# You're moving across country, could you avoid paying for a hotel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999 "2011-03-17T04:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/1 "2011-03-17T04:08:35Z")
I’m planning a cross country move and I realized that if I asked there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have to pay for a single hotel room, I’d have a couch to crash on. Would you be able to do that? (IRT the Dope, you can’t post a thread asking for a couch, but if you’re offline friends with someone you’d be able to count that.) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/2 "2011-03-17T04:14:55Z")
Yeah, but hell is other people, so give me room service and a do not disturb sign. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/3 "2011-03-17T04:24:57Z")
Nope. Going north wouldn’t be a problem, but going east I run out of “kin I can bunk with” around Little Rock. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/4 "2011-03-17T04:54:44Z")
I sleep in the van. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/5 "2011-03-17T05:02:16Z")
Only cross country trip I made, I made with three friends. We drove in shifts, only stopping to buy gas. One guy slept in the back, while the others drove and watched the road. It only took us a couple days. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/6 "2011-03-17T05:06:51Z")
Hell yeah. But I wouldn’t even bother trying to crash with people - I’d just bring a tent/sleeping bag and find places to camp out, or sleep in the car/van (in fact I’ve done it once before driving from North Carolina to California). ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/7 "2011-03-17T05:56:16Z")
I don’t think so. The East is no problem, but I can’t think of anybody I know between San Francisco and Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/8 "2011-03-17T06:12:58Z")
Yep, I’d sleep in the van. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/9 "2011-03-17T08:03:04Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > Only cross country trip I made, I made with three friends. We drove in shifts, only stopping to buy gas. One guy slept in the back, while the others drove and watched the road. It only took us a couple days. Hasn’t the trip been madde in a specially modified beemer 6 series in less than 24 hours with two drivers? ---
**Author:** ![xoferew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e9a140/32.png) [@xoferew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xoferew)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/10 "2011-03-17T10:25:11Z")
When I was a kid we moved across country and couldn’t even afford a tent. We slept on the ground in sleeping bags and if it rained my mom, me, and my little brother slept in the little car while my dad found a doorway or something horrible. If the car had been bigger it would have been okay. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/11 "2011-03-17T10:29:37Z")
Around 98 there was some guy doing a trip around the world just relying on people he met on the Internet to provide accommodation. There was a lot of weird stuff then. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/12 "2011-03-17T10:52:21Z")
I’m sure I could do it, but it wouldn’t be a direct route. And when I’m on the road, I want to get to my destination as quickly as possible, not divert 75 miles north so that I could get a free bed. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/13 "2011-03-17T11:06:23Z")
I’m an army brat, so that would be easy. I wouldn’t do it though, because everyone I might stay with is also someone I’d stay up all night catching up with. Not a terribly safe state to drive in the next morning. ---
**Author:** ![Shecky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/14 "2011-03-17T12:51:20Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d sleep in the van. PLEASE make sure it’s down by the river. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/15 "2011-03-17T12:55:32Z")
I could but for the 3 cats; I love them but it’s a lot to ask of a host. And if I wanted I could convert all our airline miles to room points and get free stays throughout the drive. As it is now, when I drive/ride across country every other year we stay almost exclusively at military bases b/c we can. That costs about $40 a night. ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/16 "2011-03-17T15:08:03Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Hasn’t the trip been madde in a specially modified beemer 6 series in less than 24 hours with two drivers? 31 hours and 4 minutes, by Alex Roy. Who, for the record, is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/17 "2011-03-17T15:21:57Z")
YMCA is your friend. Rooms are cheap, safe, clean, probably parking and a meal thrown in, plus you’ll be sure to be up early to head out again! ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/18 "2011-03-17T16:31:18Z")
Hmmm… we’d have to have a LONG first day (from Washington DC to the Mississippi (r out of the way, we could stay in Chicago the first night then St. Louis the second). Then a long next day to Denver. If we went out of our way, we could crash with someone in Salt Lake City (a relative) or Arizona (friends). Then lots of people we could crash with in California. So yeah - we’d do some zig-zagging and a couple of very long driving days, but we could just about do it. Decades ago, we drove cross-country and alternated hotel / camping / friends. The tougher driving days (from the east to Colorado, and from southern California back home) we stayed in motels because they were long days. We mooched off of friends any place we spent more than a day (except Grand Teton). We camped in Colorado / Wyoming and going down the Pacific Coast. I don’t recommend camping on the long days - it’s a bitch to show up at a campground after dark and have to pitch a tent. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/19 "2011-03-17T16:59:11Z")
I can get as far west as Denver, but not without a lot of zig-zagging. (New York -\> Memphis -\>Dallas -\> Denver is a series of not-impossible driving days that take you a bunch of the way west, but it adds hundreds of miles out of your way.) After that, it’s a nineteen hour drive to San Francisco, and even farther to LA or Vancouver, the only places where I’ve got people to stay with. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999/20 "2011-03-17T17:06:56Z")
Maybe. But I have driven most of the way across the country, and we went to see several national parks along the way. On that route, no, it was not feasible. And I wouldn’t have wanted to miss all of that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-moving-across-country-could-you-avoid-paying-for-a-hotel/574999.md?page=2)