6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler

Michigan! State number 50!

I finally did it! After 44 years of living in the USA, Michigan was my last state! Here's the way I did it, and after I'll touch on some general 50 state advice and recommendations!

Born in New York city, life has probably
already taken you to a few states

Set Up The Plan In Big Chunks

Life had naturally got me to 20 or so states, I lived in two, friends, family, spring breaks in college, road trips as an adult, concert trips, a 24 hour layover that I left the airport, etc. So first thing is first, figure out which states are left, make a list, then grab the map!

The Bourbon Trail

I decided it would take about 6 or 7 trips to do everything, I nicknamed the trips for motivation which helped a lot, The Dirty South, The Bourbon Trail, The Heartland, Big Country, The Dakotas, etc. Look at the map, and figure out which can be done together, factor in milage here! Some states look close, but doing them together will be harder than you think! When I arrived in North Dakota, I learned on arrival that the Dakotas are so big they have different time zones! That trip originally had Montana and Wyoming in there, luckily I mapped it out enough to know it would be better to split it up!

Old school photo, boys trip to Delaware

Use someone else's car

Putting miles on the rental in Kansas!

Ok this one is debatable, especially if you have a car you love to drive a lot, or something like a camper. But personally, I have a Honda Civic, it's a cool ride to ride around town, go to work, get groceries, etc. But not something to drive the 50 states. I really enjoyed flying somewhere, renting a car, and returning the car. When I did Montana, guys at work asked how long it takes to drive to Montana from Phoenix? "I have no idea! 2 hour flight, and a rental car for me!"

Play Around With The Rentals If You Are Doing One Way Rentals Same For Flights

I originally planned on going from Indiana to West Virginia, turns out the rental was cheaper to do it the other way. The Dakotas there was no cheap one ways, so I figured out how to do them in a full circle and drop the car back off at Fargo without repeating the same sights. Same if you are doing one way flights. The rental car also can be the most expensive or least expensive part of the trip if you plan it right. Speaking of rental...

Book The Car Early

Rental cars are one of the easiest things to cancel, book the car so at least you have one thing off your plate.

Time The Seasons

I'm not a big cold weather guy, and since I live in Arizona I'm not the best at driving in the snow! Time your trips for when you want to go and be aware, those cold states are no joke in the winter! Glacier to Yellow Stone is something like 4 hours extra in the winter when certain roads are closed off. I loved so many aspects of seeing the 50 states, but I also reminded myself why I moved to Arizona. I also didn't want every single trip to be in the summer, so a few like Illinois and Oregon became New Year's trips. And I went to Idaho in the middle of December solely because a random flight showed up in my rewards.

Set Up Something Fun In The Potentially Boring States

For me it was concerts. When bands I like announced tour dates, I would line them up with some of the states I was uncertain about so if the state or trip ended up being boring at least I knew I got something fun out of it. Goo Goo Dolls in North Dakota, Collective Soul in Oklahoma, Matchbox 20 in Ohio, and by the way, all three of those states ended up being epic fun regardless!

Decide How Much Time Is Enough

I've talked about it before in this blog, you do not have eternity to travel. Some states are gonna get more time than others. Indiana I visited a wolf sanctuary for a day. Washington was a long layover on the way to Alaska with an 8 hour layover to explore Seattle. I've been to Florida and Nevada more times than I can remember. Michigan got the most days to celebrate the end of the mission. Each state will require a little more or a little less time. Decide what's important for you.

Mesa Verde Colorado, one of the most underrated places in the USA

Factor In With Life Events You May Already Be Doing

Wedding in Kansas you didn't want to go to? A conference in Virginia? Why not knock out a state especially if you haven't been yet, and especially more if it borders a state you haven't been to, speaking of which...

The East Coast Will Be A Lot Easier Than The Heartland and West Coast

You can probably if you drive it right hit 4 states in New England in under an hour, you definitely can hit 3. The western states however are gigantic. I'll write another article soon as this year I did highway 1 aka the Pacific Coast Highway, 5 days of just a small piece of California. So factor that in with deciding on flights, driving, etc.

Enjoy The Ride

Be sure to download your favorite music, or podcasts, especially if you are driving solo, many parts of the journey you won't have cell phone service. That being said, sometimes when there was no traffic I also enjoyed just rolling down the windows and listening to the sounds of the road. Other than a car charger, and downloaded music I didn't bring anything else in particular, but if you have your own comfort items bring em along.

How I Did It:

In roughly chronological order:

Born in New York City, state 1, life took me to a lot of the east coast (but not all). Life also took me to Florida a few times, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware once for the hell of it. On a missed flight from spring break we once drove from Florida to New York, but I didn't count any of that because it was solely driving. Same for a road trip from California to New York helping a friend move, the only spot was Vegas, everything else I didn't count (for me the count means an activity, tour, wild night out, etc) Arizona life next. That took me to Nevada, California, Washington & Utah.

Life In AZ

I can't remember the exact number but I was probably in the high teens or low 20s when I decided to go for it and knock out all 50. One of my sisters moved to South Carolina, great to visit her, and very close to Georgia, so I visited Savannah as well.

Next was the "Dirty South Trip". Me and a buddy flew to Tennessee, we knocked out Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. This was the first official trip that was really dedicated to just knocking out the 50 states.

West Memphis, Arkansas

The "New England Road Trip" was an awesome time, starting in Rhode Island visiting White Horse Tavern the oldest bar in the United States, and then going all the way up to Maine. Some of these states I may have been to when I was younger, but either I didn't remember it or I didn't do enough to count it, so great to go back as an adult.

White Horse Tavern, Rhode Island established 1673

The Bourbon Trail took me to West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Great whiskey, great people, some sadness in abandoned towns, but overall a beautiful trip.

Freezing in the sand dunes of Idaho!

Then I hit Idaho randomly, it's another big state, and didn't seem feasible to fit it into the longer drives with the other states. I also went during the winter, 80% or so of the states were summer trips, so it's a nice way to see the country in other seasons, not just the summer trips as stated.

The Blue Whale Oklahoma!

"The Heart Land" was another great one, my friend that accompanied me for The Dirty South came back for the Heart Land. We started in Nebraska, biked into Iowa, drove down thru Kansas, and finished in Oklahoma. I had a coffee there that literally forever changed the way I drink coffee. Like James Bond, shaken not stirred.

I hit Oregon for New Years. This was a special trip because I travel every year for New Years. It can be a place as famous as Rio Di Janeiro or Sydney, but I also have really enjoyed the obscure New Year's spots. Antarctica, Havana, or perhaps the Oregon Coast.

At this point the count was going down, 5 to go! I did the "Dakotas" next, thinking they would be boring, I was very wrong! I am now living in Argentina, I was so wrong about the Dakotas, that if I were to move back to the USA one day, I would highly consider the Dakotas to live! That trip also was close to Wyoming for Devils Tower, and a very quick cut thru Montana to have a beer and lunch. So technically I had one to go. But 3 or so hours in these two giant states didn't work for me, so I went back that same summer to see Montana and Wyoming in the "Big Sky Country" Road Trip. One to go!

Wild life in the Dakotas

Summer of 2025... My last summer before moving to Argentina... When I lived in NYC I didn't realize till I left how much I didn't do there in 25 years. Luckily because family I went back many times and was able to max out my time there. I felt that if I were ever to leave the United States, be it for a few months or a few years I wanted to max out what I could. Meaning all 50 states. Michigan was the last! This was always intentional. Living in Arizona I had met a lot of people from Michigan, particularly Detroit, but a bit of other parts of the state as well. I had never even been to the airport there.

I also knew from my friends that Michigan would be special. In fact of all of the states post where life brought me, Michigan was the longest trip. 8 days exploring in the summer. Its deceptively large! I drove over 1,200 miles here! Starting in Detroit all the way up to the UP, that was mandatory for me personally as well. The trip was perfect from the start. Arriving in Detroit, visiting the auto museum, hanging out in downtown Detroit, Detroit pizza, then setting off to see as much of the state as I could. Mackinac Island has to be one of the coolest spots in America, no cars allowed! A quick salute over Lake Superior at the Canadian border in a small town called Grand Marais. I'll likely never see that town again, but it was a special place to end the trip before driving back down to the airport over a day or two.

Texas Ya'll!

A journey that started in NYC in 1981 at birth, and finished in 2025. I love America so much, and I am so happy I was able to visit every state! Is the journey over with the USA? No! Never! It's such a big country there will always be more road trips. As mentioned I did Highway 1 this year. I've done parts of 66, but maybe I go back and do the whole thing? Revisit some of the great spots with people I hadn't done it with before. Explore other smaller towns, or bigger cities I may not have seen yet. The possibilities of travel, like the possibilities in general in this beautiful country, are endless.

God Bless the USA from Michigan

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It was summer of 2025, the last year I would be living in the United States full time. I have plans on living in Italy eventually, maybe forever, maybe just part time (that is a whole other blog article)... But before I would make the big step to leave the USA and move to Italy, I wanted to visit ALL of Italy. Completely all would of course take a lifetime, it's a relatively small country but there is so much to see, I instead opted for the goal of visiting all 20 regions of this beautiful country. After my last trip there was only one left... Calabaria. It was time to start an unforgettable road trip through the toe, and with a bonus end the trip where I first saw Italy in Sicilia. Here's my tips and experience for visiting Calabria!

You will probably want to rent a car. Unlike other parts of Italy, Calabria is not well connected by train, the first half of my trip visiting castles, mountain towns, and small beach villages would have been impossible without a car.
You will probably want to ditch the car when you get to the major beach cities. Yep sorry for conflicting info! I landed in Lamezia Terme, rented a car from there to explore towns like Crotone, Squillace, and Santa Severina, but when it was time to head to the western seaside places, particularly like Tropea, parking is a nightmare, so I returned the rental and opted for the train instead.
One of the things I loved about this region that may be a negative for some, was that there were very few, in some cases, no other foreigners other than me. In Crotone, Squillace, Reggio Calabria etc, I never heard English. Tropea was a bit more touristic but still a great time. I love Rome, I have been 4 or 5 times and will always go back, but I also loved being the outsider. I loved speaking Italian every day instead of English. And I loved the little taste of immersion in the culture.
Prices for everything were great, even the most expensive restaurants were very affordable compared to other regions I have visited.
The Castles and lack of tourists, even in peak season! I am a tourist of course, so it's a bit hypocritical but in this lesser visited region it was great to avoid lines and crowds, I wrote a similar thing about visiting Roccascalegna Castle (possibly my favorite in Italy) in Abruzzo, when you visit the Colosseum you visit with a few thousand tourists, when you visit the castles and museums in Calabria, you may be the only tourist!
Hotels or Airbnb's were excellent, great prices, great views, all the standard amenities needed to make a great trip of the region.

Rooftop from my Airbnb
But special shout out to the Blu Tropea Maison. Going to Tropea it was very important to me to stay in one of the historic buildings overlooking the beautiful beach. The Blu Tropea Maison seemed like it was the city center, my room overlooked the ocean, and right outside there was a beautiful overlook as well.
Tropea was the only part that was a bit more crowded, that being said other than parking, there were no issues with long lines, finding a good spot to eat, etc. The beach was definitely packed though!
Once you are on the coast, it's coastal activities, boat days, beach days, swimming etc. If you are not a big water person, make this part of the trip shorter.

Reggio Calabria
When I hit Reggio Calabria it was time to do some Scuba Diving, I try to dive at least once a year. It was a great break from the heat to go deep in some cold water, but honestly other than that it was not an impressive dive.
Gelato Cesare 1918 however was VERY impressive!
Speaking of food, of course you have to try the 'Ndjua. A little spicy but not overbearing, I had it twice, making sure my last dinner in Calabria was a local dish.
I had heard Calabria was dangerous, under mafia control still, I am not saying it isn't, but I personally didn't experience this. Italy is relatively safe, and nothing has ever happened to me there, but I've seen more potential for problems in the big famous places more so than Calabria.
I spent about a week in Calabria, you could spend a year there and not see everything, but a week was good for a really good glimpse into this region.

Once I finished seeing Reggio Calabria it was time to take the ferry to Messina, and revisit Sicily. I first steped foot in Italy in 2016, in Sicily. It seemed fitting to make a full circle and finish where I started. I loved Calabria, and do hope to go back! I put it above certain regions in Italy, below others, it's hard to choose in this country! Though for a first timer, I wouldn't recommend it, you need to "know" Italy a bit before you are ready to navigate Calabria, that being said, if you have been a few times, please give this beautiful region a visit. It was an unforgettable adventure, and truly mesmerizing experience.