Canada East to West (September 09)

Hey

I'm spending next snow season somewhere in western Canada (probably Fernie) but I am thinking about flying into New York in mid September and travelling across slowly, visiting some friends along the way.

I'm on a real budget cos I'm going to be travelling for quite a while so I was thinking about hitchhiking to keep costs down. The other idea was to look into buying a cheap van. Would anyone be up for this? Or has anyone done it before and have any advice?

Thanks

Kat

[ Edit: Edited on 15-Feb-2009, at 11:54 by kat_bm ]

Traveling across North America is fairly expensive. We pay more for a domestic flight than for a flight to London. Hitchhiking may be the cheapest option; but also the more dangerous one. Due to the geographical features of Canada, traveling from one end to the other may take longer than expected. Look into amtrak.com , they usually have cheap tickets from NYC to Vancouver BC.
You can get a cheap van for around $500, but then it's more than likely not in any condition to drive across the country. If you have any more questions, just let me know.

Hi

Thanks for the advice. I have friends in Ontario so I was hoping to travel through Canada rather than the US, is there a trainline that runs that route instead?

Also, what's the deal with insurance for a car or van? I've heard that if you buy it's hard to sell on in another part of Canada, is this true?

Thanks

Kat

Hi Kat,

There is a train that runs from Toronto to Vancouver, but due to a large lake in the middle of Ontario, it takes considerably longer than via the US, and is extremely expensive. For some reason AMTRAK is way cheaper than VIA. But it might be worth checking out. To be honest, between Ontario and Calgary there's not much to see, it's all just flat corn fields. :-)

As for insurance and the like. Depending on your previous experience on the road it may get costly, especially for those under 25. However I don't see there being a problem selling your van/car in another part of the country.

Hope it helps

Cheers for the advice guys. Does anyone have a rough idea of how much insurance would cost (I'll be 24, been driving 7 years) or know where I can find out?
Thanks