Also, here are some travel tips (more US centric) which have helped me maximize my budget and prioitize good fun. Here’s a thought process you can use if you are deciding how/where to travel as well!

The who

Your travel buddies do define the trip. If you’re by yourself, you know best what interests you, so go ahead and pursue that by all means. If you’re with a partner/a group of friends, work the details out - is it going to be adventurous, what sort of budget will you be on, what will you be prioritizing? food? shopping? seeing more things? what are everyone’s energy levels? what are their tolerance for danger/sketchier situations or living conditions? are we going to pack light/heavy? Importantly, discuss and talk it out before the trip to reduce the chance for conflict and make sure everyone goes home happy. Use the sections below for guiding questions!

Also, I really prefer trips where the group size is <= 4. i want to talk and bond with everyone, get to know everyone on a deeper level, and 4 people can fit into an uber, decide where to eat somewhat easier, and of course the odds that everyone has somewhat similar interests/want to do the same things/go to the same places are more possible.

Where

Now, perhaps you have the task of deciding where. I think you can break it down into 3 big groups to think about.

1. First, would be the normal stuff, big cities. Think places like NYC, SF, LA, Boston etc. Figure out whether the specific big city you’re going to requires a car, (e.g. hell yes in LA, hell no in NYC - check my specific reviews for more in depth information). Vibes are more museum, plays, city sight seeing, and there’s usually less discomfort but you might have to deal with some sketchy streets/people depending on the place you’re headed to. Parking is pretty tough, remember downtown in US big cities are pretty different from Asia, and seem to be more sketchy areas. Go to the city subreddits to check out more in depth information, remember to see if there are threads showing what special events are there in the cities, or if there’s anything special locals would recommend, or what they would avoid. Also - I understand there’s this need to try to be cool and avoid the toursity areas, but honestly to me as someone who’s never been there, usually there’s a reason why that place became a touristy area - sometimes it do actually be pretty nice.

2. Next, we have smaller cities/those places along the way. Think Pittsburgh, Denver, Salt Lake City, Ogden. There’s usually less stuff in those cities - I recommend just staying for 2-3 days, checking out the important sites/places of history/eats, and then leaving (on a car!) to see the nature around.

3. Lastly, we have nature areas. You can break it down into smaller areas like state parks/national forests (which are usually less crowded, more peaceful), and national parks (which are more magnificent and generally bigger/more things to explore - I’m not sure about gateway arch, heard enough slander online). My favorite part of the US personally - they have never failed to blow me away.

Budgeting

I’ll mostly be talking about maximizing your dollar but still accruing enough value and not suffering too much - I do not have enough money to talk about the other end (yet? hopefully.)

1. Flight Bookings

Book early, look at price graphs. please. such a simple thing to do but so overlooked, book as EARLY as you can. yes, the prices really do change. no doubt. use a VPN! usually (barring holidays), flights are mostly cheaper on mondays/tuesdays (for departign flights, so if you’re a college student try to max out your travels/activities to where the working people are busy in the office :>)

Here’s how I approach prices in flights. I am willing to pay 80-100 more dollars for nonstop flights, but if above that, i don’t really mind a quick stopover. weigh your own price to delay ratio - of course the longer it takes, the cheaper it is. do not trust google’s cheapest priced flights, some of them are ridiculous like taking 20 hours to fly from pittsburgh to chicago.

Travel light if you’re flying -> Remember, you get 1 personal item (make your travelling/laptop bag bigger), but airlines also don’t really complain if you bring along an extra totebag you carry extra stuff in (don’t make that one too big though.) Pack all your heavy stuff like shoes, toilietries etc in the carry on. Also always keep one set of spare clothes in your carry on - your don’t want your bag delaying to affect you. Pack minimal - you will always find places to wash your clothes for cheap/free.

2. Car Rentals

I’ve rented cars so many times, super familiar with this process. Here we get a fork

if you’re < 25:

well, here we go. remember - you get a young driver’s fee added to your rentals PER DAY. that’s 20-40 dollars (depending on the company) EXTRA PER DAY, which is almost paying double the price just to rent a car. that adds up. there are two ways to avoid this at the time of writing. firstly, check if your college/workplace has partnerships with car rental companies, and if there are special discount codes which might allow you to waive the young driver costs. if you’re travelling for work, book with them for sure as this is easily the cheapest possible rates you can EVER get. else, get the AAA insurance (i think it costs ~30 a year), book with Hertz - you avoid the young driver’s fee, get pretty nice cars, and pay a cheaper rate then if you had booked with a cheaper place but had to pay the young driver fees.

if you’re >= 25:

lucky you! Search around for the cheapest places, maybe even Turo. Thrifty, etc are all really cheap options but I think the cars are definitely worse and older. Service/speed of getting the cars were definitely fine though.

If you have a credit card with auto insurance, perfect. check if it covers rentals and that specific model you’re driving. else, please, get the insurance offered by the car rental company. I know it hurts having to pay 20/30% more, but most of my friends HAVE gotten into accidents before. you do not want to pay those out of your own pocket/have to deal with the trouble of third party providers, trust me. you are not invincible, your car is not invicible and anything can happen. rememeber - even if you are driving perfectly, someone else might not be.

Also! I like to whip out google maps, search for the outlets of the company you decided to book for around the airport you’re flying to/where you are. Take note of the opening hours for them, and make sure to compare the price of renting directly from airport outlets VS renting from the outlets around the airport (plus uber fees both ways). It is usually cheaper if you rent from the surronding outlets to avoid the airport surcharges, but the disadvantage is that they are usually within normal working hours (9-5 weekdays, 9-12 saturday, closed on sunday). However, if that fits into your schedule, why not? you do save a pretty dollar.

To electric or not -> they are really nice in cities if you’re just renting a car to travel around. I even had free electric chargers at my office and did not have to pay for gas for the whole trip. However, if you’re ever thinking of a longer road trip to other cities/nature places, please get a gas-powered car so you don’t have to deal with range anxiety/waiting 30-40 minutes (if you’re lucky and got a fast charging station). Maybe a Tesla is okay in between cities (personally haven’t drove one, but heard good things about charging stations dispersal), but if you’re heading to national parks/nature areas please just get a gas car.

3. Accomodation Bookings

Booking early might get you cheaper deals, and they might not. Remember to scroll google reviews by newest, check for reviews online, book from discount sites like AAA/company deals, and only if it is really significantly cheaper, book from the hotels themselves. True, you get more flexibility when you book with the hotel directly - but we are broke college students. A

Airbnb might be good for group trips where you can cook as well, but honestly in 2023 I think they are more expensive most of the time after you include cleaning fees and airbnb fees. you do get a kitchen and maybe washer/dryer unit sometimes, but i personally do not think it is worth it for smaller size trips. If you have a car, just drive to a laundromat and do your laundry for 10 dollars.

If you have friends, ask if you can crash their houses/accomadations. Obviously cheapest way possible and I’ve done this a ton, just make sure to be clean, respectful and cook/bring gifts! I always try to clean up after I leave.

4. Food

Chinatown has (in my personal biased opinion) the best, and cheapest food. but tbh, other than obv choosing where you eat and what you eat, there isn’t much i do for this section. culture maxing!

5. Activites

Check if cities have a pass that lets you save costs for those activities! For national parks, get the annual pass - going to 2 parks already breaks even.

6. Internet

Esims are great, Mint is great, traveller sim cards are also great.

How to experience-maximize

Having friends/locals show you around is top tier for sure. But if you don’t,

1. Cities/towns

Meet people! People in the US are mostly super friendly and spontaneous, talk to them! Talk to your uber drivers (if they want to), hit museums, bigger cities always have better food, ask locals on reccomendations on where to go and what to eat. Judge how good food is based on lines, this has mostly not failed me. Don’t hesitate to try them! Hostels/Backpacker lodges also have a ton of people travelling the same way as you, and are super friendly, don’t hesitate to make friends. And honestly if you’re single, dating apps are a great way to see the city with someone too (and maybe even find the love of your life :> ). Google reviews are super good for american centric food, if you want east-asian centric look on 小红书. Just be careful of fake reviews - some restaurants have taken to paying for them, you can tell by the huge contrast in reviews.

2. Nature areas

Camp, camp, camp. I love camping, rent equipment from your college club/get it cheap online, please be geared up enough, the nights get really cold, especially if your body is on the floor. An inflatable sleeping pad really really helps, and I really love bringing pillows if you can park your car at the camping site! Remember you have to book online really early if it’s at popular sites and times like yellowstone.

You can usually buy firewood near camping areas -> some of that plus a lighter and firestarters, you’re good to go. Bring a pot, bring some instant food/things to grill, bring a camping chair, look at the stairs with the fire crackling, so good. just remember to put the fire out before you sleep!

If there are bodies of water, try paddleboating, kayaking, rafting, even just going in for a swim. Adds so much to the experience! Most lakes (if they are clean) are super nice to swim in and you don’t get that sticky feeling you get after you swim on the beach.