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Author Topic: Travelling across the US  (Read 1575 times)

Offline Jack55

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Travelling across the US
« Reply #15 on: November 20, 2003, 04:28:45 PM »
How hard would it be to buy a cheap used car, register, and insure it in California and then sell it on the East coast?  If you plan on taking several weeks,a month, or more to cross the country, it might be worth the trouble for the freedom of diving your own car.
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Offline FUNKED1

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Travelling across the US
« Reply #16 on: November 20, 2003, 04:34:21 PM »
5-6 weeks, plenty of time.  
America is best experienced in a car.
Maybe consider buying one and selling at the end of the trip.  Rental could be very expensive.
If I were going LA to Miami, I would go east to the Grand Canyon.
Then Four Corners area, see some ancient ruins.
Then cut up North and take I-70 through the Rockies.  
Then up to Mt. Rushmore.  
East to Chicago.
Skirt the lakes on I-80/90 and hit NYC.  Then south down the coast to Miami.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2003, 04:36:37 PM by FUNKED1 »
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Offline mora

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« Reply #17 on: November 20, 2003, 04:58:17 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Jack55
How hard would it be to buy a cheap used car, register, and insure it in California and then sell it on the East coast?  If you plan on taking several weeks,a month, or more to cross the country, it might be worth the trouble for the freedom of diving your own car.


That's a good option if there is maybe 4 travellers. If you are travelling alone this might be quite expensive. What kind of car do you get for 500$ from a dealer?
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Offline Ripsnort

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Travelling across the US
« Reply #18 on: November 20, 2003, 05:06:57 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by midnight Target
The train is a blast. Almost as expensive as flying (maybe even more) but well worth it. You can take the coastliner from LA to Seattle then go east from there.


And train seats get MORE expensive for the date you set for departure, the closer you get to that departure date.(For long distance, sleeper cars)  Kinda sucks.  But if you book in advance, it can be as cheap or cheaper than air travel.  Especially if you go coach.  The last two trips I've had on a train were both sleeper cars. 3 times the price of coach, but the best fricking way to travel!
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Offline FUNKED1

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Travelling across the US
« Reply #19 on: November 20, 2003, 05:07:47 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by mora
What kind of car do you get for 500$ from a dealer?


One that won't even make it out of California.
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Offline Ripsnort

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« Reply #20 on: November 20, 2003, 05:10:25 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by mora
That's a good option if there is maybe 4 travellers. If you are travelling alone this might be quite expensive. What kind of car do you get for 500$ from a dealer?


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Offline FUNKED1

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« Reply #21 on: November 20, 2003, 05:12:35 PM »
You'd want to buy a pretty good car, 5 years old or so.  Might cost you $15k.  But the difference between buying price and selling price would be fairly small.  You probably wouldn't lose more than $1000.
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Offline Ripsnort

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« Reply #22 on: November 20, 2003, 05:15:22 PM »
Okay, assuming you're going one way LA to Miami, this is the route I'd take in the winter:

LA to Chicago
Chicago to NYC
NYC to Miami.

Total price in January for Coach is: $229

You'll see alot of the Rockies, plains states, Great Lakes and Eastern seaboard.

Go to Amtraks website ( http://www.amtrack.com ) and build your itinerary.  You'll have several optional cities to pass through, but you have to usually catch a connecting train.
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Offline mora

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« Reply #23 on: November 20, 2003, 05:36:21 PM »
I would rather get a $450 30 day rail pass and travel to anywhere I like. The biggest mistake you can do in travel IMHO is to plan ahead.
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Offline FUNKED1

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« Reply #24 on: November 20, 2003, 05:47:29 PM »
One thing about the US is that you can't really travel anywhere you like by rail.  Rail is used for freight here.  People use cars or planes to get around.
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Offline Ripsnort

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« Reply #25 on: November 21, 2003, 08:35:44 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by FUNKED1
One thing about the US is that you can't really travel anywhere you like by rail.  Rail is used for freight here.  People use cars or planes to get around.


Thats true, you are limited to the destination cities, however with his 30 day unlimited rail pass, I wonder if he can unboard at any of the towns they stop in to pick up travelers, and then resume his journey the next day?
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Offline AKCasca

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« Reply #26 on: November 21, 2003, 09:26:32 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by FUNKED1
One that won't even make it out of California.



hey, i bought a $500 VW Bug, drove it from Virginia to LA on the southern route then up the west coast and back across the country going across the top. Took 9 weeks doing it...  Then again that was 1976  ;)
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Offline mora

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« Reply #27 on: November 21, 2003, 09:28:54 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Ripsnort
Thats true, you are limited to the destination cities, however with his 30 day unlimited rail pass, I wonder if he can unboard at any of the towns they stop in to pick up travelers, and then resume his journey the next day?


Yes, you should be able to go anywhere anytime at least that's how it is in Europe.
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Offline cpxxx

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« Reply #28 on: November 21, 2003, 09:43:03 AM »
It occurs to me that you could travel across America quite cheaply by by imposing yourself on the hospitality of all the Americans who post on this board:aok

Starting with Midnight target and wending your way across the country to Miko in NY. Stopping on the way to go shooting with Lazs.

You'd have to have a hard neck though. You could call it the Aces High tour of America.

Conversely Americans could tour Europe, Ireland, Britain, France Finland, Norway Germany, Spain. Naturally I would have been delighted to welcome any AH'rs to my place if I had a spare room. But I do know of a good hotel nearby.:p :lol

Actually myself and the girlfriend are planning to visit the US sometime this coming year. We haven't quite decided where as yet but wherever it is I will be renting a plane for a day or so view the sights.  Having said that I stil think the best way to see America is by car.

But our main holiday will be to Vietnam just to be different. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the places I've only read about in relation to the war. Saigon, Hue, Tan Son Nhut, Da Nang, Marble Mountain etc etc.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2003, 09:50:23 AM by cpxxx »
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Offline mora

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« Reply #29 on: November 21, 2003, 11:44:09 AM »
Has anyone here tried train hopping?
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