I need a job / Place to stay

[RunDownHouse]

I've worked in several different places that employed large numbers of Europeans for the summer. A lot of the time they had plans to try and travel some after their jobs were up. By far the best plans were those that were based on buying a cheap used car. Like others have said, good public transportation is basically non-existant in many cities in the US, and there really aren't any economical train passes to travel from state to state like there are in Europe.

I'm sure you could get a lot of more useful advice if you included more details about your trip.

[The once and future king]

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1) Make sure to hit New Orleans during Mardi Gras (look up the date at mardigras.com). That was the best time of my entire trip.

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Hmm, maybe some recent bad weather may have impacted on the fun factor of this event.

[turnipmonster]

hey man, I recently got back from a 6 week road trip driving around the US. a few things:

motor homes/rvs are expensive (>20k), cost lots in gas and are slow and hard to manuever. I looked into this and decided the cost way outweighs the benefits for a 2-6 month trip. in addition to this they are a huge pain to drive in many cities.

In my opinion your best bet is to get a cheap car, some camping gear, and plan on camping some nights and staying in motels some nights. a lot of the amazing things to see in the US are in national/state parks, most parks have many campsites for $12-15/night. in the winter months budget an additional $10 for firewood.

motels in and around most cities are pretty cheap, but after taxes and everthing plan on $35-50/night.

sites we went to that I recommend:
badlands national park
grand canyon
oregon coast
redwood forest (CA)
ozark mountains

of course you should go to nyc, boston, chicago (great town!), sf, la, vegas, etc.

--turnipmonster

[tonypaladino]

Hostels are not very prevelent here. I know of two in New York City, and both are not considered very safe to stay at. Internet Cafes are also not found very much here, so for internet access your best bet is to get a laptop and try to find as many free wi-fi spots as you can, or just pay for it in Starbucks.

As other posters said, the US lacks good inter-city transportation. There is a rail system (Amtrack) but it is generally more expensive or almost as expensive as flying. If you want to roam around by bus and will be moving around a lot, Greyhound offers weekly, montly and 60 day passes that you can use to travel anywhere in the US and Canada, here.

If you're just going to hit major cities you might be better off flying, as you can \get fares for around $100 cross country if you buy the tickets in advance and fly off-peak. Some low cost arlines are Jetblue, Southwest (these two are usually the cheapest and considered my most to be the best for flying domestically), AriTran, Frontier, and Spirit.

You're absolute best bet IMO, is to buy a cheap car. Car is the best way to travel between cities and when you go to major cities you will be able to stay at inexpensive motels outside the city.

[Georgia Avenue]

About hostels: Not true. I've been in many and they are plentiful, cheap and friendly. There are several "Hostelling in Amerika" books that are sweet, and necessary since hostels don't show up on expedia. The ones in new york city are meh, but then ny is meh in general... [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

My advice about traveling over here in general: Big huge cities are boring, full of other tourists, locals who hate tourists, and people from NJ. The south is mostly unpleasent (though awesomely so in some cases, c.f. Nashville). The northeast is cold. MW, Plains, SW, NW, most of cali=Niceness. Remember the rule about hitchhiking: Ass, Gas or Grass---> Nobody rides for free!