Swedes seeking assistance & ideas

Hi
Me and two friends are planning on going to the USA (from Sweden) this winter and drive around the country for about 2-3 months. We are planning on going to Miami and then take the southern route to L.A. Then head north to San Francisco and via Las Vegas going to visit a friend in Minneapolis. Then we will go to New York and fly home from there.

We are planning on going early february. Our budget will be very limited and since we are only 20 I wonder how to get a vechile? Any tips? If you rent I guess you have to be 21, and buying a car takes some time with insurance and registration i've heard. I've also heard that there are this deals where you get to drive a car for a company. Anyone knows anything about this? PLEASE HELP US, we don't know who to ask about this.

Also, anyone know how much money we will need? Im thinking about bringning 30 000 Swedish Crowns (I think its about 3500 dollars). Also remember we will be three splitting the gas bill.

Thanks in advance!
/Jacob

Do a search through the forums and you will find other posts about renting cars in the US. There are some companies that specifically deal with long-term rentals listed. Also check out the roadtrip tab. There's a lot of good information there.

$3500 each should be more than enough depending on the cost of renting the car. If that doesn't include paying for the car rental, you should be fine. There's also a lot of posts on these forums about budgeting and ways to save money while traveling. Camping and stopping at grocery stores to eat out of your cooler are just two simple ideas. If you don't want to bring your camping gear with you, there are numerous places to buy inexpensive camping gear. Wal-Mart, for example.

Thank you for your reply.

Well, do these car rentals rent to people under 21? Maybe I should check that out myself before asking you, but i'd appreciate the help anyway.

Car rental might be very expensive...

You can occasionally find a company that will rent to under-21's -- but they are few and the costs will be high -- they will no doubt charge you a premium for their "extra risk."

These are typically going to be smaller, more local companies rather than the national "majors." A quick look through the Phoenix business telephone directory showed one agency (Saban's) that specifically said they will rent to under-21's -- and two others that MAY (their ads simply said under-25 OK, so I do not know what the cut-off age is, if any).

You say you have a friend in the U.S. You might consider having that friend keep an eye out for a good used car for you. You could probably handle the short term insurance through a major company like State Farm Insurance. You could buy the car, drive it for 3 months, then sell it. You can sell a car in one day to a used automobile dealer. Even if you take a loss on, it should be cheaper than renting long term.

I've been thinking about your $3500 budget and I wanted to point out the following...the US is very big and gas can get expensive to get from place to place if you are covering a lot of ground. Most Europeans are very surprised at just how big this country is. So, if you are planning on traveling far while here, gas is going to eat up a lot of that budget.

Also, $3500 for 3 months will be enough if you don't plan on doing a lot of touristy things. Admission fees can get quite expensive and take a big bite out of your funds if you plan on going to lots of places that charge fees to enter. Also, if you are planning on an active nightlife with clubs, etc., that will also get quite expensive.

When I previously said that $3500 should be more than enough, I was thinking of low-key, inexpensive activities like camping and hiking, etc. It can be done but you may have to pick and choose activities. Also, eating out of a cooler vs. always eating in restaurants is another big money-saver.

Sorry I don't have any more info on car rentals for ya.

Hey, I was thinking...if you have just $3500 to spend you probably don't have $2500+ to spend on a "RELIABLE" car. I would look into renting. That way if the car breaks down you won't be paying $1000 for a new transmission or something. As far as the money thing goes...just come here and have a great time and when the money runs out you just go home...HAPPY. Don't stress about that. Don't waste much time in Miami, get out West as soon as you can.

Thanks for your help. Actually I calculated a bit and we will have about 4000 dollars each since the dollar is pretty low right now. Depending on how many we will be sharing the cost things could get very cheap.

Also we are considering going from miami to san fransisco and then flying to minnesota to visit the friend.

Well, we are gonna get that sunburn in miami so we can get the chicks along the way :P

Good luck with your trip man, once you get out west to places like Phoenix, San Diego, and LA, you're never gonna want to go back ;) Palm trees and beaches...mmm.

Just estimating, you'd spend about $20 dollars in gas per day so times that about 100 days and i'd say you wont spend more than $2000 on gas. If you make your own meals I think you would have more than enough.

I'd definately goto Minneapolis LAST though, because I live up there and take it from me it's pretty brutal until about April, but nice scenery. But I guess you're used to it being from Sweden. Again good luck!

Brian,

As a "Minneapolisian" do you go to the Winter Carnival? If, so, we sure would like a "local's report" this year. Personally, I hope you have a mild winter this year!

M.

I think it will be very hard to find some place that will rent to someone under 21. I have looked into this myself, and found that most places will not rent to someone under 21 and almost everyone charges a daily surcharge, around 20 dollars, per driver under 25. But as others have suggested, you might have luck with smaller car companies. Even still, expect to spend around 200 a week for a car rental, without extra under age fees. If you are looking to buy a car, keep in mind that registration varies from state to state. So you may want to look into various states Department of Motor Vehicle websites to see how costly it is to register a car. I would look into having your friend in the states purchase the car for you, if you are going to go this route.

Unfortunately America does not have a good train infrastructure, and traveling by train is not very cheap. In large cities the public transportation is generally very good, but without a car it would be difficult to travel cheaply from city to city, unless you are on the east or west coast where large cities are "close" to each other. Amtrak.com will give you an idea of what it costs to travel via train. You can go anywhere you are planning on going by train, but I think that if you only have 3500 for 3 months, you will probably run out of money going this route. However if your plan is to just travel from large city to large city, and spend a lot of time in each city this may not be a problem.

There is always bus service also, which will allow you to go to more remote places. Greyhound.com is a good place to start. I think it's cheaper than train, but still will be costly.

As traveling with any public transportation system, it limits your flexibility and ability to stop at less traveled places along the way. And because America is so big, it is hard to travel "off the beaten path" without your own car.

If you can somehow rent a car or purchase your own for the trip, I'd recommend camping in the southern states. Generally in the winter state and national parks are not crowed, so you should not have a problem finding a place to camp on short notice. Any 5 dollar atlas book will show you were public camping areas are. And it's cheap. Depending on if you need to purchase a park admission sticker for your car, it's between 10 and 20 dollars a night to camp (and that split amongst travelers is cheap). There are many beautiful parks throughout the country. I find that gorp.com has a lot of good information on parks. And as someone already mentioned, you can find cheap gear at a Target or Wal-mart that will last for the duration of your trip.

Although I have never personally tried them, America does have plenty of hostels, like Europe. Any hostel webpage can give you more information on this route. For a budget traveler, I'd recommend this route in large cities. Unless you are willing to stay outside a city and have 3-4 people to split the cost of a hotel room, hostels will definitely be cheaper.

My personal budget traveling is camping. This wont be an option for the more northern parts of the country though. Unless you are willing to do winter camping, in which case you'd probably want better gear than the cheap gear that Wal-mart sells. I was born and raised in North-Central Wisconsin – which has weather similar to Minneapolis-- and I 've been camping in May when it has gotten to cold for normal camping gear. But as far as weather goes, check out weather.com for information on what kind of temperatures to expect. The averages and records section is good for this king of info.

I personally like traveling here in the off-peak (September – May) months b/c it is far less crowded. But as with anywhere you'll find places closed and weather not as pleasurable for the normal person.

Food wise, you can eat cheap if you can stomach eating at greasy fast food joints all the time. I personally can only eat at these places occasionally. Look to truck stops for good deals and better food than a McDonalds. Often larger grocery stores have hot delis for good and cheap food. I'm not familiar with what kind of American food has leaked in to your country, but sub places, like Subway, are a good place for cheap and decent food. There are many slightly overpriced chain places to eat in the suburban areas, but the food is generally good. Some ones that come to mind are Olive Garden (Italian), Chili's (Tex-Mex), TGI Fridays (little of everything with annoying wait staff – but if you're here to experience America in all its glory you should go to one of these once), Uno's (Pizza), and Applebee's (little of everything). But one thing to keep in mind is expect a lot more food than you're used to in Sweeden. There is a reason why America is the fattest country, we eat too much. The portions will be bigger, so maybe 2 people can eat 1 entrée.

3 months is enough time to see most of this country. I am slightly concerned about your budget though. Mainly because you need to either rent/buy a car or use trains/buses. Gas is cheaper here, but things are farther away. If you can figure out a cheap car situation, I think you'll be fine.

LAURA

I think it will be very hard to find some place that will rent to someone under 21. I have looked into this myself, and found that most places will not rent to someone under 21 and almost everyone charges a daily surcharge, around 20 dollars, per driver under 25. But as others have suggested, you might have luck with smaller car companies. Even still, expect to spend around 200 a week for a car rental, without extra under age fees. If you are looking to buy a car, keep in mind that registration varies from state to state. So you may want to look into various states Department of Motor Vehicle websites to see how costly it is to register a car. I would look into having your friend in the states purchase the car for you, if you are going to go this route.

Unfortunately America does not have a good train infrastructure, and traveling by train is not very cheap. In large cities the public transportation is generally very good, but without a car it would be difficult to travel cheaply from city to city, unless you are on the east or west coast where large cities are "close" to each other. Amtrak.com will give you an idea of what it costs to travel via train. You can go anywhere you are planning on going by train, but I think that if you only have 3500 for 3 months, you will probably run out of money going this route. However if your plan is to just travel from large city to large city, and spend a lot of time in each city this may not be a problem.

There is always bus service also, which will allow you to go to more remote places. Greyhound.com is a good place to start. I think it's cheaper than train, but still will be costly.

As traveling with any public transportation system, it limits your flexibility and ability to stop at less traveled places along the way. And because America is so big, it is hard to travel "off the beaten path" without your own car.

If you can somehow rent a car or purchase your own for the trip, I'd recommend camping in the southern states. Generally in the winter state and national parks are not crowed, so you should not have a problem finding a place to camp on short notice. Any 5 dollar atlas book will show you were public camping areas are. And it's cheap. Depending on if you need to purchase a park admission sticker for your car, it's between 10 and 20 dollars a night to camp (and that split amongst travelers is cheap). There are many beautiful parks throughout the country. I find that gorp.com has a lot of good information on parks. And as someone already mentioned, you can find cheap gear at a Target or Wal-mart that will last for the duration of your trip.

Although I have never personally tried them, America does have plenty of hostels, like Europe. Any hostel webpage can give you more information on this route. For a budget traveler, I'd recommend this route in large cities. Unless you are willing to stay outside a city and have 3-4 people to split the cost of a hotel room, hostels will definitely be cheaper.

My personal budget traveling expierence is camping. This wont be an option for the more northern parts of the country though. Unless you are willing to do winter camping, in which case you'd probably want better gear than the cheap gear that Wal-mart sells. I was born and raised in North-Central Wisconsin – which has weather similar to Minneapolis-- and I 've been camping in May when it has gotten to cold for normal camping gear. But as far as weather goes, check out weather.com for information on what kind of temperatures to expect. The averages and records section is good for this king of info.

I personally like traveling here in the off-peak (September – May) months b/c it is far less crowded. But as with anywhere you'll find places closed and weather not as pleasurable for the normal person.

Food wise, you can eat cheap if you can stomach eating at greasy fast food joints all the time. I personally can only eat at these places occasionally. Look to truck stops for good deals and better food than a McDonalds. Often larger grocery stores have hot delis for good and cheap food. I'm not familiar with what kind of American food has leaked in to your country, but sub places, like Subway, are a good place for cheap and decent food. There are many slightly overpriced chain places to eat in the suburban areas, but the food is generally good. Some ones that come to mind are Olive Garden (Italian), Chili's (Tex-Mex), TGI Fridays (little of everything with annoying wait staff – but if you're here to experience America in all its glory you should go to one of these once), Uno's (Pizza), and Applebee's (little of everything). But one thing to keep in mind is expect a lot more food than you're used to in Sweeden. There is a reason why America is the fattest country, we eat too much. The portions will be bigger, so maybe 2 people can eat 1 entrée.

3 months is enough time to see most of this country. I am slightly concerned about your budget though. Mainly because you need to either rent/buy a car or use trains/buses. Gas is cheaper here, but things are farther away. If you can figure out a cheap car situation, I think you'll be fine.

LAURA