Travelling the USA for 1-2 months

dudara

My bf and I are thinking of travelling around America for 1-2 months, depending on finances. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of this, particularly in relation to the issues below

- Would it be easier to buy a car rather than hire one? And how easy would it be to sell one when we're done? What's a typical car hire cost in the states?

- Can anyone estimate the cost per day, we'd be looking at cheapo-motel accomodation etc?

Any comments and past experience welcome.

Tony Danza

Would you not need an American drivers license to buy your own car? You can't exchange your Irish one for an American one. If you rent a car, you can do that with your Irish license. Cheap motel, probably something like $20 - $30 a night, but not 100% on that.

Tom Dunne

dudara wrote:

Can anyone estimate the cost per day, we'd be looking at cheapo-motel accomodation etc?

Beware of cheapo-motels - they are usually in the worst part of town. Granted, they are incredibly cheap, but I personally wouldn't stay in one.

Based on that, a Holiday Inn Express can be got for around $70, most include a buffet breakfast. Luch can be got for 6-7 dollars each (Subway, for example) and an evening meal can cost around $25-$30 if you eat in the restaurant chains (Denny's, Olive Garden, Chillis, mmmmmmm.....)

So, a mid-range budget would be $120 per day, not including petrol. You could probably do it cheaper, but that's just a guideline.

BuffyBot

I don't think car hire is going to be particularily economical - but you could try using the American LCC to fly around to a load of different cities and towns, spending a few days in each (Southwest, jetBlue, AirTran etc). Cheap hotels/motels can be found - (Motel 6, Days Inn, Econo Lodge, Red Roof Inn, Super 8 Motels etc) scattered around different parts

Ruu_Old

Enterprise Rent-a-Car have cars and vans in all sorts of sizes. There are lots of hotels, from dirt cheap to very expensive, most are nice enough and will work fine. Remember petrol is very jumpy here right now, unfortunately so be careful what kind of a car you get, or it'll guzzle down the petrol. have fun anyway

dudara

That sounds good. We're thinking of budgeting $100-150 dollah-a-day, excluding car rental.

Another option is to use trains or low-cost airlines. Can you use an Irish-based credit card easily in the states? especially in regard to booking internal flights.

Can anyone recommend a good guide book along the lines of "America on $100 dollars a day" type thing

Tom Dunne

dudara wrote:

Another option is to use trains or low-cost airlines. Can you use an Irish-based credit card easily in the states? especially in regard to booking internal flights.

This is one thing that really p****d me off in the States. It is really hit and miss with credit cards. The only one I got to accept Irish credit cards was Alaska Airlines, but they only tend to do the west coast.

One way around it we found was to actually ring the airline - they would reserve it, but you would have to go to an airline desk at an airport to physically swipe the card.

Another way we had to get around it was to go into a travel agent and get them to book it for you (sooo last century, I know ).

dudara

dudara wrote:

That sounds good. We're thinking of budgeting $100-150 dollah-a-day, excluding car rental.

Another option is to use trains or low-cost airlines. Can you use an Irish-based credit card easily in the states? especially in regard to booking internal flights.

Can anyone recommend a good guide book along the lines of "America on $100 dollars a day" type thing

You could do a bit of both.
Book internal flights from here in Ireland via your travel agent using your international ticket numbers to have the tax deducted.
Then hire a car to drive a few hundred miles over a couple of days between airports.

As for books take a gander through one of the bigger bookshops and you'll find ones you want.
Actually Lonely p[lanet and rough guide are specefically written for low budget travel.

Vegeta

i spent 2 months in america last summer and drove from west coast to east coast, you can use a full Irish driving license and look into renting an RV or camper fit for 2 as it will double as transport and accomodation, there were 8 of us though and did it for way less than 100 a day

Grem

If you have a visa or mastercard you can use them worldwide.
I was in the States for 3 month a few years back and had no problem using my mastercard anywhere.

Our man in Havana

Agreed. Credit cards can be used anywhere, but some, no most online flightbooking will only accept american issued cards.

Our man in Havana

tom dunne wrote:

This is one thing that really p****d me off in the States. It is really hit and miss with credit cards. The only one I got to accept Irish credit cards was Alaska Airlines, but they only tend to do the west coast.

One way around it we found was to actually ring the airline - they would reserve it, but you would have to go to an airline desk at an airport to physically swipe the card.

Another way we had to get around it was to go into a travel agent and get them to book it for you (sooo last century, I know ).

Southwest are also credit card friendly!