I’ve traveled to the US twice on my own – without a driver’s license or a big budget. I wanted to visit places I had seen in Hollywood movies. At first I thought that traveling would be expensive. But it turned out that even in such an expensive country you can save money. I will tell you how I organized a trip to the USA, where I had time to visit and how much I spent in the end.
Itinerary
I prepare for a trip for a long time: I study cities, sights, transportation. A couple weeks before my flight, I find out what the weather will be like in the cities where I’m going. This is important because the US often has hurricanes. For example, when I was in New York in 2018, Hurricane Florence was raging nearby. Because of this, it rained in the city for several days and I walked around in a raincoat. It’s worth checking the weather forecast in advance and bringing a raincoat and rubber boots.
If you are traveling to the USA in winter and intend to travel by car, it is better to find out in advance whether all roads on your route are open. For example, Yosemite National Park is closed in winter. Information about the roads is available on the official websites of the attractions and on Google Maps.
For the first few days, I don’t plan long excursions or difficult routes: after a long flight, the body needs time to readjust. In 2019, due to the abrupt change of time zone, I was always sleepy and had no appetite, so I limited myself to walking around the city for the first few days.
I calculate the route in advance using Google maps and mark all the places I need to go. I used to export them in klm format using the built-in command and open the downloaded file in the Maps.me app: it can be used without internet access. You could set the labels in the app itself, but I find it more convenient to build a route on my computer. Unfortunately, this option does not work now. If you know of any other apps that allow you to export labels, please write in the comments.
I traveled to the US for 13 days in 2018 and 12 days in 2019. During these days I managed to visit Los Angeles and San Francisco twice, as well as one trip each to New York, Las Vegas and San Diego. I’ve also visited two canyons: the famous Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon on the Navajo Nation. I will talk about all these places in detail further on in the article.
Money
I advise you to take cash without fail: cards are not accepted everywhere in the USA. For example, in some souvenir shops we only took cash. It is even better to stock up on small bills in advance: in the USA they do not always give change. In the bank they refuse to change or ask for an additional commission for this operation.
In this case, I have a quick trick: I ask the cashier if they will give me small bills if I open an account in the bank, replenish it with dollars and immediately close it. The thing is that when you close your account, the bank will give you money without a fee and with the bills you ask for – if the bank has them at all, of course. It has never come to such measures: the cashier realized that it was better not to mess with me and exchanged the money.
Debit Card. Before traveling, you can add a dollar account to your card or issue an additional card and link that account to it. I decided to link the account to an additional card for the following reasons.
I use my credit card for deposits that are asked for at a hotel or when renting transportation. I did not use a debit card in such cases: the collateral could be frozen for a long time. If the deposit was small, I left cash – it was returned immediately after departure.
Transportation
I do not have a driver’s license, so I could not rent a car. I traveled between cities by airplane or intercity buses, and in cities I took public transportation, cabs, and bicycles.
Airplanes. I traveled by air between cities on different coasts, for example between New York and San Francisco. When I bought tickets, I found out about possible surcharges: all companies have about the same price for an economy class ticket, but it often does not include luggage. With luggage, tickets are much more expensive.
The level of service on all airlines, in my opinion, is about the same. Food is rare – I was once given a small pack of crackers when I flew on a Southwest Airlines plane. Sometimes you have to pay for plaids too – for example, JetBlue gives them out for 5$. So when flying in the US, I recommend stocking up on a sweatshirt and a snack.
Be aware that flights are sometimes canceled. However, in such cases you can change your ticket and fly on another plane. I once had a flight to Las Vegas canceled, but I immediately changed my ticket for free and flew there on a later flight the same day.
Intercity buses. When traveling between cities on the same coast, I used buses. The most popular ones are Megabus, Greyhound. I chose the carrier by the place of parking and time of arrival. If the bus stops in some backwater and arrives at the place at night, I did not consider such a carrier.
The cost of bus tickets depends on the distance traveled, the date of ticket purchase, and the company. For example, bus tickets from Las Vegas to Los Angeles cost $50 at Megabus and $37 at Greyhound. That said, Megabus has an option to buy a ticket for as little as $1 if you follow their Instagram posts Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to grab such a ticket.
Trains. In the USA, trains are inconvenient to use: there are few routes, tickets are expensive, and it takes a long time to travel. For example, there is no direct train to the popular destination Los Angeles – San Francisco. You can get there with two transfers in a seated car for 10 hours and $54, and the time for a transfer is only 11 minutes.
The same route by plane is a little more expensive, from $59, but there are several flights every day and the flight takes only an hour and a half.
I used a cab once to get from the hostel to the airport in Los Angeles. I chose from two of the most popular companies: Uber and Lyft. I went with Lyft, which offered me a $5 discount on my first ride. The 27-minute ride cost me $19.98 including the discount and a 15% tip. The driver loaded and took my suitcase out of the trunk, drove carefully, and didn’t get distracted by my phone.
Both companies have an option to save money – the Pool fare. If you choose this fare, other passengers can get into the car on the way. This trip is cheaper, but will take a little longer.
Public transportation. In the USA, I often used public transportation: buses, streetcars, and subways. I used to plot my routes in Google Maps – there is a schedule for each day, including changes and sometimes even the fare. Transportation always runs clearly according to this schedule. I recommend that when planning a route you specify the date of your trip, because on different days transportation runs differently.
I liked that public transportation in the US is well adapted for people with disabilities. One day at a bus stop, the passengers at the front of the bus got up from their seats and removed their seats. The driver lowered the platform, and a grandfather in a wheelchair entered the cabin and took the vacated seat. No one helped him – he was able to get on the bus easily.
Transportation systems in every city have their own peculiarities. Let me tell you about a few.
In San Francisco, you have to pay the driver $3 for a bus ride. If you pay more than that, you won’t get change, so it’s better to pay for your fare on the Muni app – you can buy a ticket there for $2.5 and activate it before boarding the bus. The ticket is valid for two hours, during which time you can change to another route for free. You can also buy an unlimited day, month and year pass here, as in other cities.
Los Angeles also has an app where you can top up your transportation card – TAP. The TAP card costs $2 and is credited with $1.75 worth of rides.
New York has the most developed public transportation network and the most complicated subway system. There, I was always getting lost at the crossings and didn’t understand which station to get off at or which train to get on. To avoid getting lost, I would ask other passengers how to get to the right station and look at the trains – each carriage has the branch the train is on.
A transportation card in New York City is called a MetroCard and costs $1. One ride costs $3. I planned to use public transportation often, so I bought a 7-day unlimited pass for $33. Unfortunately, on the last day, the card stopped working: the subway system couldn’t read the magnetic stripe. There were no employees around, and no one could help me, so that day I rode the subway as a hare – I am ashamed to this day.
Bike Rentals. I rented a bike in San Francisco – there are bicycle lanes everywhere and many rental outlets. The bikes themselves are old, but they come with a helmet, a lock, and a paper map. They give you a briefing before the ride.
The cost of the rental depends on the number of hours and type of bike. I took the simplest one for a day for $22.88 with a discount using a coupon given at the hostel.
Housing
In the USA, I tried to book accommodation near the sights I was interested in, not far from the center. It is more expensive to live in the center than in the suburbs, but you don’t have to take public transport much – in the USA, travel is expensive.
Before I traveled, I knew which neighborhoods were dangerous to stay in: in Los Angeles, for example, I studied a crime map. I also looked at panoramas on Google Maps to see if there were bars on the windows, which are usually installed in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
I looked for accommodation on Booking, and booked on the hotel or hostel website – rooms were often cheaper there.
I’ve been to Los Angeles twice. In 2018, I got a room at the Coral Sands Motel in Hollywood, which is now defunct. It was a short walk to the Walk of Stars and Universal Studio theme park, which I wanted to go to.
I found this motel on Booking. I was going to book a room there, but then I wrote to the motel’s mail for some question. They answered me and offered me a 5% discount if I booked a room on their website instead of through an aggregator. So that’s what I did.
The motel had old furniture and noisy air conditioner, but the room itself was clean. However, it cost a lot – $103.57 per night, but this is a common thing for the USA.
I traveled to Los Angeles again in 2019 and stayed at the HI Los Angeles – Santa Monica Hostel two minutes from the ocean for $53.58 per night. This hostel had a large room, modern and clean showers with individual stalls. Each bed had a light bulb, outlet and shelf. At the same time, the breakfast there was meager: only cereal, milk and bread with jam. And in this hostel I was also asked to pay 5$ for luggage storage for several hours after check-out.
I’ve also been to San Francisco twice, both times staying in hostels. In 2018, I chose on price and location and settled on Amsterdam Hostel. A room for four with a toilet and bathroom in the room cost about $40 a night. In 2019, I booked a room at the HI San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel on the bayfront in the middle of a park. The room was also a quadruple room, but the shower and restroom were shared for the entire floor. The hostel was in a nice neighborhood, though, and the window had a view of the bay and Alcatraz Prison. This room cost $50 per night. Both hostels were not new, sockets were missing, but the rooms were clean.
I took earplugs and a mask with me to hostels: there were times when my roommates would arrive deep into the night or leave in the morning.
I spent four days in New York at the Seafarers International House, where I paid about $99 a night. It is an unusual place – there is a church in the house. Anyone can stay there, regardless of faith, and they don’t impose their views on anyone, except to put a Bible next to the bed.
This house is located near the major transportation hub of Union Square – there are seven subway lines, so from there you can quickly get anywhere in Manhattan.
From Las Vegas, it is easiest to get to the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon. There I was looking for a hotel that has a shuttle service to these canyons. I ended up choosing the Circus Circus, which cost $51 per night. Interestingly, the room rate triples on weekends, so it’s better to come to this city on weekdays.
The hotel amazed me with its size; it had several thousand rooms. It was also old furniture, cardboard doors, mattresses and dirt – I liked it the least.
In San Diego, I booked a spot at Lucky D’s Hostel in a room for four, where I paid about $37 a night. That hostel had a divine breakfast: bagels with cheese, fruit, granola bars, jam, butter, peanut butter paste, and tea and coffee. But there was no air conditioning in the room, just a small fan above the bed. Because of this, I was constantly suffering from terrible heat: the temperature was at least +35 °C during the day and at least +28 °C at night.
Nutrition
I spent about $15 a day on food – I tried to buy food in stores and go to cafes less. I usually had breakfast in hostels – it was included in the price of accommodation.
I bought my groceries at Trader Joe’s, which has a large assortment and relatively low prices: for example, gouda cheese costs $2.99 and ham costs $2.49 for 227g.
Also in the US, organic fruits and vegetables are more expensive than non-organic because organic fruits and vegetables are grown without chemicals, hormones and other additives. I bought non-organic – I didn’t see the point in overpaying. I also didn’t like the bread – it was kind of rubbery, although I tried several kinds. Otherwise, the products had the usual flavor.
In restaurants, a meal without drinks costs $15-25$, but you have to add a tip and sometimes state tax. For example, for a $19.99 meal, I paid $25. Portions in the US are large, enough for two people. You can drink water straight from the tap, they give it everywhere for free.
I didn’t go to cafes and restaurants in the US very often – it’s expensive. I chose them with the help of the Yelp app, where you can see the menus of some places and reviews from visitors.
One of the restaurants I visited was Bubba Gump Shrimp on the Santa Monica Pier. The interior of the place refers to the movie “Forrest Gump” – there is even a bench near the entrance with a replica of Forrest’s suitcase and shoes. There was a long line at the entrance, but I didn’t have to stand in it – they put me on the list and told me to come back in 40 minutes. I liked the restaurant itself: there are polite waiters and delicious food – I ordered fish with shrimp and rice for $19.99. However, they brought me a dirty fork, but at my request they immediately replaced it.
For one of my breakfasts I IHOP went to – this restaurant is famous for its pancakes. Besides the pancakes, I got an egg, bacon and potatoes. The pancakes were really great, I’ve never had them like this before. But the bacon was overcooked, so I didn’t eat it. Together with tax and tip, breakfast cost $15.71.
Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, I was interested in seeing the giant letters Hollywood, visiting Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, and visiting Santa Monica Beach in the suburbs.
To see the letters Hollywood, tourists are advised to go to the Griffith Observatory, because you can’t get to the letters themselves – they are fenced off with wire. I decided to go up to the observatory on foot – it’s the American way. The locals often use the hills for hiking, but you should do it in the morning, before it’s so hot. The uphill climb takes about 40 minutes from the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately, you can hardly see the letters from there without high magnification, so I enjoyed the views much more during the climb. After the trip, I found information on the internet that the letters are much better seen from another observation deck in Lake Hollywood Park.
I loved Santa Monica Beach – lots of space, endless ocean and a beautiful bike and pedestrian path along it. There’s also a pier with rides and a sign for the end of Route 66, which once connected the east and west of the country.
I had a whole day to spend at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. There is a huge number of people there and long lines for each attraction – I stood in one of them for almost an hour and a half. Fortunately, some attractions had queues for those who came alone or who didn’t care to sit next to their companion. I stood there for no more than 10-20 minutes.
The ticket to the park cost me $94, but it was worth it – I had not experienced such an adrenaline rush for a long time. I went on all the rides during the day, some of them even twice.
Back in Los Angeles, I wanted to see whales, so I started looking for appropriate excursions. I looked for excursions on the Groupon website, where you can buy tickets at a big discount. As a result, I decided on Harbor Breeze – they have good reviews online. On the company’s website the tour costs $35, but with the coupon – only $29.
The cruise itself lasted a little over three hours, Two and a half of which we looked for whales and dolphins using special equipment. There was a guide on the ship who told us about the sea creatures and told us which part of the boat to run to in order to see them. Once we came across a whole pack of dolphins – they were jumping out of the water in front of the moving boat, an unforgettable sight! But we never saw any whales.
The journey was rough: the boat was rocking violently on the waves, making some passengers seasick. The staff politely asked them to move to the back of the boat.
How to save money on excursions and entertainment
Coupons aren’t the only way to save money on sightseeing. Here are some other opportunities in the U.S. to pay less for your ticket.
Pay What You Wish – in this case you can pay any amount, even a cent, for admission. Such a system worked before, for example, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. There, the recommended price of an adult ticket was $23, but I paid $10. Now, unfortunately, this system in the museum works only for residents. But you can use it to pay at some other museums, such as the Staten Island Museum.
The City Pass card and analogs – they can be used to enter certain museums. For example, the City Pass card can be used to enter the Empire State Building, the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Statue of Liberty and other places. It costs $136. I was only interested in the skyscraper and the Museum of Natural History, so I didn’t buy this card.
Some cards are also valid for a certain amount of time. For example, Go Los Angeles is valid for 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 days and costs $99-$399 – the more days, the more expensive.
City tours for a small fee – such as those offered by Free Tours by Foot. You can pay any amount for their tours at the end – or not at all. I was afraid that I wouldn’t understand what the guides were saying, so I didn’t decide to go.
Buy a ticket online – sometimes online tickets are cheaper. For example, it is better to buy tickets to Madame Tussauds on the website: there they cost from $33.99, and at the box office – $36.99.
San Francisco
I have visited San Francisco twice – there is something alluring and appealing about it. The Victorian-style houses are enchanting, and you can look at the Golden Gate Bridge endlessly. However, walking around San Francisco is not easy – the city is located on hills.
One of the popular tourist spots is the Pier 39 shopping and entertainment center, built right on the fishing pier, there are many small stores gathered there. But the main thing on this pier is the sea lions that live right off the shore. These cute creatures coo, squabble and fight for a place on the wooden platform.
Not far from the pier there is a museum of slot machines – you can play them. A ticket to the museum costs about 0.5$.
There are many parks and gardens in the city. The largest park is Golden Gate Park, which starts from the bay and extends for five kilometers. On its territory there are two gardens: Botanical and Japanese. These gardens can be visited for free on certain days, and at other times you have to pay 7-12$ for admission. I went there for free.
The Japanese Garden is beautiful, but I don’t recommend going there – it’s very small, you can walk around it in ten minutes. But the Botanical Garden is large and much more interesting – you can see tall sequoias, for example. I also liked the Garden of Roses, where dozens of varieties of these flowers grow, from which an incredible fragrance hangs in the air. Entrance is free of charge.
There are also a lot of themed neighborhoods in San Francisco – like the Chinese, Italian, LGBT, and hippie neighborhoods. I enjoyed all of them.
New York
I arrived in New York at an unfortunate time – it was raining almost non-stop in the city. On the first day it didn’t rain yet, and I had time to walk in the lower part of Manhattan, cross the Brooklyn Bridge on foot, and walk through Brooklyn Bridge Park, which offers amazing views of New York City. I didn’t take the tour to the Statue of Liberty, and just took the free ferry to Staten Island to pass by.
I also visited the Museum of Natural History, where the movie “Night at the Museum” was filmed. Back then, you could pay any amount for admission there if you asked for it at the ticket office – I paid $10. Now this rule is only for residents. The museum has many exhibits of different periods, but the collection of giant dinosaur skeletons and a three-meter model of a whale impressed me the most. I spent more than four hours in the museum, but I never had time to see the whole exposition.
Las Vegas
In Las Vegas, the main Las Vegas Strip is full of hotels, and each one stands out in some way. One has a replica of the Eiffel Tower next to its entrance, another has singing fountains, and the third has gondolas. And everywhere there are casinos with dozens of machines and roulettes.
I don’t like gambling, but in Las Vegas I decided to play once and allocated $10 for it. I mentally said goodbye to the money and chose a machine where I had to press a button and wait for five identical pictures to fall out. As a result, of course, I lost.
With nothing else to do in Las Vegas, I went on two excursions: the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon.
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a unique national park in the state of Arizona that stretches 446 kilometers along the Colorado River. This canyon is one of the largest on the planet. The South and North Rim are open to tourists, with about 350 km between them, the rest of the park is rugged. I chose to visit the more popular South Rim. It is closer to Las Vegas, and there are more observation decks, from which you can get the most beautiful views of the canyon.
At first I wanted to get to the canyon on my own. One of the nearest settlements to it is the town of Flagstaff. You can get there from Las Vegas by Greyhound bus for five and a half hours and a little more than $30. In Flagstaff you need to take a bus to the Grand Canyon, where the ticket costs $34. But on the same day you can only catch the evening flight, which arrives at 17:45, which is too late to see the canyon before dark.
Then I started looking for tours and found a company called Grand Canyon Tours that takes bus tours there from Las Vegas. I paid $90 for the tour. If I had bought the ticket three months before the trip, I would have paid less – $80.
The tour included the following:
- Shuttle service to the Grand Canyon with several stops.
- Snack: muffins with tea, coffee or juice and lunch – vegetable and chicken salad or sandwich of choice.
- Unlimited water – Arizona is very hot, you can’t go anywhere without water.
- An English-speaking guide whose words I could barely understand. She told me about the history of the canyon and advised me how to manage my free time.
If you go to the Grand Canyon on your own, you will have to pay 20-35 $ for the ticket Children under 15 years old can pass for free. For motorists and motorcyclists the ticket price is higher than for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Grand Canyon is free on the following dates: January 18, April 17, August 4, September 25, and November 11
On the day of the tour, the bus picked me up from my hotel at 6am and brought me back at 11:30pm. We were given a small snack before the tour started and then lunch a couple hours later. Everyone ate right on the bus.
It took us six hours to get to the canyon. There we were let off the bus and asked to return in three hours. We could go in any direction – they didn’t take us around the canyon in a group.
To avoid wasting time, I studied the official map of the canyon in advance and figured out where I could get to in three hours. There are four bus routes and several hiking trails. I chose the Rim Trail – one of its sections can be traveled in a couple of hours.
I took a local bus to Mather Point, and from there I walked along the edge of the canyon to Mary Colter’s Lookout Studio and admired the views. The canyon is huge and majestic – you can’t believe nature created it all. It’s completely silent, with only the occasional tourist or squirrel passing by. I felt like a bug among these rocks and forgot about all my problems – I wanted to stop the moment and enjoy it.
I made the full circle from parking lot to parking lot in two and a half hours of leisurely walking. After that, I decided not to go anywhere – I wouldn’t have had time to see anything in half an hour.
I was tired of the trip: the bus was small, the seats were too close together – it was uncomfortable. The only saving grace was that I was sitting alone and could lie down on the seat next to me. On the road, I occupied myself with movies on my tablet, napping and admiring the views out the window. Every three hours we stopped to stretch – I got off the bus every time and walked around. But despite the long drive, I don’t regret going: seeing the Grand Canyon is priceless.
Antelope Canyon
Antelope Canyon is located in the middle of the desert in northern Arizona. It got its name because of the color of the walls, which resembles the red skin of an antelope. This canyon is located on the territory of the Navajo tribe.
The canyons themselves are two – Upper and Lower, both beautiful. The Upper one is older, so I chose it. I bought the tour from a Chinese company TakeTours for 142$. For this amount I was picked up from the hotel at 5 am, taken to the canyon and brought back to 19 hours. Water was also provided throughout the trip. It was possible to buy lunch in addition, but instead I took energy bars, bananas and nuts with me.
On the way to the canyon, the guide spoke in Chinese and English about the places we passed by. Not far from the canyon, we were dropped off the bus, divided into small groups of 10-15 people, given a briefing and shown what filter to use in the camera to get perfect pictures. Then we were put into pickup trucks and driven to the entrance of the canyon.
In the canyon itself we were accompanied by a Navajo guide – you can’t go there without him. The guide told us how the canyon was formed and stopped where we could take the best pictures. The whole tour took about an hour. As with the Grand Canyon, I couldn’t believe that nature had created such a miracle.
San Diego
I chose San Diego at random – I was looking for a small city near Los Angeles where I could spend a couple of days. At first I thought it would not be as interesting as other US cities, but in the end I liked San Diego.
First of all, I went to the aircraft carrier USS Midway, a real small city on the water. The aircraft carrier used to house servicemen, so they had organized several rooms: cabins, kitchen, laundry, chapel, and even a prison. There is very little space – for example, the distance between the shelves where the sailors slept, no more than half a meter. You can’t sit on them, only lie down. For a ticket on an aircraft carrier in 2019, I paid 23 $. In 2021, the ticket is more expensive – 26 $.
I also went to Coronado Island – it turned out that this is where the movie “Only Girls in Jazz” was filmed. You can go to the hotel where the main characters lived, but only to the common area at the entrance.
A nice walk around the hotel, past the well-maintained cabins or lounging on the beach is a great place for a weekend getaway.
Also, San Diego has one of the largest zoos in the world. I paid $56 for a ticket, but in 2021 it costs more – $60. At the zoo, I wanted to see the pandas, but I didn’t get to: I learned from an employee that they were sent back to China. Even if a panda cub is born, it also belongs to China and you have to pay for it. I later read that the pandas from the San Diego Zoo had retired to China. Despite this, I had a great time at the zoo.
After the zoo, I went for a walk to the neighboring Balboa Park, where I happened to stumble upon an organ concert for everyone – it was great. At the concert, the organizers gave umbrellas to elderly people so that they wouldn’t have to sit in the blazing sun – I was touched by this concern.
Results
The USA is not a perfect country, it has its drawbacks: expensive housing, broken roads, a lot of homeless people and frequent hurricanes. But despite this, I have never once regretted going there – it’s a country that’s a pleasure to return to. There’s free drinking water in all the parks there and clean restrooms that smell good, have toilet paper and a baby changing table. Almost everyone I met there was friendly and smiling. Strangers would compliment my sweatshirt, and at the checkout in the supermarket they always asked me how my day was.
And the USA also has beautiful national parks, unique exhibits in museums and excellent infrastructure for living and recreation. That’s why I think it’s definitely worth traveling there, and more than once.
