travelling through every state, possible?

[natalie]

im from the uk and next year, my friend and i are planning to travel across america taking in every state and every possible interesting destination. for part of this we want to drive, obviously, so has anyone got any lil bits of advice for 2 girls who's only experience of the US of A is a trip 8 years ago to florida? Thanks xx

The United States is pretty big. It can take a full day just to drive across Texas!

Utahtea

[PNW Judy]

You can see every state with enough time and money? How much of each do you have?

[natalie]

we've got a year, and are hopefully gonna have saved about £6000, not sure how much this is in dollars. I just want to know any must-see places, cos its a once in a lifetime trip. I'd also really appreciate any places that arent so well known, lil places that not so many people know about. Thanx for the help and interest, xx

[natalie]

we've got a year, and are hopefully gonna have saved about £6000, not sure how much this is in dollars. I just want to know any must-see places, cos its a once in a lifetime trip. I'd also really appreciate any places that arent so well known, lil places that not so many people know about. Thanx for the help and interest, xx

[PNW Judy]

6000 pounds translates to about $11,000 American. This averages out to about $900 a month. For a year, I think this budget is a bit tight but it should suffice as long as you're frugal. However, if you intend to buy or rent a car with that amount, too, it won't be enough for a year. Just a decent car and insurance will cost you a fairly significant amount of that. Probably at least 1/3 of it for a fairly reliable car plus insurance, and maybe more.

But, if you aren't paying for your car out of this pot of money, you can do it if you camp in cheaper campgrounds, eat out of your cooler and don't do much restaurant eating, and plan your mileage carefully for gas money. In addition, it doesn't leave you a lot for admissions, etc.

Campgrounds in the US typically cost about $20/night. Although you can find some cheaper at closer to $10-12, they are harder to find. And there are some free campsites as well but these are very tough to find and usually fill up fast. So, in a typical month, you could be spending upwards of $600 each month just for camping fees.

While gas is much cheaper here than in the UK and Europe, prices are quite high right now. If they stay high, that will definitely have an impact on your budget. And, of course, this will effect how many miles you can afford to drive each month, too.

Just some things to consider.

As for things to see...the US is so big and diverse that it's hard to say. What kinds of things are you particularly interested in? Historical sites? Natural wonders? City life and clubbing? Theme parks? Hiking? Maybe if you give us some ideas of what things you are interested in, we could give you a better idea of must-see spots.

[natalie]

i didnt realise how expensive things could be, naive, i suppose. We'll hopefully be working on occasion along the way aswell, but we aren't planning on making the trip for a couple of years, so I guess we'll just have to try and save more!! We're mostly interested in cities and clubbing and theme parks etc, but I think we'd both like to try something different and both want to see the natural sites etc. Plus, it's a once in a lifetime trip, so I don't think either of us want to miss anything, just because it was somthing we didnt think we'd enjoy. Thanks, so far you've been v.helpful. xx

[PNW Judy]

Just some random comments:

Where do you plan on working along the way? Many Americans are out of jobs and can't find work. Without a green card, it will be difficult to find legal work. You might luck out and get some "under the table" work but I don't know how easy that is to do.

If you're mainly interested in cities and clubbing and theme parks, then I don't see anyway that your funds will work out for you. There's no camping in cities so you will be either staying in hotels or hostels. Hostels in cities are often $15-25 per night, per person so this really raises your lodging costs. And hotels in cities are often $80-100 plus per night and, in some cities like New York, Washington DC, and other major cities, it can be tough to find hotels for even that price unless you go a ways out of the city limits.

Clubbing, of course, gets expensive with cover charges, drink minimums, etc.

And theme parks? They're tons of fun but also tend to cost tons of dough!

Well, let's just say I don't see any way that you can do this trip, drive as many miles as you want to, and do these things on the budget you have planned for an entire year.

However, I'm not the only one you should listen to. I suggest you check out this <a href ="http://www.roadtripamerica.com/links/international.htm">link</a> to other information on this website.

The first book <a href ="http://www.roadtripamerica.com/read/uk.htm">Drive USA</a> has been recommended numerous times to travelers from the UK. Hopefully this book and the other links here will give you better answers to your questions.

Check out www.bootsnall.com . It is an web-community of world travelers, and many of them have extensive knowledge about how to get work visas and travel combined with jobbing (look at their forum). I imagine they're harder to get now than they used to be (limited work visas), but it's probably still possible.

I'm not a city type person, but if you don't mind a scenic place or two then I would suggest some of the National Parks. Yellowstone, Grand Tetons in Wyoming, Yosemite in California, Grand Canyon in Arizona, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands in Utah, Rocky Mountain National Park & Mesa Verde in Colorado.

Something to consider is that the northern states can get a lot of snow in the winter months. You should think about hitting them in the summer and the south in the winter.

Utahtea