I had a planned to travel US and Canada until I read recently that Greyhound discontinued their discovery pass. Does anyone know of any alternative method of seeing US and Canada that would be equally, if not, nearly as an inexpensive as greyhound's discovery pass?
Yeah. I've always wanted to take a train cross country, but it's so damn expensive. They must only keep it around to exploit the fears of people who won't fly.
It's getting cold up here in Toronto and I gets dark really earlier, so depending on what your interests are you may want to wait on a trip until spring/summer...
I did this as a road trip, went cross country from one end of the US to the other, then up into Canada, and back to the other side in Canada, then back home. Took 2 weeks, 9,000 miles, could easily have taken much longer, but was in a hurry to get back to work. LOVED IT!! Did it in the summer, since the Rockies are cold! If you are really stuck, you might consider roping in a few people who you can stand being in a car with for an extended period of time and can handle potential car emergencies with without killing each other, and split the gas and motel rooms or camping with. As long as you know one person with a car that can handle the trip who has the time, it can happen even if you don't drive. Most of my trips are with other people because it is just cheaper that way, no matter what kind of trip. What areas are you considering? Maybe you can get suggestions for places to check out if you're interested.
Well. I have one buddy on board. We're going to discuss when we want to leave and where we want to go, so I'll have to get back to you on that. I did something like this before and used couch surfing as a way to get to know the locals and also supplement the cost of hotel rooms. I think travel will be the primary concern. My buddy has a car that would accommodate some extra bodies, but I don't know if he wants to put the miles on it. I wanted to use the discovery pass. Too bad I didn't take advantage of it when they had it. I'm looking for a cheaper way to get around now. What all did you do, what all did you see when you went, RB?
It's odd how North America has basically no passenger rail network. British people travel 10 times further per year than Americans despite the USA being far bigger, and therefore having longer distances to cover.
I'm set to do the same thing after taxes this coming year, only I plan to just travel all 50 states in my car.
On the other hand the US has a well-developed domestic air network - to the point where trains are only really competitive over short distances.
Great news! There are a number of ways to save, but when are you going, and for how long? Winter definitely complicates things - be prepared for some treacherous driving, and needing to be indoors. Since I went in the summer, we brought tents - you can technically pitch them in a lot of places, although if you are trying to do so by the rules for safety, many campgrounds and parks will charge around US$5-10 even without hookups. It is also great if you are using a car with removable seats, particularly when it rains, or if you are in a region prone to bear, etc. (more comfortable than falling asleep in the seats). Most truck stops will allow you to park and sleep for free overnight, and may have showers available for a small fee. Check first though so you don't get towed or have police knocking on your window in the middle of the night. But again, this won't work for Winter. If you are having trouble locating people to stay with, perhaps contacting a local college will afford many possibilities. If everyone could afford to chip in to pay for wear and tear, or say to cover a repair if a tire blows or something else, that might help convince buddy. Or maybe his meals can be free? Or the crew can do chores for him after you're back? Be aware, if someone is driving, in the US speed limits are in miles, and in Canada they're kilometers... both should be listed on your spedometer. With a little practice, you get used to converting and have to check less constantly if you're ok. There were TONS of animals and birds on the road that were not too familiar with cars when I went. A bird flew right into my windshield, and I hit a jackrabbit going 70. We liked weird stuff, so the trips was full of unusual sites mixed with traditional ones. We drove from the Eastern US, so skipped past everything there and hit things like the Wisconsin Dells for exotic minigolf and the Mustard Museum, Mt. Rushmore and the Corn Palace in SD, the Enchanted Highway (weird), a scenic road in Idaho, Yellowstone in Wyoming, Glacier Natl Park in Montana (AMAZING!), and spent a lot of time along the Pacific Coast in Oregon and Washington (including Portland and Seattle)etc. Then went up to Vancouver and saw a museum of First Peoples (what Canadians call Native American) culture, saw Banff Natl Park (really incredible, my favorite), did an archeological dig at a dinosaur museum I think in Manitoba where they find a lot of dino bones, went to a reservation and had fry bread and buy stuff at the outpost, also went to Sault St. Marie which I was amazed looked just like the ocean even though on a Great Lake - very beautiful and got in my beach time, and went back into the US through Niagara Falls. I have been there a lot on separate trips, but I highly recommend Toronto (has a large LGBTQ population too), Ottawa, and Quebec - although I've been there in the winter, only go if you like -40 temps and 8 ft of snow, but amazing culture and they have a way fun village of winter sports park there. I wanted to drive up to Nova Scotia or even Newfoundland, but we just didn't have the time. We did multiple things a day, too much to list, but of course it depends on what you find the most fun. If you're into natural scenes or weird sites, there are a ton. We didn't spend as much time in cities because parking there is too hard, but obviously there are some really good ones on both sides.
Surely you're talking just about passenger rail. Our lack of passenger rail service is not all that odd when you consider that most Americans have cars given that our post WWII urban development has been designed around automobile transport. Anywhere where it would be feasible to take a train, a car is much more convenient here. That said, a few states like California, Texas, and Florida are trying to get high-speed rail built so that we can travel between our relatively close large cities quickly and easily.
Very true. One of my flatmates has flown from Glasgow-Amsterdam-Stavanger (900 miles) rather than Glasgow-Stavanger (400 miles) today (cheers Google Earth). Even if we use the relatively environmentally-friendly rail travel more, the instances when we use air travel over unnecessarily long distances could well cancel this out. ---------- Post added 14th Dec 2012 at 09:47 PM ---------- True, and the same applies for Europe. However, for both trans-national distances and regular commuting it can be cheaper to take the train/subway/tram if you plan wisely. I think that's mainly to do with petrol and car taxes though. I understand why car travel is so popular, but I think it'd be better if public transport was used more widely.
That's a lot of really awesome info, RB. You said two weeks? How much money did you go through? I have a plan, but I want to talk with my buddy first to see if he's on board.
Not to mention if you have to be somewhere in any kind of rush or schedule you might as well tell them your going to be late.
Glad you liked! At the time, gas was averaging $4/gal, and I did not have my beloved Prius yet. But my Subaru, despite being only 22 mpg, did at least handle the terrain really well. So total spent about $1500 just for gas. There were almost no tolls, even though security measures had changed by then to cross the border (look that up, I think you need a driver's license and to fill out a form - it was tighter in the East than West... but still not too bad). Missed out on a few stops due to unexpected problems - brush fire along the only highway out West cost us a day, multi-car accident due to people watching an air show while they were driving cost half a day (we just missed getting hit), blown tire cost me about $80. We spent more for camping and some motels, but could have kept it to $10 or less per night - if we were willing to sleep in truck stops or along the highway, many nights could have been free. Gas could have been far less if we just cut the trip and lessened all the meandering up and down along the way, but we wanted to hit as many sites as we could and were willing to pay for it. All-access National Park pass was I think $50. Maybe a similar cost in Canada, but I forget. Because I have done a lot of road tripping before, and had a regular job and all at the time, I decided to spend $500 on a thorough car tune-up (90,000 mile I think) prior to leaving so I would not have to deal with too many catastrophes on the road. I think that helped, everything was in good working order since it was an old beat-up car, but that is certainly not required. (We also used the emergency first aid kit I packed when the multi-car accident happened, because a bunch of people were bleeding.) If not going to that extent, just make sure you have good working wipers and enough wiper fluid, change the oil before leaving, and check the tire pressure - cost, almost nothing. --------- I did a major rail trip in Europe, covered 14 countries in 5 weeks with a friend, but I have to say, that was great for foreign travel because it made things easy, but it really cut down on the freedom a lot. In a car, you have whatever you want, the climate and music are just for you (bringing 2 weeks worth of music was my favorite part!), and you stop and start whenever and wherever you want. Also, you don't have to carry a massive backpack wherever you go! In my opinion, public transportation should be CHEAPER than car travel, but in Europe, and far more so in the US, it is more expensive - which is ridiculous, there is no way 80 passengers in a Greyhound bus costs more for them to operate than a car for an individual. But buses and trains here cost a ton (so do rental cars), I could have made only a quarter of my trip for the same cost, and had fewer options about when and where I did it too. My solution was to buy a used Prius and get the best of both as soon as I could afford it, plus it has GPS which would have helped us. You also have the option of renting an RV, but the cost of gas will make up for the savings on staying somewhere (they get like 12 mpg), and they are harder to wield around narrow roads and up steep mountains. But some people love it. I think the cheapest option is a car with good mileage, and a tent thrown in the back for times when you want to spread out. With my Prius today, I would have spent $900 for the same trip, which is about half.
I am so sick of driving I35, it sucks. I would love it if we had an auto train which ran between Austin and Dallas. Then I could bypass the worst of the traffic on I35. If you have the time and money look in to an Amtrak and VIA rail pass. Take the Trains across America with the USA Rail Pass | Amtrak Canrailpass - System They use to have a North America pass which allowed unlimited travel in the US and Canada, but it was discontinued.
