Blogging
From Abroad

10 days in Seattle and Vancouver for around 500$
A weekend in Chicago for around 151 $
A long weekend in Philadelphia and New York City for around 120 $

This post is all about travelling cheap throughout the United States of America WITHOUT owning a car. The above mentioned travel expenses covered transportation and accommodation. And often people ask me how we did accomplish this. So if you’re interested in travelling with a small budget, you should read the following hints:

1. Search for cheap flights. Although airfares are considerably more expensive here compared to Europe it is possible to find good deals. My favorite source for this is currently www.lastminute.com. But be a bit flexible with your travel destination or travel dates. If you know, that you can take off a certain weekend, try and compare several desitnations to find a good deal!

2. Make friendships and use them. Some of the friends I made here have a car. Often they go homefor a weekend or travel elsewhere with idle seats in their vehicle. This can be a cheap source of transportation.

3. Save on accomondation. Why booking a hostel or a hotel when you can stay for free? It’s called couchsurfing and is a great opportunity to cut your travel expenses by half. On the other hand, you should provide your couches to other travelers, too. Read more about that in my couchsurfing-post or visit www.couchsurfing.com!

3. Create a “Web of Friends” that covers as much of the earth as possible. Sounds complicated? Actually it’s easy – go and study abroad. There you’ll meet loads of folks from literally everywhere. And then – when the semester is over – go and visit them! If you’d rather not want to go abroad there is another opportunity to get in touch with international students: become a buddy. Buddies are students who take care about incoming exchange students. The OIP (Office of international programs) can tell you more about that.

4. Be old enough and rent a car. If you are at least 25 years old, it CAN be pretty cheap to rent a car in the USA. Especially if you invite other students to your trip and share the costs. Still, insurance-costs are very high. But I found a way to overcome this problem. All students from a German speaking country have the opportunity to rent a car on the German webpage holidayautos.de. The advantage is that insurance (LDW, CDW, enhanced liability) is in the price included. So I was able to rent a car for thanksgiving break over one week for 180 $. We’re 4 persons in total and going to visit Niagara Falls, Toronto, Kingston, maybe Montreal and Washington DC. Estimated travel costs for these targets: 90 $ per Person. Only disadvantage: this webpage has no contractors in Morgantown, you’d have to pick up the car in Pittsburgh.

Okay! So now you know how to get around real cheap so hit the road! I have to write an exam in 15 minutes and right after that, I’m leaving for Philadelphia and New York! Yeah! Stay tuned and read about my experiences when I return.

And – before I forget – Happy Halloween!