Me and my wife, visiting USA, need to travel cheaply within US?

Question

Hi folks,

Me and my wife will be visiting US in September thru Nov. Is there any economical way of taking in the sights of US on our own. I heard about VUSA tickets. I plan to visit about 5 cities, Atlanta, Dallas, Alabama. I also plan to visit Montreal. We will be flying into/out of, the country - from DC.

Deeply appreciate any help - crishnav at yahoo dot com

Answer 1

1st,
Thank you for visiting our country. And hope your trip will be a very nice one.

If considering railroad travel.
Go to amtrak.com. Will give you schedules,and pricing for your destinations

For Bus. Greyhound.com
For both you can pick and choose to get off-then continue from various piont that may interest you.

Or a combination of both?

And as suggested-renting a car is a good option as well. Since there are numerous places you may want to visit.

Might consider Alabama-Atlanta-Dallas-back to DC on to Montreal. Will shorten your travel miles.

Again-Thank you for visiting the USA.

Despite of what is happening in Iraq, we are a very peace loving-friendly country.

Answer 2

If you get airline tickets a month in advance, then that is about as cheap as anything else. The main bus company is Greyhound, and the train is Amtrak. You can book air travel at Orbitz or many other sites.

http://www.orbitz.com/

You should really consider hostelling/ staying in a hostel. They are homes/ houses/ (or bigger sometimes) that rent out rooms a lot cheaper than a hotel/ motel. Usually, you can use the kitchen so you save a lot of money there. It started as youth hostelling so kids with backpacks could see the world, but anybody can stay at a hostel.

http://www.hiayh.org/
http://www.hostels.com/en/index.html

For a good, cheap lunch in America, you can visit the nearest Chinese restaurant. Lunch is about $4 or $5 - same price as McDonalds. There are lots of Chinese restaurants. There is one in just about every strip mall (stores lining a highway).

One of my favorite places in America is the beach at Los Angeles. Santa Monica beach and Venice Beach is a nice part of town and the beaches/ boardwalk are beautiful.

Half the people speak French in Montreal. What's in Alabama???

[e-mail]

Answer 3

You are in for a shock; there is no cheap way to get around the US, especially since the distances between your destinations is so great.. The Greyhound Bus company is probably cheaper than anything else, but it is slow and very uncomfortable. You are better off renting an economy car and driving to all the places you want to see. You will need an International Driver's License and a credit card in order to rent a car.