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Travelling in the USA by car

CyberMonkey

CyberMonkey

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
2,068
Location
Belgium
Hello everybody,

I didn't post a lot on this forum yet, but I noticed there are some pretty smart people here, and from all around the world, more specific a lot of the USA.
The USA always has intriguated me. As I'm living in Belgium, a little state with an enormous number of people/square km I'm used to a cramped envrionment. So I stare in wonder at pictures and movies showing huge deserted area, only crossed by some highway, and staggering sights of rolling wheatfields (in Belgium the biggest wheatfield I saw was like 1 square km...), and so on.
So that was how I began thinking about making a travel to and through the US. But not like most tourists do, go there, stay a week in a expensive hotel and do some boring guided tours which cost a lot of money too, and go back to their cosy boring life in Belgium, but to go there for a long time (months), buy some old car for like 1500 euro's or something, and have another 2000 spare to use for food, sleeping accomodation and fuel.
And then I just ride around, visiting national parks, sleeping in the car and in motels, visiting cities and villages, maybe even work somewhere (farm) and make some money to continue my travel. By this way meet the real people, discuss, feel the "American way of living" by myself.

But, I'm quite afraid al this above is just some naive fantasy of somebody who should study now for his examination at monday :). So tell me, Americans, do you think something like I described above is possible? What about all the legal stuff with staying there for a long time, driving a car, and so on? Maybe the common American will just shout at me "get off my property, you pagan anti-Bush-belgian-shit", to say it in a ridiculous way. I mean, maybe the USA isn't the free-minded, open-to-strangers, free world which I hope it is.

So, thank you if you have read this whole bunch of spelling and grammatical errors (feel free to correct them) and if you have something interesting to say about all my fantasies, tell me!

last note: I'm 18 now, so i will off course study for another 3 years or so. Maybe my plans will be completely different then, but now I'm quite convinced that i NOT want to finish my studies, search a job, and so roll from one boring life into another. And once you are tied to your job, a family, it is completely impossible to do something like I described.


Thank you!!
 
Am not in usa, but I say stay in belgium and study.. make money then go to the states. unless you wanna be a homeless :p its not easy what you see in movies and stuff man.. very hard.. plus there are laws that might make what you want hard to obtain. btw.. north america ain't that great to drive in.. trust me.
and welcome to the forum ^_^
 
Seems like a nice plan you have there, my dream was to go to either the USA of Australia.

Are you going alone btw? Would be boring I think, unless you feel at home in national parks in your car alone ;)
 
That's a very adventurous idea. :thumbsup:

It might be hard finding work for a short time in different places (life farms). Plus I don't think they would allow a tourist to work. Things are generally pretty cheap though, so you could probably live on $20/day if you're willing to rough it a bit.

The US is very big, and the people can be very different depending on where you go.

What are you interested in seeing?

Edit: Another good way to travel in the US would be to make some friends there, where you could stop for a few days and have them show you around.

You could also study a few terms there as well.
 
Well, there are off course the national parks which interest me and some big cities. Off course I would plan it a little before, inform myself on all the things which are there to be seen and find some rough ideas how to travel so that I don't cross the continent for ten times :)

@ logo: off course I want to finish my studies first :). I'm talking AFTER my studies.

@ Jostyrostelli: Australia interests me too, but it is, as I think, much more expensive to get there, and there is less to see (I suppose) :).

And I want to travel once in my life without having to think "o no, I'll have wasted again a lot of money just by driving", like people in Belgium do with prices of 1 euro for one liter... :)

And well, it sounds pretty adventurous, problem is that I'm not adventurous at all :). Until now my life was all plain simple like 99% of the people around me. But as I told, I don't just want to waste my life trying to earn money to buy a house and a car to go to work, if you catch my drift :).

edit: indeed your "find some friends" idea is very good, but it's not that easy to make friends who will let you sleep in their house without actually going there. Or do you mean trying to find somebody there, and not before?
Studying there is also a good idea, but I suppose the only possibilities I will have are programmes in Europe, like studying some months in Spain or some other country. This is then included in the lessons which you get in Belgium.
 
If you are going to do it, make plans to stay with people in different parts of the US while you are here. And be prepared to not see everything you want to see, the US is big and diverse.

If I were you, I'd do what you are talking about in New Zealand. Plentiful hostels (cheap accomidations for backpackers and the like), the NZD is only worth about .60 USD, beautiful country, less crime, etc. :)
 
I didn't bother reading, but if you want to rent a car you have to be 25.


If you didn't talk about that, I'm sorry.
 
Renesis said:
I didn't bother reading, but if you want to rent a car you have to be 25.


If you didn't talk about that, I'm sorry.
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Can i kill him please? :p
 
I guess he wasn't talking about that.

Bah he just had to add some Cliff's notes at the bottom! :lol:
 
Well anyway, if you have any questions about what to expect in the US, there are plenty of people that live here on these boards you can ask. And you should ask, because even silly things like whether you need to drive to the bar, where you can and cant buy beer, etc.
 
CyberMonkey said:
Well, there are off course the national parks which interest me and some big cities. Off course I would plan it a little before, inform myself on all the things which are there to be seen and find some rough ideas how to travel so that I don't cross the continent for ten times :)

@ logo: off course I want to finish my studies first :). I'm talking AFTER my studies.

@ Jostyrostelli: Australia interests me too, but it is, as I think, much more expensive to get there, and there is less to see (I suppose) :).

And I want to travel once in my life without having to think "o no, I'll have wasted again a lot of money just by driving", like people in Belgium do with prices of 1 euro for one liter... :)

And well, it sounds pretty adventurous, problem is that I'm not adventurous at all :). Until now my life was all plain simple like 99% of the people around me. But as I told, I don't just want to waste my life trying to earn money to buy a house and a car to go to work, if you catch my drift :).

edit: indeed your "find some friends" idea is very good, but it's not that easy to make friends who will let you sleep in their house without actually going there. Or do you mean trying to find somebody there, and not before?
Studying there is also a good idea, but I suppose the only possibilities I will have are programmes in Europe, like studying some months in Spain or some other country. This is then included in the lessons which you get in Belgium.
Click to expand...

More expensive, yes. Less to see... well.. no not at all.

We met a guy from israel out rock climbing the other day. He was going around australia on a motorcycle. He said he was loving it and wished he had more time. Needless to say, he ended up camping at my mates place for a few days.
 
thats quite a cool idea you have there Cybermonkey... its funny how you guys want to go to America and the Australia whereelse I would love to go to Europe and explore it by car in the future... :lol: , I haven't been to many places in Europe, just UK, Germany and Sweden and I loved it there... I can't wait till I finish my studies and go explore the entire europe :thumbsup:
 
Buy a car - renting is too expensive for long periods of time. Campgrounds or cheap motels are your best option.

People aren't going to allow you to stay in their house or anything like that. No "villages" here, yes, there are small towns, but they're just like a store and a McDonalds out in the middle of no where surrounded by farms. You won't have much luck with those places.

Best to drive the freeways or highways and stay at like a Motel 6 and those run like $30 a night, more if you're near a city.
 
Viper007Bond said:
Buy a car - renting is too expensive for long periods of time. Campgrounds or cheap motels are your best option.

People aren't going to allow you to stay in their house or anything like that. No "villages" here, yes, there are small towns, but they're just like a store and a McDonalds out in the middle of no where surrounded by farms. You won't have much luck with those places.

Best to drive the freeways or highways and stay at like a Motel 6 and those run like $30 a night, more if you're near a city.
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Dam... the simpsons said they are 6 dollars a night.
 
A very adventurous idea mate. even I once had the same plan. but i wanted to drive from spain to pakistan... But unfortunately, Iraq and Afghanistan come in the way :( I could go from Russia but that would be longer and more dangerous.

i would suggest that if you wanna be a real adventurer, get a van and put a bed...in the back and take two or three friends with you...

i think i'll try to go for a europian tour soon after my exams this month...
 
raheel_grammar said:
i would suggest that if you wanna be a real adventurer, get a van and put a bed...in the back and take two or three friends with you...
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I've kinda done that... me and my cousin drove from perth to melbourne in Australia and we did it in a Subaru Forester... it was just 2 of us so at night, we had a pretty big mattress at the back and we each had our own comforter.... it was cold so at night we put the windows down a tiny bit and alarmed locked our selves in the car... it was pretty fun :D
 
Yeah, I really never thought of people wanting to see the US, even though I have wanted to do a vehicle trip around Europe after I graduate from school.

As for here in the states, depending on your starting and ending points it could be a very fun and interesting trip. I would definitely suggest buying a cheap car since renting one is cost prohibitive.

gtrietsc said:
Well anyway, if you have any questions about what to expect in the US, there are plenty of people that live here on these boards you can ask. And you should ask, because even silly things like whether you need to drive to the bar, where you can and cant buy beer, etc.
Click to expand...

Please feel free to ask us any questions you may have as gtrietsc said.
 
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