AIRFARES

Make sure that airfares are purchased early. Generally buying early will ensure cheaper rates. Also, please remember to sign up for your airline’s frequent flyer program. As you will be travelling to USA, the miles that you will be able to accumulate are substantial. For example a trip to USA via North West Airlines will most likely allow you to redeem a roundtrip ticket to Japan/Korea form Singapore.

Another tip that I can offer is the flight coupons for travelling domestic. These coupons generally range from 2-9 coupons and each coupon allows you to board 1 flight. The more coupons you buy, the cheaper it is. For example, US Airways has the coupons called Tri-state Airpass and 2 coupons starts at US189. Note that these coupons should be bought in Singapore as it is only offered to Non-US resident. For more information you can take a look at http://www.usairways.com/awa/content/specials/traveldiscountprograms/vusa.aspx

Train

Generally the train system in USA in not as established as those in the Europe. However if you prefer taking the train to buses or flights, you can try their Nation wide train system called Amtrak (www.amtrak.com). The price for travelling from 1 point to another may cost more than travelling via a plane.

BUS

If you are really on a budget trip, you may want to try taking a bus. The most common long distance bus will be via Greyhound (www.greyhound.com). These buses are generally good for shorter trips. I do not advise for long distance travelling as it may be very tiring, uncomfortable and time consuming.

If you are travelling in groups, they have companion tickets which is often much cheaper. However, like the air tickets it is advisable to purchase early to ensure that you get lowest priced tickets.

CAR

The best way to get around while travelling in a particular area would be renting a car. Generally in USA, public transports are not very reliable and renting a car is your best bet. However, it can be relatively expensive to drive in certain cities like New York and San Francisco. For example, parking in San Francisco downtown can be as expensive as $20 per hour! In this case, you may want to take the public transport instead. Do bear in mind also that if you are under the age of 25, there will be surcharges and it can sometimes be more expensive than your car rental price.

Also, note that the price quoted on websites may not be what it really seems to be. Insurance is always not included in the price. There are generally 2 insurances that you may need to buy. First being CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) / LDW (Loss Damage Waiver) / PDW (Physical Damage Waiver). Although technically not collision insurance, in return for a daily fee, CDW / LDW / PDW waive the right for a rental car company to recover money from the renter if the vehicle is damaged or stolen. This does not cover damages made to someone else's car during your rental (third party damages).

The 2nd insurance is Personal liability coverage such as LIS (Liability Insurance Supplement) which pays for third party damage in the event of an accident. This may already have been covered by your travel insurance that you may have purchased prior to your trip to USA. DO check with your insurance company for more details on this.

Finally the price quoted on the website usually does not include taxes as well and taxes can be as high as 20%. Remember to check with the rental company before renting any car.

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