NORTH AMERICA - TRAVEL

Hi Shelley

Your best options for transit will depend on how much you are willing to spend, how fast you want to travel between places and where specifically you are trying to go. Larger cities have more mass-transit options. In between metropolitan areas of the country, mass-transit is limited if available at all.

The main bus line is Greyhound and the main train line is Amtrak. There are dozens of car rental companies.

Between California and Nevada, you could either rent a car or take a bus, depending on where you are planning to go. A bus between L.A and Vegas, for example, would be easy to find and wouldn't take very long. If you are in northern California, trying to get to Yosemite, or heading somewhere elsewhere in Nevada, I might suggest renting a car.

Flying is obviously the quickest way to get between the east and west coasts. It will take around 4-5 hours. Buses will take 4 or more days. I can't think of anything worse than being stuck on a Greyound bus for 5 days, but your opinion may differ. Amtrak train service runs between certain cities and might be an option, depending on whether there is an Amtrak station in the city you plan on visiting. They are decently priced, but don't go everywhere.

Renting a car and driving gives you the freedom to see the country on your own scheldule, and see harder-to-reach destinations like national parks, but the cost adds up quickly and if you don't plan on sight-seeing, it will probably be cheaper and most timely to take a train or plane between the coasts. Reply to this

Hey Shelley,

The most comprehensive bus network in the US is Greyhound, they can take you from almost anywhere to almost anywhere, so they're a decent bet. Problem is that it's also not always the cheapest bus option, so if you shop around you could probably find a better deal. My experience in US budget travel is mainly limited to the Northeast (DC, NYC, Philly and Boston) where you can take a Chinatown bus for about $20 or less which is much cheaper than Greyhound. This is a very basic service, and it definitely exists in other places like Cali and Florida as well, which is what I think GoToBus.com actually is.

Hope that helps Reply to this

Car rentals run typically between $20-30/day, plus an additional $20/day if you're under 25, plus an additional fee if you want to drop the car off other than where you picked it up.

If you were looking at getting a car just to get you from here to there, it would probably be cheaper to take the bus (although that would depend on your bus ticket prices. For one person it is definitely cheaper than take a bus, but with two or more people you just have to compare).

FLY from Vegas to Florida. Even three days on a Greyhound bus will not be very much fun. Spend your time in the U.S enjoying being there, not staring out the windows of a bus on the highway. Road trips are fun, yes, but I've driven across the country for purely transportation purposes (no stops to sight-see or stretch your legs, just like on a bus) and it isn't much fun. There scenery gets old after about an hour or two.

There are lots of hostels in/around San Francisco. Some are downtown and others are on the outskirts. We started at Marin Headlands HI behind the Golden Gate bridge and it was lovely, scenic, relaxed -- but not very convenient to the sights of the city without a car. Go out to eat in San Fran too -- it's a west coasts big "food" town. Farmers markets, farm-to-table restaurants, lots of good food there. Several free public gardens too you can walk around, or picnic in.

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Hi,

I really don't know much about the best transportation. However, I can give you some light regarding hostels in Miami, FL, which is my local area. There is the Clay Hotel Just on Española Way, the most beautiful street in Miami Beach, and the Jazz Hostel in South Beach which was recently relocated and is close to the beach. Both of this places offer great rates!!!

Jazz Hostel South Beach
Clay Hostel Miami
Hostels Vs. Vacation Rentals
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