7 ms·

Ask YC: 6-Month road trip down the west coast...much advice needed

37 points by ssanders82 18y ago

Hi. Twitter version: Bored in SC, apartment lease up, want to see western US. Wordpress version: I'm a 26 year-old single freelance web dev working fulltime from home in South Carolina. Lived in the southeast my whole life; now is as good a time as any to see something else. My very tentative plan is take my trusty F-150 ($4 gas = ouch) across the country and stay in one place for a month or two, then keep moving. If I love it somewhere, hell, I'll stay. Itinerary: SC -> Vancouver? -> Seattle -> Portland -> Sacramento -> SF/SJ -> San Diego -> Vegas? -> SLC -> Denver. Or something. My plan is to look for furnished apartments with month-to-month leases or find extended-stay hotels. To be open about my budget, I work 40hrs/week @$40/hour (all remotely) and I plan on keeping 30 hrs+/week throughout my travels. (Haven't talked to my client about it yet but they're very cool.) That should cover my cost of living. I know downtown metros are expensive but 15 miles away I should be able to find some housing. (Right?) Say, $1,200/month avg? (SF notwithstanding) My current lease here is up July 31st. If I could scrape 1% of the YC'ers collective knowledge about the west coast and extended road trips, it would be a humongous help. So that you can refer to them by number, here are my questions: 1.) Is that itinerary FUBAR? Any other city suggestions? I was trying to migrate south as it got colder this fall, then maybe to Denver to ski :) 2.) Is there even such a thing as month-to-month furnished apartments? Google's not a lot of help. Is $1,200/mo. for temp housing a good guess? 3.) Work: I will need wireless internet service; I'm looking at Alltel EVDO @ $60/month. Verizon & Sprint EVDO's cap at 5GB/mo. Unacceptable. Any other options / experiences? I will be working from desktop + 2 LCD's when I can, HP laptop when I can't. 4.) Need to buy: Garmin nuvi 350 GPS, digital camera, external USB hard drive for backup/photos...any other nontrivial essentials? 5.) People in the cities I mentioned - what do I simply have to experience in my time there? 6.) Catch-all advice on the western US 7.) Catch-all advice on extended road trips And, last but definitely not least, does anybody on that route want to meet up? I follow HN daily, had 3 sites I've built on TechCrunch, had YC in-person interview last spring (stayed in SF & really liked it), and just love to talk ideas and execution. Supper and some beers with a few of you would be a welcome respite from my solo saga. THANKS!!! BlogSpot version: Buy VI@GRA! Sam samstrip at gmail (Damn, that's supposed to indicate "Sam's Trip", not "Sam, Strip")

olefoo 18y ago
Travel lighter. In Portland, take a day or two to wander around Powell's and Powell's Technical. Be prepared to lose stuff. Don't forget there's more to the west than cities. Post the URL of your trip blog. Have Fun.
jgrahamc 18y ago
Don't miss the smaller places like Santa Barbara.
tjr 18y ago
I rather like the Laguna Beach area.
noodle 18y ago
1) if you really have the time, if i were you, i'd go across to the grand canyon, north to yellowstone, and up to vancouver for your adventure. sounds like you're going big, and those two places are must-sees if you've not seen them. 2) yeah, you can rent vacation condos on the cheap. i spent two weeks in south beach for less than half the cost of a hotel in a fully furnished large apartment. check out http://www.vrbo.com/ http://www.vrbo.com/ -- you can negotiate with the owners on price, especially if you're taking up a huge hole in their calendar. 3) i have no experience for you. 4) sounds like you've got it covered, and you can always buy stuff on the way. car charger for the cell, maybe. 5) i'd worry less about the cities. you can find out the must-see stuff in a city with a quick google search. a substantial amount of the best stuff on your trip will probably be in between bigger cities. especially on the way to the west coast. 6) everything is more expensive. especially compared to clemson. 7) take the time to stretch your legs and experience the stuff in between your destinations if you can spare it. i'd have some beers before you leave, i'm also in SC :)
- breck 18y ago
  1) definitely go to the grand canyon if you haven't been. 2) i hope there is, because I'd like to do the same thing soon. 3) i have a tethered modem plan on my blackberry with Verizon. It provides EVDO for only $10 a month on top of my voice plan. Pretty sure its unlimited(but I also thought SMS were unlimited for $10/month, and its actually only 500, so don't take my word for it). 4) Maybe you can wait on the new blackberry or iPhone? GPS, EvDO, camera--all in one package.

37 points by ssanders82 18y ago

olefoo 18y ago

Travel lighter. In Portland, take a day or two to wander around Powell's and Powell's Technical. Be prepared to lose stuff. Don't forget there's more to the west than cities. Post the URL of your trip blog. Have Fun.

jgrahamc 18y ago

Don't miss the smaller places like Santa Barbara.

tjr 18y ago

I rather like the Laguna Beach area.

noodle 18y ago

1) if you really have the time, if i were you, i'd go across to the grand canyon, north to yellowstone, and up to vancouver for your adventure. sounds like you're going big, and those two places are must-sees if you've not seen them. 2) yeah, you can rent vacation condos on the cheap. i spent two weeks in south beach for less than half the cost of a hotel in a fully furnished large apartment. check out http://www.vrbo.com/ http://www.vrbo.com/ -- you can negotiate with the owners on price, especially if you're taking up a huge hole in their calendar. 3) i have no experience for you. 4) sounds like you've got it covered, and you can always buy stuff on the way. car charger for the cell, maybe. 5) i'd worry less about the cities. you can find out the must-see stuff in a city with a quick google search. a substantial amount of the best stuff on your trip will probably be in between bigger cities. especially on the way to the west coast. 6) everything is more expensive. especially compared to clemson. 7) take the time to stretch your legs and experience the stuff in between your destinations if you can spare it. i'd have some beers before you leave, i'm also in SC :)

breck 18y ago
1) definitely go to the grand canyon if you haven't been. 2) i hope there is, because I'd like to do the same thing soon. 3) i have a tethered modem plan on my blackberry with Verizon. It provides EVDO for only $10 a month on top of my voice plan. Pretty sure its unlimited(but I also thought SMS were unlimited for $10/month, and its actually only 500, so don't take my word for it). 4) Maybe you can wait on the new blackberry or iPhone? GPS, EvDO, camera--all in one package.