Where's a cheap place to go on vacation this summer?

[Bucky]

Summer vacation planning time... and I'm flat broke. Wasted all my money on my kid's so-called college education. Ha! What a crock. Now I gotta do something cheap so I can say I got out of town this summer. Like something under $400 total. I know I'll be going Greyhound for transportation (that's clearly the cheapest way to commute). What else can I do or go to on the cheap?

[taterguy]

1. National Park Service camp grounds

If you already have a tent and there are national parks you want to visit nearby.

[alphafemale]

6. seconded

and even if you don't have a tent you can get one fairly cheap.

[thezen78]

2. National Parks

Yes, what about one of the good old American national parks!
Yosemite is beautiful!

[Rosie1223]

7. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[GoCubsGo]

3. I see that you are in Texas...

Taterguy has great advice about the National Parks. I HIGHLY recommend a trip to Big Bend NP. While you are in the vicinity, you could go to Odessa to see the meteor crater and the Stonehenge replica, if you are into that kind of thing. And, I believe there's a National Seashore at Galveston. Go to the beach for a few days.

[alphafemale]

8. Yes. The National Parks are a great idea. But sometimes State Parks are great too.

And they are often less crowded.

Here's a link.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/

[Rosie1223]

4. Visit friends, sleep on their couch

eat from their refrigerator. Just remember what the wise Ben Franklin said, "Fish and visitors begin to stink after 3 days."

:hi:

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. I agree. I think it's a great idea...

I would be perfectly happy to host old friends for a few days.... emphasis on a few days. Call up some folks and see if they want to get reacquainted.

[HopeHoops]

9. A tent in the back yard.

Sure it sounds silly, but it can be a hell of a lot of fun and still make you feel like you're "somewhere else".

[pitohui]

10. he can't get to the national parks on public transport for $400 total trip, heres what he CAN do

when i'm looking to travel this cheap, i put a tent and a tank of gas in the car

if you have triple A, maps are free, but if you live in texas, there are huge numbers of maps free anyway from texas tourism board

i would pick a nearby campground with tent-camping sites that are $6 per day or less, bring my hibachi and a cooler, and check it out

lots to do in texas even if you are not in affordable driving distance of the major parks, although i have to say that tent camping in big bend can be exceptionally beautiful if it is not already too hot there

traveling by bus/grayhound makes no sense on your budget because it would cost too much to get from the bus station to wherever you really want to go, if your driver's license has been taken away or there's some other reason you don't drive, you can
travel by bus but you won't have much of a vacation for $400 total -- i think most of the people who replied didn't bother to read your budget

i travel by budget all the time and for a couple hundred dollars TOTAL, which includes putting a bottle of jug wine in the cooler and renting a tent site, there sometimes is no substitute for a state park or a "recreation" area (dam plus tents and hiking)

i have no trouble taking cheap tent trips from louisiana and have taken them before in texas, arkansas, and mississippi, if you don't already have a tent, really cheap ones are often available at kmart or get on craigslist to borrow one from somebody

visiting friends is problematic for his budget because first he has to drive to stay with the friends, and it's traditional to take the friend out/provide the booze when you're visiting, so depending on where his friends like to eat and whether they're a couple or not, he could easily blow through his budget because the costs are not totally within his control -- it is kinda rude just to show up and FREELOAD on the friends, so he could end up spending more on going out than he had planned

when i stay with friends, i do not save any money over staying at the comfort inn and i don't think it's because i'm insanely generous

[haele]

12. The other option is to find a friend or even just a good acquaintance (or a DU'er).

Seconding the camping trip. I used to do the SCA thing, and would get together with a small group or household I was friendly with and coordinate camping when there was a big week-long event at a state campground. You want to talk limited budget, talk to a SCA-dian re-enactor on how they can schlep two steamer trunks full of gear around and still have a great time attending a week-long Inter-Kingdom War at a State Park a couple hundred miles away for around $200 and 1/4 of someone else's gas...

$400.00 goes much farther when there's two or three good friends taking off for a couple days or a week to, say, the Lake Country or down along the Gulf doing a camping/fishing or hiking/camping trip. Or perhaps a bike-camping trip, if you like the exercise, and don't mind living in a pup-tent with a minimum of "comfort" - and think you can plan your rest/view stops and overnight camping stops accurately. I've known a couple people who used to do that way back in the day, and they said that while it was really fun to do when you go in a group, there were few things worse than losing track of time and being 10 to 20 miles away from your night stop when the sun goes down. (The worse were asshat drivers who thought it was fun to harass bikers...)

Good luck.

Haele

[Darth_Kitten]

11. Come to Canada!

:)

[Luciferous]

13. I would go to Port Aransas/Mustang Island. You can camp

at the state park for 8 bucks a night, 16 if you want electric and water hookups. Greyhound tickets would cost about $100 round trip.

Big Bend also looks like it would be a nice place to visit, but camping is not available right now due to fire danger.

[Generic Brad]

14. Staycation: Your Home

I remodeled my entire house - every room from floor to ceiling. I'm just going to stay home this year and enjoy my home.