Budget
HiMy boyfriend and I are travelling to the USA next year for 46days in total, 23days of our trip we will be one an organized tour which includes the majoirty of our breakfast, lunch and dinner aswell as guided tours. We will also be staying with family for 9 days. All of our accomodation has been budgeted seperately. We have budgeted roughly $5000 for all other food and activity costs, does this sound a reasonable amount? The main cities we will be in which don't include meals and excursions are Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
Thanks
Amanda
1
Let's see 46 minus 23 minus nine equals 14 days. If you spend half your activity budget while on tour or with your family that leaves $2,500 for 14 days. That leaves $180 per day divided by 3 people.It's doable, but you should emphasize things like hiking and beaches and de-emphasize expensive cities.
OTOH if you have the whole $5000 for those 14 days it'll be easy ad you can even plan on some light shopping.
2
Ooops divided by 2 people hmm yeah that's a little easier, but you still can't go crazy, and will have to make a few choices.see this thread
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2282764&messageID=20590354
Edited by: LongIslandBob
3
Thats great thank you for your help. We intend to try and include as much free activities as we can and eat in cheaper places or cook our own meals etc to keep those costs low. Do you think it would be worth booking and paying for the more expensive sightseeing and tourist attractions before hand online?4
I use http://www.hostelbookers.com and http://www.hostelworld.com when I travel worldwide. They do have private rooms for couples. What transportation will you be using while in each city. Will you rent a car to drive between San Francisco and Los Angeles? Are you 25 years and older?5
We have rented a car to drive between Los Angeles and San Francisco, my boyfriend is 26 and I am 24, he will most likely be the one to do the driving in America as I think that worked out cheaper insurance wise. We have booked and paid for our accomodation in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, as these are the only places we require accomodation in USA. The organised tour we are doing is a bus tour which includes our accomodation, food and guided tours of each place, it takes us from San Francisco to New York. From New York we fly to Detroit to stay with family and then fly back to New York for 5 days before returning home. While in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles we will be using public transport to get around, do you recommend any mode of transport in particular thats best to get around? My boyfriend was in New York last year with his parents and they bought the New York Pass including a hop on hop off bus pass which I think we will buy before we leave also.6
Do you think it would be worth booking and paying for the more expensive sightseeing and tourist attractions before hand online?
In my experience I save money on hotels and flights, but not sites by surfing the Internet. I'm just one guy though and I could be wrong.
Please be sure and see the other thread.
My favorite money-saving "trick" is to save money on meals. I'll go to a local supermarket and buy a donut and coffee for breakfast ($3.00) and some bread and salad which sets in my backpack until lunch ($5.00 or less). Dinner can be a pizza joint or McDonalds or Chinese take out place ($5-$7). It doesn't have to be a "real" dinner every single night.
The other "trick," which I've already mentioned, is to focus on free places like hiking and beaches.
In general I think your budget is fine. Just understand that cities can sometimes be expensive and other areas can sometimes be free except for transportation and meals. I think you'll be fine.
Edited by: LongIslandBob
7
HHhmm, LongIsland, my math is different - 46 days- 23 days = 23 days.Then, OP says they have $5,000 for expenses outside of those already paid for the first 23 days. Not sue if the 9-days with family iw within the orignal 23 days on the tour or not, but to be conservative, let's say it is part ofthe tour time.
So, if ALL of the $5,000 was devoted to the last 23 0days, they'd have $217 per day for that portion of the trip. that is an adequate budget, but they'll spend close to that in New York.
9
You can ride on the NY waterway buses for free. You stand at a regular MTA bus stop and flag down the waterway bus when you see them.http://www.nywaterway.com/BusStopsSchedules.aspx
10
I forgot to mention that while in NY the best way to stay full all day is to eat a Bagel with cream cheese. Not the ones sold inside Penn Station or at Dunkin Donuts but real bagels. Just ask anyone one the street where the closest deli is for a bagel and they will point u in the right direction. Also, street meat is a pretty good way to go for lunch/ dinner. For about 5-6 bucks you can get some chicken and rice and a soda. Some people think street meat is gross, others are obsessed with it and it is somehwat of an underground culture. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/top-lists/top-street-meat/11
The best way to travel is to couch-surf (https://www.couchsurfing.org/). It saves you money on hotels, and adds to cultural experience while staying with locals. They can point out many non-touristy but cool places you would never be able to "book" through an internet, and may stay your friends forever. If you couch-surf (or stay in inexpensive hostels), your budget seem to be totally fine. With expensive hotels added - well, I am not sure, never stayed in one :)You do not have to book tours in New-York or San-Francisco, try to just hang around by yourself. In those cities it is very easy to be busy even if you "do nothing", such as in NYC, going to the Central Park (surprisingly interesting), or looking for the Soup-nazi place, or "I'll have what she's having"-sort-of-Deli.... Our major spending in NYC is typically a Broadway (or may be even an off-Broadway) show, and may be a museum or two...
Enjoy :)
Edited by: waveguide
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