Some conclusions after traveling around America. Choosing the time of the trip to the USA
Step-by-step instructions for organizing a trip to the USA on your own, what to look for, accommodation, car rental, how to choose a route and direction of travel. What can you save money on and what time of the year is best to go. Useful websites to help you organize your trip to the USA. Only mine personal experience. I will answer questions about the organization of the trip, I will give advice on the route.
Travel to the USA- the pleasure is not cheap, standard package tours in which you will never feel the real America cost two to three times more than in the case of self-organized trips.
trip to the USA organizing is as easy as any European country, excellent tourist infrastructure, reasonable cost of gasoline and car rental, an extensive network of roadside motels and more expensive hotels, in addition, there are many other accommodation options.
Getting a US visa
Unlike other countries, the same Schengen agreement, for example, the preparation trips to america you need to start not with the route or booking hotels, but with obtaining a US visa. Now it is issued for 10 years, which is much more convenient than every year to be humiliated in European embassies. Step 1 - we get a US visa, how to do it, read the article Get a US visa in Ukraine: step by step instructions and description of the procedure .
Planning a US itinerary
The United States is a fairly large country and there is much more to see there than you think. Even if you don't miss a single issue of the Travel Channel or Discovery, you will only get to know a small fraction of all the beauties of the American continent. Perhaps that is why Americans are not so often seen in Europe or Asia. They have something to see in their homeland.
I have a lot on my blog routes, reports and notes about travels in America , keep for updates.
Choosing the time of the trip to the USA
Many people miss this important moment, and it depends on whether you will hide from the rain and wind in a hotel for half of your vacation or spend the whole day among the wonderful nature of the Wild West.
States country with many climatic zones and when it snows in New York, Miami celebrates Christmas under the palm trees, sunbathing. Even in California, the weather within one State can be very different, in October it is stable + 20-23, and in the Napa Valley wine valley the temperature may well go off scale for +30 and pomegranates will sing, at the same time in San Francisco there will be wind and rain drive you to some warm place. And it's all the same state.
Buying a cheap air ticket to the USA
From our latitudes, the only way to get to the States from our latitudes is by plane, unless you are planning a transatlantic cruise.
There are hundreds of flight options, I prefer Turkish Airlines with transfer to Istanbul or KLM with landing in Amsterdam if I fly to Los Angeles to the west coast. On the East Coast Ukrainian UIA flights fly non-stop or with a transfer via Vienna or Frankfurt - Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, United Airlines.
You can book a flight on the website of airlines, but it is better to use an aggregator airline sales and buy a budget flight in the direction To iev-los angeles , Moscow-Los Angeles, Kyiv-New York , Moscow-New York
Details about buying tickets: 9 Rules for Buying Cheap Flights
Booking accommodation for a trip to the USA
For me personally, the easiest and most enjoyable moment in preparing a trip, if the route is one city, then it is better to book in advance. When we had a long enough route along the coast, mountains and national park, I looked for and booked hotels or motels along the way. In the US, there is a fairly well-developed network of inexpensive motels costing between $50-70 for two, there are cheaper options, but I do not recommend it.
Cheap accommodation or hotels in the USA can be found through the booking system Hotels Combined (Room Guru), a service I use myself. The advantage of the service is that it compares the prices of dozens of booking systems - you just have to choose Best offer. In each article or report, I provide links to hotels where I have stayed and which I liked.
In addition, there are a couple of sites that stand apart:
www.priceline.com- in addition to comparing offers from different companies, like previous sites, it also allows you to name your price and offers it to airlines, hotels and rental companies. They often agree to it. Before payment, the name of the hotel or rental company is not known. The level of the hotel and its approximate location or type of car are known.
www.hotline.com– offers significant discounts, but before payment, they only show the level of the hotel and its approximate location or type of car, but not the exact name of the hotel or rental company.
In addition to hotels, you can rent a house, part of a house, an apartment or apartment through. Usually there is a kitchen and several bedrooms, which is convenient for families with children and large groups traveling together.
More accommodation booking sites:
- www.vrbo.com
- www.homeaway.com
- www.flipkey.com
Hotels can also be booked directly on their own websites. They often provide online coupons that are only valid when booking through their own websites.
Booking a car for a trip to the USA
America is an automobile country, and if this is a problem, then the planned travel pleasure will decrease several times. In the same Los Angeles Buses are used by either the homeless or package tourists. I would choose a car for travel, after all, America is not a bus country.
car rental It is possible together with the hotel, using popular sites that compare offers from different companies.
Websites of nationwide car rental companies with offices almost everywhere:
- www.hertz.com
- www.dollar.com
- www.enterprise.com
- www.nationalcar.com
- www.avis.com
- www.budget.com
- www.alamo.com
- www.thrifty.com
If you book directly with these companies, you can use all sorts of online coupons, which, with a certain knowledge of English, are quite easy to find on various forums. Google comes first here - a search for "car rental coupons" or "car rental discount codes" will give enough results to think about.
In addition to them, there are many more regional small companies that can have the best prices in a particular place.
If you do not want to overpay and want to receive rental offers, including from local companies, then it is better to use specialized car rental websites that compare offers from different companies. I use - simple and clear interface and always the best price.
Emotionally prepare for a trip to the USA
And tune in to receive the most powerful and pleasant emotions in your life. Prepare a camera, a few memory cards, so that upon arrival you can show off to your friends a selfie from or against the backdrop of New York skyscrapers, or maybe you are lucky in Las Vegas and you will become one of those whose American dream came true.
Websites that help you save money when planning your own trips
Aviasales- budget flights around the world
Room Guru- Search budget housing, hotels and apartments around the world and through all popular booking sites, including Agoda, Booking.com and other popular booking systems
Booking.com– familiar and convenient search and booking of accommodation around the world
– car rental worldwide with the possibility of free cancellation
Site for buying bus tickets in Europe and CIS countries
Readers!
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Initially, I did not plan to write about it, but there were many questions, about America in general and about the trip in particular, and it was interesting to plunge into memories and relive it again. After rummaging through notes, correspondence, chronology of google maps, I decided to arrange my trip in the form of experimental travel notes and a small landing page. I hope this information will help you when you plan your trip to America, or maybe it will just be interesting to read. In any case, do not judge strictly, since initially there was no plan to publish the material - the records were extremely rough and were kept mainly so that the memories were not confused and it would be possible to open someday and restore all the events.
Visa to USA
It all starts, of course, with a visa. Don't plan anything until you get that damned US Visa. There are rumors that getting a US visa is very difficult. But the devil is not so terrible, I will tell you about my experience.
The first thing I did - paid the visa fee - 160$ and mentally said goodbye to them (which I advise you too, since in case of refusal they are not returned). Then I filled out the questionnaire and signed up for an interview. At the time of filling out the questionnaire, I had already been unemployed for six months, which I indicated there, I also indicated that I was single and did not own any real estate. I did not take any additional information with me to the interview. There was only one visa in the passport - Indian and the stamps of crossing the border of Thailand were affixed. Only one question was asked during the interview English language) Why did he quit his job - he said for health reasons, after which the girl said Your visa is approved! And, frankly, it was very unexpected.
Tickets, Insurance, Accommodation booking
Next, I bought Moscow - New-York - Moscow tickets through the official Aeroflot website. But I always look for tickets through Google flights, although they say that it’s better to look through momondo through changing vpn and other dances with a tambourine, etc. but in the case of New York, I did not find a difference. I had a return ticket from New York on May 31, that is, 15 days after my arrival in America. I did this because I had read all sorts of tales that the border guards in New York might be suspicious about the purpose of my visit, so it would be better to have return ticket, and the ideal period that does not arouse suspicion is 2 weeks. So I had to buy a return ticket and let it burn, giving myself a better chance of getting through customs. Next time I won't do that. A round trip ticket cost me $36,893 And yes, it's expensive, but I had no choice because I had to move into a house in South Carolina by a certain date. Of course, you also need to buy insurance. I bought through the Alfa-insurance website and it cost me 300r.
Jazz on the Park Hostel
I also pre-booked the Hostel in New York. I advise you Jazz on the park Ideal location - opposite Central Park and relatively cheap. It is also worth noting that a lot double rooms If you're lucky you'll be alone in the room. Cramped, of course, but damn it, kamon, we're saving. For hostel bookings I usually use Hostelworld and sometimes Booking but recent times Hostelworld because they have a nicer phone app. One night in this hostel cost me 37.66$
After the air tickets were bought, insurance and accommodation booked, it remained to purchase bus tickets to Myrtle Beach. Because direct flight No, I had to take two tickets. The first New-York - Florence, SC bought on Go2Bus for 40$ second Florence, SC - Myrtle Beach, SC already on Greyhound in about 15$ . The stops of these companies are in different places and it's a bit far on foot, so check the schedule of city buses in google maps in advance. I had only an hour and a half between buses, and during this time only one bus went along the route I needed, thank God I did it. The bus cost 2,5$ .
Things to take with you from Russia
Plug adapter
There are other sockets in America, you won't be able to plug a European plug in there! Therefore, take care of buying an adapter in advance so as not to get into a situation where you cannot charge your phone upon arrival. in Russia it will be much cheaper.
Medicines
Be sure to stock up on the medicines that you constantly take, they are likely to be available in America, but many medicines can only be given to you if you provide a certificate from a doctor (Our certificates, of course, do not work). Therefore, most likely you will have to make an appointment with a local doctor, and everything related to medicine in the USA is very expensive!
In general, all the things that you will need for the first time will be cheaper to buy in Russia, except for clothes, the prices for clothes are the same
Driver's license
In America, our Russian rights (those that are pink) are valid, international ones are not needed. Take them even if you do not plan to drive a car, they will be useful to you in order to open a bank account and issue bank card, very often one passport is not enough, they need an id, our rights are just right for this.
First day in America
New York
Transport
The main transport in New York is taxis and the subway. Very developed in America Uber(register and get a discount on the first trips via the link) and its analogue Lyft. Be careful, the subway works according to some of its own schemes, not like everywhere else. There are trains that fly by certain stations, there are those that stop everywhere, the schemes of stations and transitions can be confusing, get ready to turn on your ingenuity. Either way, download the app. New York Subway(iOS / Android) with a subway map to your phone And there are traffic jams in the subway (you heard right! TRAIN TRAFFIC TRAFFIC!) so the time from point A to point B will not always be the same. Until you have the Internet, offline maps will come in handy, the best IMHO is Maps.Me(iOS / ) there, by the way, you can upload markers from Google maps.
Communications in America
It is better for you to buy a SIM card in the place where you plan to live most of your trip (roaming). If you are going to immediately go on a trip to America - buy a SIM card with packaged Internet, you can buy them at any walmart(you can buy everything there). For travel I bought T mobile when I lived in South Carolina I used family mobile but after a month of using the tariff becomes more expensive and I decided to give up my SIM card, since where I spent most of my time there was always Wi-Fi. And I also got a bunch of bailiffs who were looking for the previous owner of the number, which was very annoying. It is worth considering the fact that tourists can only use prepaid rates, in which there is no balance we are used to.
Jobs in South Carolina
There are a lot of illegal labor migrants in the USA, mostly Mexicans, but there are also a lot of our compatriots Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some of them have received legal status, some have been living illegally for many years and are satisfied with everything, some fly in for six months (this is how many tourists are allowed to stay in the states a year) and fly back. I will tell you about how things are with work in G. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina:
The easiest way to look for work in places where Russian work & travel students arrive for the summer is mainly work in the restaurant and entertainment industries. Most popular place are restaurants. There you can work on cooking/washing/clearing tables or if normal English be a waiter or hostess. The salary is usually paid in cash, the lowest rate and the most popular is $8 per hour.(yes, it's hourly wages). Somewhere you can work 10-14 hours a day, somewhere only 4-5, it all depends on the institution / owner / number of employees. Many people work two jobs.
There is a lot of housing in Myrtle Beach, but it is better to come a little earlier than students or at the same time with them - this is somewhere in the middle of May. I lived in a two-story house, 2.5 km from work. The house had two bedrooms: 4 girls lived in one, 4 guys lived in the other, there was a common living room and kitchen, on each floor there was a toilet and a shower. In 2016, living in such conditions on average cost 70-80$ in Week.
The most popular means of transport to get to work is by bike. In some cases, a car can pick you up for work, it depends on the employer. On the very first day I bought a two-wheeled friend at Walmart for 80$ and anti-theft (be sure to buy!). By the way, you can buy a used bike already with an anti-theft in the student center and then sell it there at the end of the season - all job / housing offers, information on trips and parties, see VK group.
Here is my bike, I recommend it to everyone! I am the only one in our house who has never punctured tires over the summer, as they are quite thick here, everyone else constantly made holes in their wheels due to some kind of thorns that are discarded by local bushes.
Great American Journey
Training
I had been preparing for the trip for a little over a month. Firstly, I started looking for like-minded fellow travelers, because traveling alone is much harder, much more expensive and boring. I found a company of three people: a couple from Slovakia Mayo and Eva and a girl from China - Anya, we met in FB group of foreign students J1- an international analogue of the VK group.
Using the messenger, we agreed on a common route, decided on the mandatory points, took into account the wishes of each, and then I was engaged in compiling more detailed plan, and Mayo - booking housing and renting a car. The girls at this time frivolously blissed out.
Route
Here is a map with our route, which I created on Google maps before the trip, I spent a little less than a month on it, as a result, we practically did not deviate from the route - we visited almost everything we wanted and this is a great success, I think. All the way made up 5,722 km and this is just a clean route, the total mileage is of course more, but we got confused due to a change of car and we don’t know the total mileage. We didn't meet anyone on the road. paid section, as long as I remember. Only the Golden Gate Bridge was paid, it is paid according to the same principle that we have fines in Russia. That is, you will have to pay when you return the car. Map pins can be exported to be transferred to Maps.me or other similar application.
Flights
After analyzing the route, we decided that it would be best for us to fly to Denver. Initially, options were considered for traveling by car from South Carolina to West Coast, but due to the uneven accumulation of attractions in the western part and the limited time and funds, we decided to start the trip from Denver anyway. Tickets were also searched on Google flights and the cheapest option was a flight with a transfer in Cleveland. We bought tickets directly through the websites of Spirit and Frontier Airlines. Be careful, read every fad, pay attention to every tick, as low-cost airlines tend to impose Additional services. I only bought a seat and luggage. pay attention to hand luggage, it must correspond to the indicated dimensions. An ordinary everyday backpack is quite rolled. There are no difficulties with domestic flights, a plane for US residents is like a bus for Russians. There is a possibility of flight delays and confusion with luggage, so do not take flights with very short connecting intervals and be prepared for any surprises. Our flight was eventually delayed, but not for long, we managed to catch our flight. Denver Airport is one of the largest in the world, so it will take longer to travel from terminal to terminal than at Moscow airports, for example.
Rent a Car
When renting a car, you should pay attention to the fact that not all American sites will take into account that you are a foreigner, and as a result, the prices on the site will not correspond to those that you will hear in the end. After researching the forums, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to rent a car on the European site, since it takes into account the fact that you are a tourist. So here is the site through which we booked our car on drive-usa.de we chose the most a budget option- company Alamo. For four people it is obligatory to take a class car SUV. The final price is affected by the fact that the dropoff point will be in another state, if you return back and return the car to the same place where you took it, it will be much cheaper. All drivers need to have a driver's license, not necessarily an international one, our pink is quite rolling, don't forget it! All drivers at the time of registration of the lease must be 25 years! Otherwise, for each day of rent you have to pay a very hefty additional fee (fee). Renting a car with all the goodies cost us 1200$ on the 24 day. Pick-up points are usually located at airports. In Denver, after arriving, we boarded an Alamo shuttle bass and he drove us right to the office door where we were quickly done. You need to have a driver's license, passport and bank card with you, and (Attention!) credit!. But not everything is so scary. Our Russian debit personalized cards are rolled as if they were credit cards. But if you made yourself a local American debit card, it will not work, since all US debit cards indicate that it is a debit card. Another important point is that you do not book any particular car, you book only a class and at the pick-up station you will be offered a choice of one of the cars. We chose Jeep Patriot- a large comfortable jeep, but this feeling that it is big is deceptive! Be sure to check your trunk. Initially, there were three of us, since Anya was supposed to join us later, and for three such a car would have been quite suitable, but when Anya arrived with her suitcases, one of which could fit me myself, I had to change the car to a more spacious one - Hyundai Santa Fe under the pretext that the steering wheel was slightly to the left (it was true).
Gasoline, if translated into Russian liters, cost approximately 70 cents per liter. By American standards, this $2.65 per gallon. But the prices are different everywhere, I took these figures from one of my photos, I don’t remember about other gas stations, but it didn’t seem to be much different.I advise you to read more about booking a car on the Vinsky forum.
Even though the Santa Fe is bigger, it was still packed to capacity.
Accommodation booking
All the accommodations that we booked in advance are accommodations on Airbnb(for registration, follow the link) We booked accommodation only in cities, in other places we used campsites, we will talk about them later. Airnbnb is the most cost effective solution in the States if you are traveling as a group of four. The service is highly developed and all the hosts that we came across are the kindest people, I recommend this service to everyone. In Chicago and New York, I booked hostels through Hostelworld, which I have already mentioned above.
Necessary things in a trip
Now we will talk about those things that you will need if you live mainly in campsites. To begin with, they can be purchased at any Walmart. And now there will be a very important life hack! You can return all these things and get all your money back! To do this, save all receipts, carefully remove all labels and carefully fold the packing boxes. After use, bring things to a condition close to new and pack in the same way as they were originally packed. In any Walmart in America, approach a special person who is in charge of receiving things (there is even a queue) and say that you did not use these things and you are renting them out as unnecessary or because you didn’t like some property or there is some missing property, it is important that the checks do not fray on the folds, store them carefully. We returned everything, except for the tents (they were poorly cleaned).
So, here is a list of things that I strongly recommend that you take with you:
Communication and navigation in travel
Buy yourself a SIM card for the Internet, explain that you will need to travel to different states, I bought myself T mobile with limited prepaid traffic. Since Mayo and Eva used European phones and they do not support American communication frequencies, I had to fumble my far from fast Internet for everyone. There was no Internet in 90% of cases. In the absence of the Internet, you will need offline maps - I recommend Maps.Me, which I mentioned above, or you can rent a navigator along with a car for an additional fee. We used Maps.me mostly and occasionally Google Maps in places where there was Internet, that is, in large cities.
Camping
Camping in Monument Valley
Camping in the US is very common. Moreover, trailers and trailer parking are even more widespread. Almost always trailer parking has tent sites with it - places for tents. The payment is made for the car, often three tents can be freely put up on the allocated place. There is almost always a table. Sometimes a place for a fire. In places where bears live, there are special anti-bear boxes where you need to remove smelling products and hygiene products in order to protect yourself and the clubfoot. Also, almost always in the campsite there is a hot shower, toilet and wi-fi. Sometimes there are laundry facilities but for a fee. But we did our laundry mostly in airnbnb houses, and once in a real local laundry in Las Vegas.
I will tell you one more life hack: You need to pay for camping at the entrance to a special ranger, but a special ranger sleeps at night and after 22.00 his window is closed, so you can safely call in and set up tents and pay in the morning. In the morning at 06.00, the ranger is still sleeping peacefully, and it’s time for you to go, you won’t wait for this damned ranger, so thank God for an excellent lodging for the night, kiss the ground and leave. I think the philosophy is clear.
National parks
Visiting the National Parks was the main goal of our trip to America and we visited as many as 9 of them! If you visit more than two parks, it makes sense to buy annual pass(annual pass) to all US national parks, by the way, there are 59 of them in total. Such a pass is worth 80$ and applies to all passengers of the car, if you divide it by four, as in our case, it turns out - a penny. You can buy an Annual pass at a checkpoint in any park. At the entrance to the territory you will be given a booklet with general information and a map of the park on a spread, I really liked this moment, as a result I collected a good collection of booklets.
Each national park is unique and you should first familiarize yourself with each of them a little, since there is an official website with detailed maps trails, viewpoints, campsites, etc. There is a lot of information on the Internet about parks, you just need your patience. Be prepared that one day is extremely short for any park, so choose the main places that you want to visit for sure, and which ones if possible. Make a flexible schedule, there are a million situations that can affect the course of your trip.
Picnic area in Yellowstone
Each park has a developed road system with lots of parking lots, restrooms and places where you can cook ( picnic area) and a comfortable meal at fresh air. It's the same everywhere visitor center - a kind of park administration. Museums and souvenir shops are usually located next to it. And of course, you can have a bite to eat and drink coffee there. Many parks have campsites and hotels, prices are usually higher than those outside the territory, and besides, there are often no free places. But we encountered difficulties only in Yellowstone, in other parks everything seemed to be normal.
National parks are the pride of America, they managed to make the real wildlife coexisted with a comfortable modern infrastructure for tourists and that it did not affect it in any way. I just want to clap while standing and say thank you to the American people for creating such parks, this is truly a miracle that I would not exchange for any museum in the world. To be in America and not visit any of its parks is a crime.
Food
We cooked mostly ourselves on our propane burner. Most often it was pasta, canned food, eggs, coffee and all sorts of sweets. Food was almost always bought at Walmart. On the trails we ate great American fast food and coffee and donuts. In cities, they threw all the same muck from Macdonalds, KFC, Starbucks and Subway. American cuisine is fast food, so spit and enjoy - if you walk as much as we do, then no McDonald's is scary for your butts.
Well, my short digression is over, I hope you were interested and it will help you plan your own trip to America. If you have any questions, you can write
For those who want to organize a trip to the cities of the United States, I can give some practical advice.
· To begin visa application preferably no later than 2.5-3 months before the intended date of travel. We got a visa for 3 years, it cost then about 5,000 rubles.
· First, fill out the application form on the embassy website, choose the date of the interview, prepare the necessary documents (those that confirm that you have no migration intentions, for example, a certificate of employment, a bank card statement, a certificate of ownership, etc.), on day X you go to the embassy with all these documents. Tips from Vinsky's forum they helped us a lot in obtaining a visa (http://awd.ru/kak-poluchit-vizu-usa/).
Whole route it is advisable to think it over in advance so that you don’t get distracted by this while traveling, but just enjoy it. We booked all hotels, domestic flights, bus tickets in advance online.
Travel to the US without plastic bank card- useless. Without it, you won’t even be able to check into the hotel (before checking in, they spend it in case you break something or smoke in the room). And it’s even better to take two cards, otherwise your bank will suddenly block one of them (this also happens).
We booked hotels on booking.com.
The average cost of 1 night in a more or less decent hotel is about $100-150. Need to book hotels with a rating of at least 7.
· There are very expensive hotels in New York.
We barely found an acceptable option for us. Is this a hotel Sleep Inn in Queens. About $120 per night, near a subway station (about 15 minutes to Manhattan). There is also a laundry nearby and a seemingly inconspicuous but very tasty Chinese takeaway shop.
We also spent 1 night at a hotel in Brooklyn but would not recommend. The area is restless, although the hotels are cheaper.
· Excursion to Niagara Falls we booked on http://www.taketours.com. It turned out about 6,000 rubles for two.
The trip is two days, with an overnight stay at the hotel. All food, museum tickets, observation deck, on the ship, etc. at your expense (so in any case you have to pay extra).
Surprisingly, they brought us to some kind of glass museum, and then to a store so that we could buy something there (so this practice is developed not only in Turkey and Egypt).
Tickets New York- Los Angeles-New York we booked on http://www.onetwotrip.com/ . For two there and back it turned out about 20,000 rubles.
· If you are going to Los Angeles, do not forget to bring a hoodie and a good sunscreen. AT pacific ocean it is unlikely that it will be possible to buy, because the water in it is icy (but the Atlantic is very warm).
Los Angeles bus ticket Las Vegas-We booked Los Angeles at http://us.megabus.com. Drive 5 hours.
For two there and back it turned out about 1600 rubles.
· After paying online for hotels, tickets and excursions, your e-mail will be sent confirmation. Be sure to print them out and take them with you.
in Las Vegas very inexpensive but luxurious hotels.
Do not get carried away playing slot machines there, because. tightens and money quietly fly away. In general, slot games are absolutely meaningless and illogical.
・Don't go to Grand Canyon to the famous observation deck with a transparent floor. First, it is very expensive. Secondly, she is small. Thirdly, you can not take pictures! It's better to just find a place with an amazing view. Although the view is beautiful from everywhere!
· Cars we rented on the site http://www.dollar.com.
If you are under the age of 24 (i.e. "young driver"), then the rent will be more expensive for you.
You can take a car in one place and return it in another city (you can specify all the details in advance on the website).
It is not necessary to issue international rights. Our Russian rights are valid for them (the main thing is that your name and surname should be written in Latin letters there).
Be careful with parking lots (carefully read all the signs). Fines for parking in the wrong place are high. In general, they have very high fines, so traffic rules and speed mode must also be followed!
In summer in all establishments (cafes, shops, airports, buses, etc.) air conditioners are running at full capacity. Keep this in mind. It's very easy to catch a cold there.
· Tap water you can drink in the USA. FROM drinking water there are no problems at all - almost everywhere there are “fountain sinks” like in films. In almost any restaurant, they bring a jug of water for free as soon as you sit down at the table (also from the tap, by the way).
・If you may need medicines when traveling, take them with you. Because in the US, everything is prescription (except for ibuprofen, cough syrup, diarrhea and allergy pills). And be sure to arrange medical insurance, because medicine is outrageously expensive. Insurance can be issued online at www.cherehapa.ru (and do not forget to print it out).
· And of course, don't forget to take a good mood with you! Enjoy your new discoveries!
America. It is worth going here at least once for the spirit of freedom, urban atypicality and, of course, the greatness of the unique nature!
My trip to the States lasted 6 months, I just brought my body to this continent and decided to see what would come of it. There was a great desire to visit a lot national parks, but I had no idea how to do it with my ridiculous budget. In my head there was only porridge about prohibitions, rules, someone else's freedom and the far-fetched high cost of everything around.
I still come across people who carefully keep the belief that planes are a super-outrageous luxury, and a flight to the USA costs a thousand bucks. Are you guys serious?! Yes, in Russia, I increasingly see tickets for trains that are more expensive than planes. The development of technology and the competition of airlines are ready to give you tickets almost for nothing, take at least the growing number of low-cost airlines.
The cheapest flights to America from everyone's favorite Europe. average price$ 130 (there are offers from $ 50), in order to find these tickets, you need, firstly, to plan your trip in advance so that you can buy tickets in advance, and secondly, to scan sites for tickets for some time until they appear interesting options(note the Vandrouki website, there are a lot of good suggestions and check options).
*Sometimes from Moscow there are tickets for 15,000 rubles round trip, incl. Aeroflot (added from comments). Check for tickets too.
Sometimes there are good prices from Moscow, but most often it’s all the same with a transfer in Europe, and so that there are no various misunderstandings with transit zone(and I hear similar stories more and more often), it’s better to get a Schengen visa just in case. This process is elementary.
How to get a visa to Europe for ordinary, mortal, non-working, autotop workers, I have described:
- (Finnish, Schengen expense $ 65 plus from 30 rubles a day),
- and (Spanish, easy to get, but you need a certificate from the bank on the availability of funds).
Round-trip flight to the USA from Europe within $400. We flew from Madrid to Las Vegas for $180 with a layover in Oslo.
Housing. Where to sleep in the USA cheap
It is very, very logical that there will be no prices for hotels and hostels, we exclude this. Although I’ll say just in case that we were somehow rented a room in LA for a hundred bucks and cockroaches ran over our toasts! So you just go broke on normal numbers.
We take a tent with us and remember about your profile on the hospitality site. For the period of stay in the city, we find someone to stay, in national parks we sleep in a tent.
You can buy a fitness subscription from $10 (a large network that exists in many cities) and go there to take a shower, I think it's convenient. Sometimes there is no registration (according to couchsurfing there are no people ready to accept us, or they have sudden business), then we sleep in a tent in the city.
In the USA, a lot of homeless people live on the streets, and not all of them are drug addicts, alcoholics or psychos, many are quite adequate and look very good, but they sleep on the street in a tent. Yes, a backpack with foam and a tent is a set of a typical American bum. In Las Vegas, we felt very well all the salt of their life, and in Los Angeles, even homeless social workers gave us cards for food and travel, finding us in the tent in the morning.
Free showers can be found at gas stations for trucks, truckers are given free shower coupons as a bonus for refueling a truck, you just need to tell them about your trip and ask.
Movement in the States
Bicycles!
The first brilliant idea that came into our bright minds was to buy bicycles and slowly, with a breeze and a spirit of freedom, try to understand what is happening in this country in general.
At our service is a Walmart store, we bought bicycles and everything necessary for their repair here. During three months the store is ready to return money for the goods without the need to explain the reason for the return. Very convenient free rental, I recommend.
Prices for bikes are 70-200 dollars. As soon as we stopped liking one of the bikes, we calmly handed it over and bought another, better one.
Minus this idea in scorching sun desert. If your trip is from March to September and you plan to cross the western part of America, be sure to check the weather. When I overheated in the sun, I could only lie under a bush, make lowing noises and sleep, and this slightly slows down the journey.
Pros a lot of this stuff. The main ones are, of course, mobility, independence and secrecy. It is very easy to bypass the payment points at the entrances to the National Parks, just as easily you can spend the night anywhere, hiding behind a bush or a stone, without paying for camping.
Another plus is the indisputable image of travelers, here the attitude towards you is different, many ask about the need for help, they give food, water, but this is only when we leave the city. In the city, we are no different from the homeless, at least in Las Vegas, where we were based for the first time, homeless vagrants often look better than us, and they have expensive brands of backpacks with bicycles ..
In cities, as a rule, there are special paths for cyclists, if they are not there, then you still feel confident, the drivers are quite adequate (the complete opposite of Vietnam, for example). Outside the city, we moved along the autobahns, I don’t know if this is legal, but the police did not stop us.
When we were rewinding our trunks in complete darkness, in the American wilderness, they drove up to us and asked if we needed help. When our camera exploded, we always found someone who would give us his spare, well, that is, they found us themselves. Once, those we met did not have a spare camera and they took us to a store in the nearest city in their pickup truck.
For the night we set up a tent anywhere near the track, or in a secluded place in the park. If you are traveling in the summer season, you need to be attentive to the presence of snakes, scorpions and tarantulas, go into the grass only with a stick and it is better before dark. We personally met with a rattlesnake, which we almost stepped on, it rattled loudly, my indifference about living creatures dissipated in an instant, be careful in general. We also saw tarantulas in their natural habitat more than once.
Bicycles visited 2 national parks (Lake Mead with Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire) and 1 state park (Red Rock), in time - 30 days, in distance - about 700 kilometers (for a very long time we got used to the heat, lay in the shade , waiting for the sunburn to pass, the temperature was stable over 40 Celsius, at night it often did not fall below 25.
Our bike trip ended as spontaneously as it began, I came across an entry on the Internet about looking for people to travel together in the USA in a rented car, and I thought that this was my dream. Having calculated the remaining money, I realized that there was enough for this venture, if I ate just a little bit, in general, back to back, but I could no longer be stopped. We returned our bikes to the store and took the next bus from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, where the Russian team was arriving shortly.
Traveling with a rented car
For one month our home was a Dodge Caravan that we rented for $70 a day, it was unforgettable. We had one baby six months old, different stories with the police, a lot of snow and beauty.
If you are planning a month-long journey, then it will be cheaper to buy a car than to rent. Especially if you are a master felt-tip pen and like to delve into these pieces of iron.
Price from 1000 bucks (60 thousand rubles), You can see the options for example here: sfbay.craigslist.org
The ideal state for buying a car is California, here everyone does not care about your rights and citizenship.
It is better to rent through different aggregators like Kayak.ru. The whole point of renting a car is its insurance, since you are a foreigner it will cost you a fortune. Perfect option -
take a car to a big company, like us.
There is a variant of another adventure: on the site autodriveaway.com - the owner of the car needs to drive a car from one city to another, sometimes across the country, and he is looking for a way to save on the services of drivers. This is the perfect way to see the country cheaply and tastefully! The number of days is of course limited, and you can’t deviate much from the route, but you can always visit something interesting along the way. You only pay for gas, but very often this pays off with a generous tip upon arrival at your destination.
Gasoline is not quite expensive, in some places even very cheap ($2-4 per gallon (3.78 liters), it's like 32 rubles per liter. It is better to pay for gasoline in cash, they always take a commission for the card and the price differs from that indicated on the scoreboard.
The journey took 30 days.
Distance traveled: 7250 miles (11920 kilometers, further than from Moscow to Vladivostok). Covered 9 northwestern states.
Money spent:
$983 for gasoline
$246 for food, that is, 100 rubles a day per person!
$150 to visit parks (price per pass and entrances to state parks)
27 nights spent in a tent, 3 nights in friends' apartments.
Of all the nights spent in the tent, four did not contradict the law and rules.
4 times dealt with the police.
1 time drove into the car in the parking lot.
Visited 9 National Parks:
Joshua Three National Park
Yosemite
Rushmore nat. monument
devil's tower
Yellowstone
Mount Rainier
North Cascades
Olympic
Crater Lake
6 State Parks:
Calaveras
Custer
Palouse Falls
cape perpetua
Oregon Dunes
Silver Falls
4 cities:
San Francisco
Salt Lake City
Seattle
Portland
And drove most of the east coast of America on the first route along the Pacific Ocean!
As for the police and rights, the states have a slightly different control system, here you will never meet a semblance of traffic police, no one will be waiting for you behind the bushes to check if you are drunk or under something.
If you do not violate, they do not stop you, and vice versa, if you violate, then the highway patrol calculates you, turns on flashing lights and attaches itself to the back, if you see bright lights chasing you, this means that you need to snuggle up to the side of the road and wait in the car, putting hands on the steering wheel. I know several people who drive perfectly, without breaking, but without a license, and for several years there were no problems with the police.
Peculiarity budget travel by car is an evening adventure to find places to sleep. If on a bicycle you can turn off the road anywhere and crash camping in nowhere, feeling calm and wonderful there, then by car you need to find appropriate place for parking, Here, according to the principle “Everything that is not prohibited is allowed”, we scanned the rest area parking lots for signs prohibiting night parking. If this is not available, then we stayed, Lesya's mother slept in the tent with the child, and the remaining team members left to look for places for two tents. As a rule, there are no secret places in such parking lots, so we just parked on the edge, and this is no longer legal, so we woke up at dawn and pretended that nothing had happened.
There are also quite a few states on the map green areas marked “National forest”, in the territory of these forests it is legal to park a car, set up a tent camp and burn fires, the main thing is to do it away from the road.
On the territory of national parks, we found an official campsite, parked a car there, set up a tent after sunset, when the rangers were already leaving, and gathered at dawn, thus saving a fortune.
Aircraft inside the USA
They fly across America in all directions, the minimum cost of tickets is $50, although there are some mystical low-cost airlines, but not everywhere and not always. And why deprive yourself of the pleasure of seeing the American outback from the window of a bus or car. Although, when we realized that we didn’t have time to hitchhike to New York, and the 6 months allotted for us on a visa would soon end, we took a plane from Chicago to New York.
Buses in the USA
The most budget option for moving around the states, not counting hitchhiking, is buses. The two main services megabus.com and www.greyhound.com staged an auction of unprecedented generosity and sell tickets from $ 1 if you buy in advance. The routes do not cover all of America, but you can go to many places and with amenities (free Internet, sockets, toilets). So, we drove from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and from San Francisco to Los Angeles for $5. But the most beautiful adventure was the bus from Texas to Chicago, 22 hours for $15.
The Americans themselves prefer to fly by planes, so in our bus from Texas there were only blacks, reading the repentine and creating inadequate, but this is fun).
We hitchhiked approximately 6,000 kilometers across six states. During these 54 days, money was spent:
- for food $ 270 (143 rubles a day per person),
- 34$ for public transport in cities,
- $10 for laundry
- $18 for gas cylinders,
- $47 for clothes
- $58 for permits in the parks (mostly they did not pay, but sometimes they had to),
- $40 for little things.
Hitchhiking is generally legal, but some states still list it as illegal, although the police themselves do not know about it. But to feel confident, you can find information about the legality and difficulty of hitchhiking in a particular state here: hitchwiki.org/en/United_States_of_America
In order to stop the first car, we got out to the outskirts of the city, walked to the freeway check-in and waved our hand, making it clear that we needed a lift.
They stopped more willingly than not, took us far, fed us, worried about us, told us about the beauties nearby.
I really like American hitchhiking because of the diversity of cultures here, everyone from Africans to Colombians consider themselves locals, an amazing mix of nationalities who grew up in American culture. Trucks rarely stopped, mostly wide cars with huge wheels, here they love space in everything.
Police came to our soul only once, when we did not leave before dark, and were gloomy silhouettes in the darkness of the night, and this is already suspicious. It was explained to us that it was not safe and illegal to stand on the roads to the highway, even if it was the best place for our business. We were sent to a deserted gas station and wished good luck.
In the light of day, under these same circumstances, police cars just drive by, because they see that we seem to be adequate.
Appearance. In America, it is very important to look neat, your appearance is 90% of success. This is probably why lonely hip-looking guys with a big beard are not very lucky here. But put a girl next to you - there is already more trust.
Sometimes the most narrow-minded policemen can tell you about the impossibility and illegality of hitchhiking, in which case I would take a bus to another exit from the city and stop the car there.
The most unfavorable places for hitchhiking - near big cities, or, even worse, in urban areas. The deserted expanses of "nowhere" are the most favorable places for hitchhiking, where you look quite unambiguously like people who want to go somewhere. Although once we were not badly stuck in the north of Utah, where there are not so many cars, but on our arrival there was one at a time in fifteen minutes. Stayed for two hours, which is rare.
On hitches we drove through 6 states, winding between national parks. In those parks where it was not found free buses, we also hitchhiked, learned that each park has its own laws on this matter, and even if hitchhiking is legal in the state, it may be prohibited in the park. So, in the Carlsbad Caves park, several rangers stopped us and said that we were doing something illegal, they told us to walk and not try to stop the car anymore, but after walking 15 kilometers, we still caught the car before the exit.
Hypermarket parking lots. If you are stuck in the city, and the police ruthlessly drive you from the entrance to the highway, or it is very far from it, then it is most logical to find a large hypermarket, such as Walmart, and slow down the cars at the exit from the parking lot, asking them to take you to the entrance to the highway, they ate , relaxed and not difficult for them.
Gas stations. As for gas stations within the city, it seemed to me that this was not the best idea. Truckers do not understand where they are going, and when asked if they are going north, with fear in their eyes they automatically name the opposite side of the world.
But with this type of travel, I can't guarantee you will have the same experience, just know that hitchhiking exists and I personally had an incredible experience during two months of such an adventure!
Food
For food, we spent no more than $ 5 for two a day (150 rubles each), with different types movement, this figure varied slightly. For a large company with a rented car, where you can store huge packages of rice, pasta, beans - we spent 100 rubles a day per person, although we ate heartily!
The secret to economy and variety is the gas cylinder, burner and large packages. When traveling by car, there was always oatmeal with bananas for breakfast, salad and pasta for lunch, diversity and sweets for dinner. Sure, we looked a little weird, sprawled out on the sidewalk, or in the parking lot with all our plates. Once seeing us with all the staff in the library parking lot, the librarian called the sheriff, saying that we were cooking amphetamine here early in the morning! But in general, apart from the awareness of their absurdity, there were no problems.
Fast food. In general, America is a country of fast food, in any parking lot and McDonald's and Fatburger, and Kingburger, this stuff is enough. Yes, you can really find dollar burgers and free unlimited soda there (just find a glass in the area and refil indefinitely). Be sure to install the McDonald's USA app, thanks to it I had free ice cream and food every day, without having to buy anything, Americans love coupons.
The shops. It's good to save money with stores where all goods are for the dollar "99 cents Only", "Dollar Tree", there is absolutely everything that we ate every day. The Walmart or SafeWay chain always has a counter with sales of sweets, and the prices in them are generally pleasant.
The longer you stay in America, the more budgetary you start to live. This country is beautiful with its price contrasts. You can buy two kilos of bananas for $ 1, and in the store opposite for $ 7, and so on everywhere. To buy products for the house, you need to go around at least 4 stores and then it will be as budget-friendly as possible. But this is only if you stay somewhere for a long time.
If you just need to shop and not sweat, then let it be walmart. Also here, the prices are indicated without a tax, that is, you will go to the checkout and see other prices from those on the price tags, this is always a surprise. Unless the first-use products (bread, milk, eggs ..) are not taxed, and in each state the amount of the tax is different.
The key to your savings is a burner and a pot, you will still "love" this romance of cooking pasta for dinner ... Gas cylinders are sold in the same Walmart for $ 8 large, $ 4 small and $ 2 "dichlorvos". If you have multi-fuel, then this is the cheapest option, but it often clogs even with high-grade gasoline.
Free food. AT big cities they often distribute food to the homeless and the needy, you can ask local vagrants where these places are. In the city of Fresno, we somehow accidentally came across a park where all the tramps had a loaf and a pie, moving towards a concentration of people, we came to a car full of muffins, cheese baguettes, pies and loaves. Not expired at all, they just give it to everyone who wants it.
It's no secret to anyone that modern world where supply exceeds demand, a lot of good food is thrown into the trash every day. Well, for example, every morning a certain amount of pastries are baked in this store, and everything that is not sold goes to the trash by 9 o’clock in the evening, in a beautiful package, because there will be fresh buns in the morning. Well, you know what I mean….
Here is one of the sites dumpstermap.org
Entrance, Annual Pass. If you plan to travel around the national park, then at the entrance to the first one, be sure to buy an Annual Pass for all parks. Its cost is $80, it is valid for a year and pays off very quickly. You need one pass per car, if you suddenly enter the park without a car, you still need only one pass. At the entrance you need to show your passport, they check your photo with you and signatures. If your trip ended before December, then the pass can be sold, the signatures are easily erased. You can also buy someone's pass through the Amazon website, or by hand.
Overnight stays. In national parks, it is necessary to spend the night in specially designated paid campgrounds. This is a place with cleared ground for tents, a metal fire pit, a clean toilet and possibly a shower.
Life hack. As a rule, a box with envelopes is attached to the information stand. You must take one, fill in the information, put the indicated amount into it and lower it into another box, after tearing off the label, with the number on the envelope, by which you can be checked. We arrived at about eight o'clock in the evening, when the rangers were already leaving, took this envelope, collected the indicated amount in it, but never dropped it into another box. If the check did not come, but it did not come, we sorted the money back and threw out the envelope at the exit. And if she had come, we would have explained in clumsy English that we were stupid tourists.
My favorite state is Utah, it has an amazing red-yellow color, it is indented with canyons and rich in beautiful natural arches, in this state, nature moves with the wind, weathers, crumbles, transforms ..
In the USA, I got to know and feel all kinds of deserts, and prickly, and rocky, and with snakes, and with dunes, and with white lizards, and with giant cacti and without, and even the one where the sky merges with the horizon and everything is lost idea of reality.
In the USA, I saw how close volcanoes, craters, lakes, the same deserts, dense forests, ocean shores, mountain wilderness, advanced civilization, geysers, wild deer, different cultures, snowdrifts and hot springs are from each other. .
