trippinkpj

Some Comfort Inns and Best Westerns have good "expanded" continental breakfast, but they vary from location to location. Starrsville's suggestions are more consistent. Oh, we did stay at a Hwthorn suites in San Antonio that had a good buffet breakfast.

J_Correa

Good recommendations for the inclusive breakfasts at some hotels. They are great for getting yourselves going in the morning - nothing fancy or cooked to order, but great for a light breakfast to hold you until lunch.

MaureenB

I agree that staying in a hotel that offers breakfast is a great way to save on the food budget. Embassy Suites have a complete hot and cold buffet, made-to-order omelettes, pancakes, etc. It's the best included breakfast I've seen at a hotel. You can eat a hearty breakfast, have a small snack for lunch, then splurge a bit on dinner.

Embassy Suites even have an evening cocktail hour from 5p - 7p each evening, that includes a couple of complimentary cocktails, sodas, and a really good spread of hot and cold hor d'oeuvres. Enough for a light meal, really.

Enjoy your visit to the U.S.A.
>-

linet

Thanks to everyone who replied re cost of meals.Our trip is an organised Cosmos tour called Trans American Adventure, [ no meals provided, not even hotel breakfasts, ]. Tour starts in New York, then to Washington, Niagara Falls, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Pierre, Badlands National Park, Custer, Cody, Yellowstone National Park, Salt Lake City, Cedar City, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles. We will be in US about 28 days.
I believe tips are expensive, we don't have this added expense as much in Australia.So, in general, would $100 per day[ for 2 people] be enough?Thanks.

DebitNM

It will be enough in the more rural areas and perhaps not enough in the big cities as you can tell from what has been written here. But I think on average you should be able to do it on $100 per day. And do keep in mind what has been said about tax [wide range up to 8+% in big cities] and tip on pretax amount about 15%.

Have a great time.
Debi

roy

Now that you have given us more info on the type of trip you are taking, a far more realistic appraisal can be made. I looked at your tour online and it is very ambitious as you will see a great cross section of the US while spending a lot of time in the seat of a motorcoach but it appears to be a good deal for what you get. I think you can get by on $100 per day for two. though you may wish to budget a few hundred extra for when you are in special places. Many of your meals will have to be at fast food places due to the logistics of the trip and this will bring costs down. No tipping at fast food places is expected.
Considering the amount of traveling you will do, you will have to have your bags out early most mornings so breakfasts are going to be minor meals like a juice, coffee and sweet roll.
It sounds like fun and I envy you as you are going to see more of my country that I have in my 61 years.

gail

I would try to contact someone at Cosmos and see if they can offer some help. Often on tours you have a very limited number of places to eat - or they stop at a restaurants for an "optional" lunch at a fixed price when there are no other realistic food choices.

Also depends on what your breakfast style is - in our family that ranges from a big sit-down breakfast for my husband (which can be $10-15 in a hotel with tip and tax) to a coffee and bagel take-out for the rest of the family (about $3).

Lori

Linet,
I am glad you are going to visit the U.S. however I wish it were not on a bus (coach tour). Your tour schedule sounds like what many people do in Europe (see as many cities as possible in the shortest amount of time). You will spend most of your time sitting in the bus .... but if that is all you can manage/or want to do at this time then I hope it works out well for you.

With that kind of schedule the bus tour will no doubt stop for "lunch break" at a pre-determined stop. You won't have much choice as to where to go and you will probably get 1 hr to grab lunch. I also imagine you will have fairly early a.m. starts so eating a "real" breakfast might be a challenge too.

I would recommend buying snacks (granola bars, nuts, fruit) whenever possible and keeping them handy to munch on during the day. Likewise water, always have a bottle of water handy.

I have not looked at the tour but I hope you have several nights in a few of these locations in order to actually enjoy your surroundings!!

Try and contact Cosmos and see if they will tell you where they stop for meals on this trip. (they may not tell you tho) In many cases you really might not have much time for anything fancy so I would not worry too much about that. Being a bus tour they will have to stop where there is enough seating for the group and not all places will contract with bus tours. If stopping at a fast food place no tipping is required.

Enjoy your planning.

exiledprincess

Linet, just my thoughts on this matter. It depends on what type of experience you want when you travel. Sure you can scrimp by but do you get the entire essence of the city by doing so? And I think that you really want to savor each destination as much as possible when you are here.

Agree that having a breakfast included with the hotel price is a good way to go when budgeting, but doubt the OP has that option.

Re the $40 per day mentioned several times above...I live in Chicago and would the recs made for my city be the places that I'd take a visiting relative or friend who had never been here? No, as a rule.

Instead, I'd be having dinner at North Pond, having lunch at Andy's for the jazz entertainment or drinks up in the John Hancock Signature Lounge, which would put me totally outside of that budget.

However, that doesn't mean that I couldn't scrape by on or close to $40 pp per day at different (and, IMHO, better) places.

For example, I could have brunch at Orange for around $15; and a steak dinner at Tango Sur for about $25-30 (not including alcoholic drink but it's a BYOB).

Or get breakfast at Flo for less than $15; an Italian beef sandwich at Mr. Beef for lunch (less than $8), gumbo at Heaven on Seven (about the same amount) or soup at Soupbox - off the Magnificient Mile - (less than that, depending on what you get); and then dinner at Joy's Noodles and Rice (Lakeview) for $12-15.

And let's not forget all those prix-fixe or pre-theatre dinner specials that the better restaurants have. 3-courses for $38-45, for example.

Of course, if you are coffee drinker and tend to visit coffee houses during the day for a pick-me-up, there's no way your budget will be met.

So, my advice to you would be: Pick those cities where you might want something a little more special and budget at least $150 pp at least one or two of the days you are there - then you could play "budget catch-up" on those places where the finer dining options wouldn't be such an issue.

Hope this information helps a bit.

NeoPatrick

Realize that $100 a day is really about $78 a day BEFORE tax and tip. Maybe I missed it, but I'm guessing you aren't including a glass of wine, cocktail, or beer ever in those prices.

$ 8 each for breakfast and $12 for lunch, and then $19 each for dinner including even a soft drink, juice, or coffee is going to be very difficult when you are limited as to where you can eat -- often only at the hotel your tour stops at. I would doubt that any breakfast will be included at the hotels you stay at.

cybor

Wow,16 stops in 28 days - that's alot.

If this, as others have inferred, is indeed on a bus you may be at the mercy of of making scheduled roadside pit/food stops along the way. If that's the case, my guess would be that you won't be stopping at higher end places and will be stopping at inexpensive chains.

This of course, will up your budget for your evening meal if you're not traveling in the pm hrs.

Whether your stays will be in the heart of each city or in the outskirts will also determine your overall food costs.

I would still guess though that 100. per day should cover it. If not there's always plastic in a pinch
Good luck!

TxTravelPro

Neo... Where is tax that high? Tax here in Texas is between 7-9%.
The only place I have seen tax as high as 22 cents on the dollar is in Quebec.

Anyway, I carry granola bars and other portable foods to carry me over. I rarely eat more than 2 meals out when traveling.

A_Traveller

TxTravelPro - Obviously you mis-read NeoPatrick's post. He said taxes and tip would add 22% - that comes to about 7% tax and a 15% tip - about average in my experience.

exiledprincess

NeoPatrick is (IMHO) right on the money with his statement for some larger cities.

Take a look at Chicago's (restaurant) tax, for example, and then add 15%-20% tip. A 17-18% (or more) gratuity is usually included for larger parties as well, in case a number of the people on the OP's tour decide to eat together.

Linet, another thing to keep in mind, if you need to budget and are in a larger city, is to check out the BYOB ("bring your own bottle") restaurants. Good option for bringing down the cost substantially but you can still indulge in a glass of wine.

MaureenB

Your trip itinerary is packed, and includes locations that aren't necessarily "must see" destinations IMHO. Are you sure you want to take that particular tour? Have you already purchased it? If you're interested in going it alone, there's really no problem with traveling on your own. I'm concerned about the amount of time you're spending on the bus, and being herded in and out of mid-grade lodging and restaurants. Was this tour recommended highly by friends? Do you have the option to re-think it?
>-

wtm003

Do you have a list of the hotels where you will be staying? If you feel comfortable listing your hotels you may receive some suggestions for good, inexpensive restaurants that are close to your hotel.

In Yellowstone there is a wide variety of dining options. There are general stores where you can buy snacks - crackers, granola, fruit - or sit at a counter for pancakes or a burger. There is also cafeteria style dining and fine dining.

In Cody, The Hotel Irma is an interesting place to eat. Definitely, not fine dining, but enjoyable for the history of the building. Their website will give you an idea of prices.

http://www.irmahotel.com/html/menus.html

I agree with scrimping in some places and trying to have a nicer meal in maybe New York or Chicago.

It is really going to depend on your eating style if you can eat on $100 per day. Do you eat three full meals a day or are you light eaters sometimes skipping meals? Is coffee and a muffin enough for a breakfast or do you want eggs, bacon and potatoes?

Lunch is generally less expensive than dinner. Alcohol will inflate your dining costs tremendously. Two glasses of wine can easily add $20 to the cost of your meal.

A lot is going to depend on your tour schedule. The more information you can get from Cosmos the better.

Have a wonderful trip! I look forward to hearing about your adventure.

suze

Does the tour offer any guidelines for expected costs? I'm thinking that you will have to eat at restaurants at least in the general areas where you will be touring/staying overnight?

If you are places where there are grocery stores, often you can find a deli or food prepared to go that is not expensive.

In the most general way I would say $10 breakfast, $15 lunch, $25 dinner not counting tips (15%), snacks, bottled water, beverages, and alcohol would be a fair per-person estimate.

linet

Thanks so much to everyone for your help. We are in our late 60's and have done a lot of travelling [ on organised coach tours, mainly in Europe], but this is our first time to US , apart from Hawaii.So we are used to the early mornings and long days in the coach. However, this tour seems to cover a lot of the places that I have always wanted to see in US , albeit briefly, at a reasonable price.It is like Australia, you would need 6 months at least to see everything.Our Cosmos tour this year to Scandinavia, and then a Russian cruise , was fabulous.The Cosmos US tours seem to be the only ones that do not include meals.Thanks again.

Toucan2

Given unlimited time and money I'm sure we'd all love to spend more time etc but this sounds like this is a good solution for you.

I think it is great that you will be getting "off the beaten path" and seeing some places that visitors don't normally go to and I hope you have a really wonderful time!

SandyBrit

linet

I have followed this thread with interest. I think the cost of meals in the US has been quite well covered.

I wish you all the best for a lovely holiday and look forward to reading your Cosmos 2007 report on your US tour.

Sandy