Planning a trip to the US this year

[Tuncal]

Budget is not that much of an issue (famous last words ) although the whole trip should not cost more than $3000 (including flight) if possible, depending a bit on dollar/euro exchange rates.

The flight to the US alone will be at least  $1000 (although I would be amazed if you find something that cheap at the height of the tourist season, I know NA to Europe is ~1400 around that time). So best case scenario is $2000 for 20 days, or $100 a day for accommodation, food, transport and fun. I don't honestly see how much of a good time you can manage with that budget, especially in the big cities that tend to be more expensive.

[ezrast]

[Salamok]

Budget is not that much of an issue (famous last words ) although the whole trip should not cost more than $3000 (including flight) if possible, depending a bit on dollar/euro exchange rates.

The flight to the US alone will be at least  $1000 (although I would be amazed if you find something that cheap at the height of the tourist season, I know NA to Europe is ~1400 around that time). So best case scenario is $2000 for 20 days, or $100 a day for accommodation, food, transport and fun. I don't honestly see how much of a good time you can manage with that budget, especially in the big cities that tend to be more expensive.

He probably means Euro's, so that would work out to just over $4,000.

[Samwise]

San Francisco vacation on $100 a day: bed in a respectable hostel for $30 a night (link), take the bus everywhere for about $4 a day, $66 a day left over to eat out at a nice restaurant for every meal.

This is pretty much how I like to spend my vacation days, actually, minus the hostel part.  My favorite thing to do on a day off is try a new restaurant and/or wander around the city on foot.

[Hoax]

Yeah but we're the pleasant but weird intellectually stimulating 'merica and our German friend here thinks he wants to experience some real god hates fags and babykillers 'merica on his trip.  If you do give in and do the SF route me Sam and a bunch of others have all sorts of advice and could even meet up with you and show you around if you were inclined.  As to the situation at hand..

I think we have a no driving problem.

We may have a budget problem, but euros are worth a lot so maybe not.

Hey, hey easy folks! I didn't want my questions to start an international incident ;)

I thank you all for your help so far I now have a fairly good idea what I'm getting into and a lot of really good location recommendations from all of you. I don't want to cause any bad blood between you guys.

Thanks a lot you have all been really helpful so far don't let this get personal, it's just a vacation.

I'll probably be spending the next days to look at your reccomendations and how I can work out route.

I felt I was promised an update!

PS.  AC is the worst fucking idea ever.  I'd much rather be lost in Atlanta w/ no car then ever return to Atlantic City that place is a total shit hole and full of people from Philly to make matters even worse.

[Jeff Kelly]

I always thought we Germans excelled at self loathing, self hate and talking anybody who wants to visit us out of it. Hell most of us would rather live anywhere else but Germany if we could (and if anybody would let us). The most popular reality TV over here is camera teams following expatriates around who want to make it anywhere else but here.

Some of you do a great job emulating that however. 

All I meant by my off hand comment was that I wanted to experience a little more than just the standard tourist traps, get a feel for the real thing (as much as anybody can in two or three weeks)

Why? Because I'm young, because I have the money and I want to experience a little bit more of the world first hand. I want to see it with my own eyes so that I can really appreciate the painting of all the death to America signs afterwards 

On a more serious note nobody in Germany wears lederhosen, nobody owns a cuckoo clock and most people would rather gouge their eardrums out than listen to blasmusik yet millions of foreign tourists each year think that Germany is exactly like that because they only get to see the Octoberfest, some godforsaken tourist hell hole in the Black Forest or are avid South Park fans (no we aren't scatologically inclined either)

Excuse me for actually wanting to get at least a little bit familiar with the country I visit. Next time I stay in front of my TV and learn everything I know about America from the TV shows that are broadcasted here.

When I started the thread I imagined that some of you might fall over each other explaining to me why your part of America is a must see experience, I'd never imagined that you're all so keen on discouraging me of visiting at all. A pity since I even imagined meeting some of you guys in person to put a face to all of the zanyness around here.

Sorry needed to vent a little here.

Is the lack of a driver's license really such a huge issue? I only have one good eye so I am legally forbidden from operating a motor vehicle. As far as my internet mojo is capable of that would be a similar issue in the US (20/25 on the left eye, 20/400 on the right).

Right now I really like the idea of spending some time in florida to chill and soak in the sun and to stay on the east cost, Charlotte, Washington, Boston, New York or skipping any of that to get to Chicago. There are a lot of options for three weeks. Right now I'm digesting all of the info from this thread and from the internet.

[01101010]

Driving... bah. I have seen and driven around people with valid licenses and holy shit how they got them I will never know. Unfortunately in the US, we go by way of car. So here's what you do:

Fly into some city and grab the nearest used car dealer. Find the cheapest $400-$500 piece of shit they got, pay the man cash, drive off and pick your own route and destinations. When you are ready to go, either park it at the airport, tear up the paper tags, drop the keys on the seat and lock it up. Or find somebody willing to take it off your hands for $100. 

(while I say this in a flippant sorta way, my fraternity brother who is from and now lives in Korea did this and it was cheaper than renting a car for a week)

[naum]

On a more serious note nobody in Germany wears lederhosen, nobody owns a cuckoo clock and most people would rather gouge their eardrums out than listen to blasmusik yet millions of foreign tourists each year think that Germany is exactly like that because they only get to see the Octoberfest, some godforsaken tourist hell hole in the Black Forest or are avid South Park fans (no we aren't scatologically inclined either)

 

[Samwise]

When I started the thread I imagined that some of you might fall over each other explaining to me why your part of America is a must see experience, I'd never imagined that you're all so keen on discouraging me of visiting at all. A pity since I even imagined meeting some of you guys in person to put a face to all of the zanyness around here.

SF is a must see experience.  I don't tend to much like visiting other places in the US, to be honest, because most of them kinda suck compared to here.   IMO.  If I were planning your vacation, I'd say forget all those other places, and especially fuck hopping around the country on a plane.  Just pick one awesome place as a base of operations and spend two and a half weeks soaking that place up.

I try to downplay how awesome I think SF is because nothing irritates people like someone being excessively proud of the city he had the lucky accident of being born in.  But you pried it out of me.  

Hopefully they'll be irritated at you instead.  

[Signe]

Driving... bah. I have seen and driven around people with valid licenses and holy shit how they got them I will never know. Unfortunately in the US, we go by way of car. So here's what you do:

Fly into some city and grab the nearest used car dealer. Find the cheapest $400-$500 piece of shit they got, pay the man cash, drive off and pick your own route and destinations. When you are ready to go, either park it at the airport, tear up the paper tags, drop the keys on the seat and lock it up. Or find somebody willing to take it off your hands for $100. 

(while I say this in a flippant sorta way, my fraternity brother who is from and now lives in Korea did this and it was cheaper than renting a car for a week)

What the fuck is wrong with you?

[Numtini]

My advice is if you hit Boston or Chicago, get some tickets to a (base) ballgame with the Red Sox or Cubs. Old historic stadiums, storied teams, hot dogs. Can't get much more American than that. It's a little more reserved than a soccer match, but at least in the Boston bleachers at least as much drinking.

if you can hit DC for July 4th, I'd be shocked if anyone outdoes that fireworks show. Plus you get the "Festival of American Folklife" on the mall in DC and can wander into it between doing different Smithsonian museums.

[Signe]

My advice is if you hit Boston or Chicago, get some tickets to a (base) ballgame with the Red Sox or Cubs. Old historic stadiums, storied teams, hot dogs. Can't get much more American than that. It's a little more reserved than a soccer match, but at least in the Boston bleachers at least as much drinking.

if you can hit DC for July 4th, I'd be shocked if anyone outdoes that fireworks show. Plus you get the "Festival of American Folklife" on the mall in DC and can wander into it between doing different Smithsonian museums.

That second paragraph is an especially cool idea.  You'll have way too much fun here on the Fourth of July!

[JWIV]

My advice is if you hit Boston or Chicago, get some tickets to a (base) ballgame with the Red Sox or Cubs. Old historic stadiums, storied teams, hot dogs. Can't get much more American than that. It's a little more reserved than a soccer match, but at least in the Boston bleachers at least as much drinking.

if you can hit DC for July 4th, I'd be shocked if anyone outdoes that fireworks show. Plus you get the "Festival of American Folklife" on the mall in DC and can wander into it between doing different Smithsonian museums.

Wandering through the various museums and the like in DC really is a worthwhile experience.  But if you come here in summer, be prepared to sweat.  July isn't as bad as August though, so it'll only be 85 degrees in 80% humidity instead of 90 and 90.  

[Teleku]

Stuff

You have to realize that people on this forum are a bit more....eccentric than the norm. 

Going against what they are saying, I love traveling around the US, and think its one of the most bitch'inly awesome places to live possible.  Be it cities or country side.  But as mentioned, without a car or somebody to drive you, getting around to the country side or "nature" isn't really an option, unless you take a tour bus.  Which is to bad, because America is frankly one of the most beautiful places on the globe. 

Also, despite all the walmart jabs, cities are very much the "real" America as much as countryside.  Since, you know, most of the population lives in them.  You'll have plenty of good experiences just hanging in the cities.

Can't really say more than whats been said already.  Your plan sounds good.  Hit Florida, then maybe see if you can do a D.C., New York, Boston thing.  Then perhaps ending in Chicago.  You'd have to fly to do some of those, but could easily do trains for the New England stuff.  Or, Bus's as well.  When I went to visit my sister in Boston, she showed me the China Town Bus's.  There is a Bus line that will take you from the China town in Boston to the China town in New York (or Vica Versa).  Only $15!  http://www.fungwahbus.com/Default.aspx  There are a whole bunch of other China Town bus's that will ship you from cities across the east coast as well, so you might be able to do them all this way, for very very cheep.  Note, I can't tell you what the quality of the bus will be, only that it should get you from point A to point B cheaply.

And yeah, hitting any of the big east coasts cities during the 4th of July would be well worth it to you.  Boston also puts on an amazing display, which is choreographed to the Boston Symphony playing live by the river.

What I would also suggest to anybody here giving out recommendations:  Tell him what some of the best local food to look for is.  My favorite part about traveling is hitting all the street/cheep food and trying them out (Japan in awesome for this).  All the cities in the US have their own crazy local delicacies/junk foods.  Give him names of things to look for or great places to go (awesome pizza joints for example).  I've only visited the east coast sporadically, so I'm a noob to east coast cuisine myself.  I did like Boston Baked Beans though!

[Hoax]

When I started the thread I imagined that some of you might fall over each other explaining to me why your part of America is a must see experience, I'd never imagined that you're all so keen on discouraging me of visiting at all. A pity since I even imagined meeting some of you guys in person to put a face to all of the zanyness around here.

That is what we're doing, its just out here we do that by tearing down other parts of the country to make our part look better by comparison, do try to keep up.  Also its not fair of you to post that after my like 8th post in this thread (I really like the idea of people visiting the US) most of which have been quite constructive and helpful.

Seriously if you can not drive at all no matter what, despite your "meh" attitude towards nature I recommend coming to the west coast and more importantly the Bay Area.  You can Amtrak it to Portland and Seattle for variety if you want.

That said it sounds like your starting to have a good plan, for real though, Boston?  Skip that shit Chicago > Boston for baseball and just about everything else.  Boston is as unique an experience as SF is but not in a good way.  If you really want to hang with Irish people go to Ireland I hear its not that far from you.  Also it would be insanely cool to look up, check out and maybe even hang out with all the Germans in Chicago.  Back in the late 1800's they were by far and away the most massive immigrant group there and I'm sure there are some vestiges of that if you look hard enough, I don't know the city well enough to say for sure sadly.  DC for museums and fireworks would be nice but the real problem is bars/nightlife.  There are places to get blasted in every American city but it can get quite complicated doubly so without a car.  If you do come to SF that is not the case and that is the only place in America I can promise you that you can get drunk, walk to the next 10 bars, keep getting drunk and eventually walk to where you need to sleep.

[Quinton]

Seriously if you can not drive at all no matter what, despite your "meh" attitude towards nature I recommend coming to the west coast and more importantly the Bay Area.  You can Amtrak it to Portland and Seattle for variety if you want.

Or fly.  Several airlines offer direct flights from San Francisco to Seattle or Portland for $150-250 round trip, depending on season and timing.

I believe you can get out to Yosemite with a combination of train and bus if you want to include a little bit of nature sightseeing as well.  

For a closer but still very impressive bit of nature, you could grab a bus out to Muir Woods for an afternoon.

The computer history museum in Mountain View is fun if you're into that sort of thing: http://www.computerhistory.org/

[Abagadro]

Not sure what you mean by bars being a problem in DC.  There are entire sections of town where you can bar crawl like M Street in Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan.

[Strazos]

Not sure what you mean by bars being a problem in DC.  There are entire sections of town where you can bar crawl like M Street in Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan.

(for DC)

Stay out of Adams Morgan, unless you like obnoxious kids and way-too-fucking-crowded bars. Mostly the same with Dupont to a degree. U Street has some interesting restaurants that span a very wide spectrum of different cultures (Latin American, African, etc). Georgetown is nice, though generally a bit pricier and not as easily accessible (Buses are fine but infrequent. Closest Metro is across the bridge in Rosslyn, I think). M is fine, if I recall correctly; a few nice and decently-priced asian places there.

If you do DC, try to plan your stay and sightseeing for the middle of the week; weekend tourists just make things a mess, though to be fair, tis the season for tourists getting in the way and standing around like cattle. I've been tempted to toss some over the side of the escalators.

Oh, and don't take it personally if you get sort of hassled if you are taking pics up close of gov't buildings. Besides, most of them aren't much to look at anyways.