yet another j1 thread!

bmcgov86

alright guys, i know theres a lot of stuff on here about the j1 but america is a big place and everyone has different ideas!!

anyway this is my plan, any advise would be really welcome:

myself and few mates(about 6 in total) plan to book our j1 some time this month through go4less. we plan to fly out at the start of june and return at the end of august, ie:3 months.

since we're tight on money we plan to arrive in new york and work there for 4 weeks. any ideas on where to stay, get a job?

at that stage we plan on buying a campervan/car and travelling for approx 4 weeks, going to boston-niagra falls-mount rushmore-grand canyon with lots in between and arriving at the west coast.

at that stage we may sell the vechile or if it turns out to be cheaper we may keep it and live it scruffy. while over this way we plan on going to the usual spots you hear about: san diego/las vegas/santa barbara and all that jazz. maybe even head down to mexico for a while. is a visa needed for mexico?

also on the subject of the campervan/car...whats the craic with insurance/licences? a few of us will be 21 with full licences. i heard u need to be older?

while over at the west coast money problems will probably mean i need to work again, so any ideas on which places and which shops could be a goer?

i know its all very broad at this stage but gota start nailing things down.
also are they strict on rented houses, like if u rent a house for 5 but u bum 10 people in to half the cost?

at the end we plan to fly back to new york and from there back to beautiful dublin!

any guides on money needed? accomadation prices/wages etc

think ive said/asked enough, any advice would be really welcome!!

oh and last but CERTAINLY not least, any cider drinkers have problems getting cider in the states? if so u can ignore everything above im staying in ireland....

cooperguy

Ill start by saying - stay in Ireland there is no Cider . If you make it to Vegas there is an Irish pub called Nine Fine Irishmen (brilliant bar) in New York New York that has it on tap though.

Ok now that that bit of bad news is out of the way im going to give you alot more unfortunately! Firstly the 4 weeks in NY. I dont know where your going to get somewhere to live for that short a period apart from hotels/hostels etc. And that would be expensive for that length of time. Places that do rentals generally want longer term than that. Secondly I dont know who is going to give you a job for only 1 month. Most places want a summer long commitment. You also wont have your Social Security number for those 4 weeks as you have to wait 10 days before applying for it and it takes a number of weeks to process, trying to get a job without it would be hard.

You say money will be tight, trying to buy a cheap car/campervan that is also reliable enough to get you the 3000ish miles accross America will be VERY tough. In answer to your other question If you are 21 and have a full licence you are able to rent a car so I assume you can buy one too (I dont know how insurance would work). Also cost of fuel for over 3000 miles wouldnt be cheap.

When you reach the west coast the jobs will probably all be taken up by students already there so I doubt it would be easy to find one (I was there at the start of the summer last year at twas hard to find jobs).

What a landlord thinks about piling people into his house varies completly from person to person. Our landlord was sound and didnt mind at all when we had to pile 20 people into our 2 bed apartment for 2.5 weeks when a group we met over there was made homeless for a couple of weeks. Others might want you to stick rigidly to a number on a lease. The phrase "out of sight out of mind" comes to mind though:D

I know I kinda attacked your plan there but I honestly dont see it as workable in its current form especially if your on a limited budget as you say. My suggestion would be to choose a base and stay in that area for the majority of the summer and then use the free stop over they normally give you to visit somewhere else for a week or 2 on your way home. Thats basically what I did last summer (iv wrote about it on this forum a good bit already). Its not as boring as it sounds to stay in the one place and it works out cheaper. You can do road trips then to places a few hours away. For example I stayed in Huntington Beach, CA. And I road tripped to LA, Vegas San Diego and Mexico and hada week in NY before coming home.

Im not saying your plan is completely unworkable but you would need to put ALOT of time into organising your car, jobs and accommodation before you go and would also need alot of money.

Penguinssmell

just out of interest Cooperguy, where in HB did you live and work?


Oh and to the original poster, they've never heard of cider. I thought i had it one day when the guy at the offo gave me what was pretty much apple bac breezer. Apart from that I'd agree with pretty much everything Cooperguy has said

cooperguy

I lived on PCH and 12th. Right on the beach, we were very lucky with where we got:D And as for working, I assume you were around HB last year too? Did you see the poor guys at the gas stations with a stall. Well I was at one of those selling the LA times for a month! I decided to give it up then and just enjoy the rest of the summer!

What about yourself what part were you in, did you get a job?

Penguinssmell

Nah i wasnt there the summer just gone, it was summer 07. We lived up on Warner avenue a couple of miles from the beach, but there was a good group of us up there and the buses where pretty regular. That doesnt sound ideal but a month of work isnt too bad! I worked in a Ralphs lol, it was hell! I didnt do to much work to be fair tho. You heading back to the states this summer?

cooperguy

We used to go to the cinema in the Bella Terra shopping centre and on our way back we'd see groups of J1ers on the bus heading down to main. We used feel sorry for ye planning ye're nights out round a bus timetable!! Still looked like they were having a good laugh though!

Ralphs doesnt sound like fun!! Wont be heading back this year, graduated so iv a job and bills and blah blah blah (ya im missing the college life!!). Plan on doing a bit of interrailing for a few weeks next summer though. Might as well see a different part of the world:)

Chardee MacDennis

you'll find it difficult to get a job for 4 weeks in NY, you'll have to have it arraged before you get there i would say and definitely not tell them you'll be gone in four week. also have any of you ever been on a J1 before, if not it could take up to 3/4 weeks to get your social security number, and most places wont let you start work (some wont let you apply) without it.

you can rent a car if you are under 25 but some companies will charge you for it, Enterprise is one of the few that dont.

EDIT: good spot cooperguy!

cooperguy

BastardPrince you cant rent a car if you are under 21. Its between the ages of 21 and 25 that the surcharge is added. Well at least that's the way it is in California.

Your right about Enterprise not charging the extra amount though. Thats who we rented with. You should shop around before you go into them though cause they will match (or in our case beat) the lowest price you find AND wont charge for being young. A bit of negotiation saved us literally hundreds of dollars over the summer and all the road trips (as the next time you go in you ask for the price you got before).

Chardee MacDennis

cooperguy wrote: »

BastardPrince you cant rent a car if you are under 21. Its between the ages of 21 and 25 that the surcharge is added. Well at least that's the way it is in California.

Your right about Enterprise not charging the extra amount though. Thats who we rented with. You should shop around before you go into them though cause they will match (or in our case beat) the lowest price you find AND wont charge for being young. A bit of negotiation saved us literally hundreds of dollars over the summer and all the road trips (as the next time you go in you ask for the price you got before).

sorry meant 25 not 21! thanks