Help me,im scared&hungry! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

Mogwai_ · 03-21-2004, 04:28 PM

Been looking round the board for a few days and it seems like you ppl have some good advice so thought id ask for your help!Am leaving for New York on the 27th of April,gonna be in USA for a bit more than 2 Months but im only gonna have about $3000 after flights,is this enough?or am i gonna have to sell one of kidneys on e-bay before i leave?!

Would really like to get over to california to see the bay area, and the national parks e.t.c. If anyones got any useful links/advice on bus companies or other cheap means of transport it'd be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!

**Sijuki** · 03-21-2004, 08:29 PM

If you have the time to kill the cheapest way to travel is Greyhound Bus... As long as you live cheaply.. $3k should last ya for a couple months. Although I don't know what hostel rates are in the states. and I know hotels can get pricey. Perhaps try and find some place to board cheaply.

**MolsonGirl** · 03-21-2004, 08:46 PM

As long as you don't stay in expensive places you should be fine for money, the trip over to Cali might take up some of your cash (as it is the other side of the country) but I agree Bus it and you should be fine (although crampped from the very looong bus ride )

BAussie · 03-22-2004, 01:19 AM

how much do you get for a kidney these days????

If your not interested in a long, long bus ride that will stop at the worst places for crap food

but you could meet some very interesting people

might try jet blue cheap airline.

in Ny I stayed at chelsea hostel not to bad but you might be able to find somewhere cheaper, but free pizza on a wednesday night did it for me, as I was only there for a couple of days

Mogwai_ · 03-22-2004, 04:43 PM

Thanks for the replies people!
Yeah i was considering gettin an internal flight from NY to La, and then getting buses back, it seems like a cheaper option,only about £90!Has anyone ever travelled using green tortoise? whats it like?! Does anyone know what I can be expecting to pay for hostels, iv'e read that the average out of big cities is about $10-20, is that about right?
One last thing, how strictly is the alcohol law enforced in the states?Im 19, is there any way i'l be able to get served in bars or am i gonna have to give up drinking for a few months?!

P.s Thanks for the link BAussie, think thats prob. about as cheap as i can get in NY,cant say no to free pizza!

**Diorama** · 03-22-2004, 05:48 PM

mogwai- i travelled with green tortoise thru costa rica. but it's the same kinda deal. Cheap trip, camping/sleeping on the bus, cooking meals etc. I thought it was ok. It wasn't great, but for the prices it was fine. I just found that the conditions were so cramped. ANd after a while the bus stank soooooooo bad and everybodys stuff was everywhere and everything was sandy, dirty and wet. it was pretty disgusting. And your stuck with a group of peeps in one bus, so imagine if u don't really like somebody then your stuck with them! Like on my trip I had a group of annoying girls, and near the end of my trip I had to restrain myself from telling them off. So you have to weigh the pro's and cons. B)

**Fedfe** · 03-22-2004, 08:23 PM

Mogwai, first of all, great name!
Secondly, I'm not sure, I have never tried to drink in the States, but I do know that up here in Canada the drinking age is 19, and some places even 18! So give us a visit!!!!!

**MolsonGirl** · 03-22-2004, 09:32 PM

The drinking Laws are VERY strictly enforced at bars... you're best bet is to find someone older and ask them to buy stuff for you at the grocery store (lucky bums here in Ontario we have specific stores you can buy alcohol from.) But the drinking age is 21... you'll find some all ages clubs, but unless you're willing to slip the bouncers some cash (which almost got me arrested once in my younger years

) you're not very likely to get in to normal bars... too bad you're on a limited budget cause you could easily aquire a fake ID in NY... although that too almost got me arrested... I think they like to pick on Canadian's down in the States..

**MolsonGirl** · 03-22-2004, 09:33 PM

I'd like to add that I've never been arrested for anything... but I'm a girl who likes to flirt with danger while maintain my "good girl" image. B)

Mogwai_ · 03-23-2004, 03:11 AM

Yeah i can see how the green tortoise thing could get annoying if you got stuck with a bunch of bastards!

maybe il just stick to greyhound!
We were planning on trying to get to Canada anyway to visit my g/f's mums hometown, what are the hostel prices like up there?
Molson: U mean buy one off a sketchy gansta' on the street? I'v found some on the internet for about £10 but they look fairly dodgy! Maybe i'll just tamper with my driving liscense.......

could be seeing you in jail very soon!
Right, off to work!working about 20 hrs overtime to try and get more $'s for my trip!

PhilBill · 03-23-2004, 05:24 AM

During the spring you should be able to find FREE DRIVEAWAY CAR DELIVERY offers ( you pay only for gas ) from the popular warmer "snowbird" enclaves in Florida, southern California, Arizona etc driving back to the colder, northern cities like New York Metro, Chicago, Detriot etc.

The opposite is available in the fall. You can usually find these in local newspaper ads but probably by now some source would be on the internet. I'll do some searches for you and let you know what I come up with.

Also, another way to save on transport is by checking at large universities' bulletin boards for students' SHARE GAS offers from students driving across the country on trips of a 1000 miles of more.

There's a thin Backpacker Accomodation Guidebook written and published by a guy who owns a hostel in San Diego and Los Angeles, ( Venice Beach area maybe ) which lists every campground, youth hostel and budget motels in the States. Maybe I can find it in one of the boxes I've packed.

Of course it depends on how light you travel and what your appearance is but meeting people in bars or festivals or other events can lead to a whole network of sofa surfing free stays.

You can't beat lunch special offers in the States, especially Chinese for U$4 to U$6 so make that your BIG meal for the day. Most supermarkets ave delis so it's fresh and cheaper to make sandwiches or baked chickens for "picnics in the park".

**Canadian Dude** · 03-23-2004, 05:48 AM

Quote:

FREE DRIVEAWAY CAR DELIVERY

Thats would be a great idea, just don't forget your international drivers licence.....

US like Canada, lots of space for big box stores!!! Super MArkets are not hard to come by, which means cheaper food fopr you...avaoid the convience stores they charge a nice mark up for the "convience"

As for your hostels...you can book those right through this site...

TravelPunk Hostels Its a good service, and I have used it myself...and it helps support this site...

Greyhound there are country passes available, that might be an option to ya to keep costs down...

I think if you play it right, you should be ok...

katetacular · 04-22-2004, 12:23 PM

Its not too hard to live cheap in the US (hell I've been doing it for 24 years!) but the most important thing to remember is to not go all out. Make fast food your friend. If you stick with the dollar menu that most restaurants have, you can have a pretty decent meal for about $2-3. Like anywhere else, the nicer the place looks, the more expensive it will be. Word to the wise on budget sleeping. The US isnt as big on hostels as other nations are (I think here in Detroit we may have one and its nowhere near anything of note); so dont just rely on finding something when you get there. Most big cities have a few, but sometimes they may be hard to find or not worth the hassle for the cost and the accomodations. You can get some pretty decent hotels for like $45/night if you search for them, of course they'll be more in the big cities. There are a lot of chains and they are usually not bad in price or accomodation. BUT.....personally I would steer CLEAR of Travelodge Hotels. I have been to a couple and every time I have have been the most disgusting, sketchy nights I have spent travelling yet. One time, when I was in Chicago, I had a blanket that smelled like B.O. and then when I asked for another they personally walked me to the storage closet and told me to grab one!!! Then, I stayed at one for a night in New Orleans and the cabbie told us under NO circumstances should we eat at the restaurant there; then my boyfriend @ the time ate candy from a coin machine and ate MOUSE POOP that was in the handful of candy he got!!!
If you wanna drink and you are under 21 you must get a fake ID or meet really nice people or you are screwed. EXCEPT.....In Louisiana they get around the rule by saying you have to be 18 to buy but 21 to drink. So, its not too hard to drink down there if you are underage. Also, while we are on the subject, if you are a smoker, the age to buy cigs is 18 and they are pretty strict on that too.
The best thing to remember about the US is that we dont do the backpacking kind of travelling the way other ppl do. If we go on a trip its usually in a car, plane, or train and then you go to one, maybe 2 places and then come back. So, a lot of the way we do things travelwise is set up for that. Hope it helps!