Me & my newly wedded wife decided to visit USA for the honeymoon, first to go to New York, and then take a road trip form East to Weast cost. Since we’re from Eastern Europe (we still have tanks and soldiers here), we don’t have the money, so any advice on cheap travel will help us. Thank you very much (we’re from the same country than Latka, you know from Taxi series)!

USA low budget

The plan is to see Big Apple first, then road trip from East to West via Chicago, Las Vegas, following the routes of Jack Kerouac (and his legendary novel On The Road), to Los Angeles, then maybe to see San Francisco – they say that it’s the most beautiful American city. Question is: which route to take (north, south, or somewhere in the middle).

Car: rent a car (or from the west to the east coast)

Rent-a-car “coast to coast” is expensive! Really: I checked online to see how much this will cost us (for a week, with middle-class car set by default by websites):

  • Avis – $ 2,078.41
  • Budget – $ 1,347.00
  • National – $ 670.40 (although Kayak says over 1,100 $)

… a lot for 2 Eastern Europeans! If you add 588 $ for the gasoline, as viamichelin.com says, that’s even more. And they say gasoline in US&A is cheap?! We heard that you can drive a car from coast to coast (I drive your car for free system), so if anyone knows any ways how to or where, please tell it in comments below)!

Airplane

Flying would be an opion, but Jack Kerouac would rise form the dead 😉 … so, I will without further ado, summarize my questions for low budget road trip: Key issues

if someone knows, we will be of great help, if you can tell us the answers to:

  • how to get cheap airline ticket to New York (other than through Odklop.com) got it via Traveolcity, as I posted on Twitter on Friday,
  • where to rent the cheapest car for a coast-to-coast road trip (I drive your car for free would do),
  • which route across America do you recommend (it doesnt matter if we’re getting a free ride, otherwise via Route 66):
    • north (New York – Chicago – Denver – Salt Lake – Las Vegas – Los Angeles) Northern (New York – Chicago – Denver – Salt Lake – Las Vegas – Los Angeles)
    • south (New York – Washington DC – Nashwille – Memphis – Oklahoma City – Albuquerque – LA) South (New York – Washington DC – Nashwille – Memphis – Oklahoma City – Albuquerque – LA)
    • somewhere in between – Route 66 (New York – Chicago – St. Louis – Oklahoma City – Albuquerque – LA) in between – on the routes, Route 66 (New York – Chicago – St. Louis – Oklahoma City – Albuquerque – LA)
  • which motels along the way are the best and most favorable,
  • anyone knows a place to crash or cheap hotel/motel in New York, L.A. for a couple of days,
  • where to eat cheap (except McDonald’s).

For any answers I thank you in advance, the report of the way surely follows …

P.S.: Fellow Slovenians, this is English translation of original post in Slovene language.