Ok, so come September I'm going to be travelling the US, and I decided that the easiest and cheapest way to get around would be to get an unlimited pass. However, I'm stuck between 2 options:

A 60 day Greyhound discovery pass for ~$645

A 30 day Greyhound discovery pass for $522

A 30 day off-peak national Amtrak pass for $469.

Going by train would work out cheaper, and would probably be quicker to get around, however it seems that the locations offered by train aren't as great, so I'd be limited as to where I could actually travel.

But going by coach would be more expensive and the time it takes to reach destinations seems pretty long, and I'm not sure whether it'd drive me crazy or not. I included the 60 day option as I'm a bit worried that the long distances will cut a 30 day holiday down to having 15 days worth of actual leisure time.

I was wondering whether anyone had any experience of travelling long distances via the above methods, and whether they could give any advice as to what'd be better for me to purchase.

Traveling by bus can be a bore. You're constantly stopping in every backwater town and there are few amenities.

Unless you're used to this sort of thing, you may find it incredibly tiresome.

What sorts of things do you like to do while you travel?

Hey I'm going to the US this summer as well, either in June or September. I'm also from London!

What are your plans? I'm thinking about travelling up the east coast, then flying over to California. Two weeks on each coast, staying in hostels or with contacts (I know some Americans).

Who are you flying with?

Flying out there with travel city direct or some shit. Gonna be with parents.

Flying back from New York with the cheapest airline I can find. Still planning stuff out and raising money so haven't really looked into it yet.

If you come over in September, I might have to meet ya and exchange some tales. :D

The outline of my journey will hopefully be Florida -> California -> Seattle -> New York, travelling by coach with stops in cities along the way. Trying to get accomodation from as many people as I can before I go so I can save money on hostels and that.

Traveling by bus can be a bore. You're constantly stopping in every backwater town and there are few amenities.

Unless you're used to this sort of thing, you may find it incredibly tiresome.

What sorts of things do you like to do while you travel?

I've gone to Paris like 5 times by coach, which is like a 14 hour journey, and I didn't mind it that much. I know this will be more intense, but I'm going to specifically buy lots of Final Fantasy games for PSP and DS especially for the journeys, so shit will be cool. All my coach journeys will be at night, so I can try and sleep a lot of the journeys and save money on accomodation.

I'm just looking to get the hell away from where I live and go on an adventure, spending as long as possible away from home.

Sounds a bit childish I know. But since i've dropped out of college, I have no qualifications and have to wait 3 years until I can apply to university as a 'mature student'. I basically wanna kill as much time as possible, see as many places as possible and do something a bit different to the old holding down a shitty job and going out every weekend routine.

If you come over in September, I might have to meet ya and exchange some tales. :D

Yeah that'd be interesting and a first for me - meeting someone off totse!

I'm just looking to get the hell away from where I live and go on an adventure, spending as long as possible away from home.

Sounds a bit childish I know. But since i've dropped out of college, I have no qualifications and have to wait 3 years until I can apply to university as a 'mature student'. I basically wanna kill as much time as possible, see as many places as possible and do something a bit different to the old holding down a shitty job and going out every weekend routine.

Fuckin A. The way I see it, we live in a time of unparalleled prosperity and freedom, but all people want to do is find some job in the city and go out to get sloshed every saturday night with the same people and in the same places. I just want to get the hell away for a bit and enjoy my life as much as I possibly can before my eventual death.

^Closer to the time we'll have to meet up for a beer in London or something.

You made any solid plans yet?

Not really, I'm deciding on dates, who to fly with etc., but I'll probably be booking fairly soon. I think I might try it through STA travel as they do decent student and <26 deals.

We'll have to keep each other updated on how it's going.