for three months, they're going to charge you more like $2400. Also, make sure that you look at the first three or four categories of cars. There usually is not much difference in the rental price between Economy, Compact, and Intermediate, but there can be a whole lot of difference in your comfort level in the different car classes, especially over several months, with a lot of stuff, and if you are bigger than average.

AZBuck

Hi,

Thanks for your advice, travelling by car seems the best way to see the US. We are thinking of breaking our journey into stages as the car rental for 3 months could get expensive.

We are thinking of starting at Boston (plan to take a trip to Niagara Falls aswell), travel to New York by coach/train then onto Philadelphia. We can then hire a car to drive down the East Coast Highway to Miami. From Miami we drive up through Atlanta then Memphis then to Chicago. End of car rental, then fly to LA.

Our next journey will be from LA where we can travel to San Fransisco, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Colorado Springs, Rocky Mountains, Salt Lake City, Yellowstone National Park then make our way back to LA to drop the car off. By breaking our 3 months into chunks we can avoid the cost of a full 3 month rental and rent as and when we need.

I'm sure we will still have plenty of time left so we will probably catch a bus/train into Western Canada to finish the 3 months.

Our main concern is the cost of the overall trip. Is there alot of opportunites to camp along our route as staying in hostels/motels every night must get expensive. Also, do you think our plan above is good?

Any advice is a great help!

Your plans for the Northeast U.S. would probably work. There is enough mass transit and rail service between Boston and Washington that you could get by without a car there without much problem.

However, other than Chicago and a handful of other cities, you'll most US cities outside of the Northeast are lacking in their mass transit options, and getting around without a car can be difficult or expensive (via taxi).

More imporatantly, I think the drop off penalty from a one-way rental, not to mention the costs of airfare or other transportation between your legs might make this more expensive than just renting a car once. You'll have to shop around though to get some exact prices.

As far as lodging goes, I've yet to find a place in the US where I can't camp. Its more difficult when you are around major cities, but even on the east coast I've found places within 30-45 miles of the cities like Boston, Philly, and Baltimore. Generally camping will cost you around $20 per night, although you can find it cheaper or even free depending upon where you are. In a lot of places you can find cheap motels for $50 or less, although you will pay more in major cities. Hostels are an option, but they are much more scarce than in europe and their per person costs will probably not make them much cheaper for you and your wife than a cheap hotel.

I'm planning a trip similar to yours. My girlfriend and I are going to spend three months in the states. After considering all our options we decided the best way to enjoy ourselves will be to rent a sleeper van for the entire journey. The best price I've found is about $6000USD from autoteamusa.com. I'm under 25 and I'm picking up in LA and dropping off in NY, so that has added a bit to the cost.

This will give us total freedom, and more security I believe. I've heard some bad stories about bus travel in the states. We are budgeting about 15000USD for the total three months, including the rental of the van. It's a lot of money, but we have worked hard to save it up, and I think sometimes budgeting too tightly can restrict the amount of enjoyment you will have on your trip.

How much USD do you want to budget for the three months?

Hi, thanks for the info, I have e-mailed autoteamusa for some prices on different vehicles. Our main concern if we hire a vehicle for 3 months is finding our way around the major cities and also finding places to stay in cities. We want to see the cities aswell as the smaller, more remote towns. Also, not sure how safe it would be for me and my wife in a camper van in US?

Regarding our budget, we are going on to OZ for a year after our 3 months in USA to work/travel. We need to budget some money for that aswell in case we have problems finding work immediately. If we rent a sleeper van that will save alot on accomodation , we were looking at more like $10,000. We will have to be thrifty but there will days where we travel and won't spend much.

Not sure if $10k will be enough!?

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Originally Posted by mrhind

Our main concern if we hire a vehicle for 3 months is finding our way around the major cities and also finding places to stay in cities.

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I lived in the road for 6.5 years in a custom-built 4-WD motorhome. There are RV parks in every major city or in close proximity. The thing to remember about RVs and cities is that if the roads can accomodate city buses and trucks, RVs are no problem. That being said, it does take some skill to manuever in urban areas -- Personally, the city I enjoy the most for driving over-size vehicles is Manhattan, NY -- it is a little crazy and not for the faint of heart -- but still pretty fun.

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Also, not sure how safe it would be for me and my wife in a camper van in US?

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America is probably the safest place to travel in any kind of vehicle.

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If we rent a sleeper van that will save alot on accomodation , we were looking at more like $10,000.

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Sorry, but I still don't know what kind of vehicle you refer to as a "sleeper van."

Mark

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Originally Posted by Editor

I lived in the road for 6.5 years in a custom-built 4-WD motorhome. There are RV parks in every major city or in close proximity. The thing to remember about RVs and cities is that if the roads can accomodate city buses and trucks, RVs are no problem. That being said, it does take some skill to manuever in urban areas -- Personally, the city I enjoy the most for driving over-size vehicles is Manhattan, NY -- it is a little crazy and not for the faint of heart -- but still pretty fun.
America is probably the safest place to travel in any kind of vehicle. Sorry, but I still don't know what kind of vehicle you refer to as a "sleeper van."

Mark

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Hi Mark,

Thanks for the advice, sounds like we will be fine driving! Please see this website www.autoteamusa.com and select 'vehicles', you will see the sleeper van on there.

Thanks again!

Matt

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Originally Posted by mrhind

and select 'vehicles', you will see the sleeper van on there.

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Matt, I see the photo of what they are calling a "sleeper van" but I am still not sure such a product exists. I tried to load the .pdf file associated with that image and nothing seems to be there. When you say "sleeper van" are you anticipating anything beyond a empty shell behind the first row of seats? it is possible that the floor of such a "sleeper van" might be carpeted, but I can't imagine how any full-sized adult humans can sleep back there and still have room for luggage, coolers, etc.

In other countries -- New Zealand, Australia, etc. a "sleeper van" includes a built-in bed in the back that would enable one or two smallish adults to sleep -- but I have never seen one supplied by an American rental car company.

Just be very careful if you rent such a vehicle.

Mark

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Originally Posted by Editor

Matt, I see the photo of what they are calling a "sleeper van" but I am still not sure such a product exists. I tried to load the .pdf file associated with that image and nothing seems to be there. When you say "sleeper van" are you anticipating anything beyond a empty shell behind the first row of seats? it is possible that the floor of such a "sleeper van" might be carpeted, but I can't imagine how any full-sized adult humans can sleep back there and still have room for luggage, coolers, etc.

In other countries -- New Zealand, Australia, etc. a "sleeper van" includes a built-in bed in the back that would enable one or two smallish adults to sleep -- but I have never seen one supplied by an American rental car company.

Just be very careful if you rent such a vehicle.

Mark

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Hi,

Thanks, I will bear that in mind. You have helped alot. If you were trying to budget for 3 months on the road, how much roughly would you try to save for the trip? Any ideas?

Cheers

Matt

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Originally Posted by mrhind

If you were trying to budget for 3 months on the road, how much roughly would you try to save for the trip? Any ideas?

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Matt, I think your estimate of 15,000 USD looks somewhat reasonable. It all depends on how much distance you actually drive, of course, but I plugged in our usual variables and came up with 22,650 (using a rental sum of 6,000USD and 30,000 miles) -- it is possible that your total expenditures could be as low as 10,000 USD. One of the tools I use when estimating expenses is our fuel cost calculator and you might find it helpful as well. The other line items would include misc car expenses, food, insurance, incidental, event/destination fees, new clothing, motel/campsite rentals, cell phone, office expenses, etc. I think you can do it for 15,000 but you will need to be very frugal with your other expenses.

Happy Planning!

Mark

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

Hertz will be happy to rent you such a car for that price for 3 weeks, for three months, they're going to charge you more like $2400. Also, make sure that you look at the first three or four categories of cars. There usually is not much difference in the rental price between Economy, Compact, and Intermediate, but there can be a whole lot of difference in your comfort level in the different car classes, especially over several months, with a lot of stuff, and if you are bigger than average.

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I actually got that price ($621) from the Hertz website for the lowest priced, economy car for 3 months. I believe I plugged in the dates May15-Aug15. Of course, this doesn't include the extra charges that can add up. That's why I suggested that they only use this price as a base and investigate further.

{Editor's Note: Gotta watch that fine print stuff -- it was Per month -- see this post}

As for comfort, it really depends on the car and the person. I prefer driving my compact to bigger vehicles. It does have very comfortable seats and good power (well, actually zip with the turbo). Since they are from Europe, I'm assuming they're comfortable in smaller cars and, with the price of gas, an economy car just might fit their budget better, too. All, imho, of course.

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Originally Posted by Editor

Matt, I see the photo of what they are calling a "sleeper van" but I am still not sure such a product exists. I tried to load the .pdf file associated with that image and nothing seems to be there.

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I had no problem loading the .pdf file. It is simply a van with the following sleeping arrangement: There is a sleeping platform in the back that converts to a table with seating....kinda similar to those in truck campers. It says they also supply a cooler and propane stove. But there doesn't appear to be any built-in cooking facilities.

I know people who have vans with similar set-ups. These make very nice travel rigs. I would check into what kind of gas mileage they could. I would be concerned about gas but, then again, I'm a cheapo about such things.

As for safety, some of my roadtrips I have done solo in a compact car and tent camping. I have rarely felt unsafe and I have never had any problems. You will be fine as long as you use good common-sense.

Some parameters to help you with budgeting:

Fuel costs: You will need to fine out what kind of gas mileage this vehicle gets and then estimate your total miles. Then use the fuel cost estimator to estimate your total costs.

Campground fees: These will range from free (but these are very hard to find) to about $30/night. Since you won't need hook-ups for sewer/water/electric, you can stay in sites for tents and most of the time you will probably pay closer to $15-20/night.

Food: Well, this varies. Eating out of your cooler and replenishing your supply at full-size grocery stores intead of mini-marts will keep costs down. Restaurant meals that include an average meal sized meal will cost from about $5 each at McDonald's to the stratosphere. But the average restaurant will probably cost you about $11-13 each including tip. Obviously, the more you eat out of your cooler and the less you eat in restaurants, the more you'll save. And you'll probably eat healthier as well as long as you make good choices.

Of course, the variables of admission fees, parking fees, clubbing or other nightlife, etc. are a lot harder to estimate. If you're going to be visiting more than a few national parks, you would save money by getting National Parks Pass.

You're going to have a great trip!!!! Enjoy and hope these suggestions help.

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Originally Posted by Judy

I actually got that price ($621) from the Hertz website for the lowest priced, economy car for 3 months.

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I ran a quote from the Hertz website too. The lowest was for a Hyundai Accent (economy car) and the cost was 639.99 USD Per Month. Gotta watch that small print!

Mark

I actually thought that price was extremely reasonable. But I rent cars so seldom I didn't really think about it much. Thanks. That's good to know for future reference. I don't like the idea that I might give someone wrong advice like that. Oy!

Hmm.. just as an option, you might consider buying a car and then reselling it at the end of the trip?

It'll cost more up front of course, but with luck you'll save a couple of thousand dollars on a 3 month rental fee. I did a quick internet look, and you can get a pretty good quality mini-van type vehicle with moderate mileage (30-60 K miles) for $15-20 K, perhaps less. Having the funds in your pocket (say as a drawing account on an international bank like Barclays) means you can negotiate real effectively for a vehicle and get a good price.

Driving the vehicle across county from side to side and top to bottom will add maybe another 10K miles, which won't really affect resale value. If you sell it back for 80% of the price you bought it at, your cost will be $3-4 K for 3 months usage, which may be $2-3K less than renting. There is some uncertainty in this -- getting a good price, getting a quality used car (I'd go for specific models of known good quality in general), and selling it back -- but there's a good probably of saving substantial funds.

You'll still have to pay for gas and maybe maintenance (oil change, etc.) but if you have a UK or Australian car insurance coverage that will probably transfer for US road coverage, particularly if you're not driving your home country vehicle.

An issue is if you can spend a day or two selling it -- clean it up nice, get it cleaned, washed and waxed, and take it to a couple of dealers talking about how you want to sell this and perhaps move up to a new vehicle.

This (buying a used car versus getting a rental) is a topic that has been discussed many, many times and in our totally unscientific analysis -- we have found that for 99% of all visitor the magic break-even point is six months. Any period less than six months, the costs of maintenance, insurance, residency requirements, etc. etc. just don't measure up. Now, for folks who buy and sell used cars on a regular basis -- this "sweet spot" could drop as low as two weeks.

For that reason, I rarely recommend that anyone mess with purchasing used cars and then attempting to re-sell.

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Originally Posted by Larrison

An issue is if you can spend a day or two selling it -- clean it up nice, get it cleaned, washed and waxed, and take it to a couple of dealers talking about how you want to sell this and perhaps move up to a new vehicle.

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So, let's see they have just enjoyed an awesome three months traveling around the USA -- been treated as welcomed guests and for their last act of generosity and reciprocity before they left for home, they would try and deceive some folks? Doesn't seem like a good policy to me.

Mark

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Originally Posted by Editor

This (buying a used car versus getting a rental) is a topic that has been discussed many, many times and in our totally unscientific analysis -- we have found that for 99% of all visitor the magic break-even point is six months. Any period less than six months, the costs of maintenance, insurance, residency requirements, etc. etc. just don't measure up. Now, for folks who buy and sell used cars on a regular basis -- this "sweet spot" could drop as low as two weeks.

For that reason, I rarely recommend that anyone mess with purchasing used cars and then attempting to re-sell. So, let's see they have just enjoyed an awesome three months traveling around the USA -- been treated as welcomed guests and for their last act of generosity and reciprocity before they left for home, they would try and deceive some folks? Doesn't seem like a good policy to me.

Mark

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To be honest, in comparison to a couple of dealers who tried to take advantage of me when I had to sell a vehicle fairly quickly (was moving the next week), and who low balled their bids? You never lie. Note that says "you want to sell this" and you "might" buy another. As a rule, you always negotiate the sale price of the turn in as a separate deal than buying another. If the dealer won't do that.. its not a dealer to trust. And it's not uncommon, in my experience at least, to shop a car to multiple dealers, sell it to the one who offers you the best price, and then purchase your car from another who offered you the best price on the newer car.

But your points are well taken on the purchase/ resell a car on an extended trip. It's an option to be considered, but depends on many other circumstances. Its definitely a lot more hassle, and you'll need to tie up liquid funds for a period of time that is many times greater than what you might save.