I'm graduating high school this summer and my friend is coming home from americorp. We both want to go to Canada in June for at least a month. We really don't have a set destination we're trying to just drive around and travel before we both have to grow up and start our lives. I'm not worried about not having a place to stay because if worst comes to worst we'll just crash in my car. What would be a good amount of money to bring to make it through the month,also should i buy a carton or are cigarettes cheap in Canada. Here in PA cigarettes are roughly 5 dollars a pack. Lastly how much is a passport and how do i acquire one?

I'm in Philly too, thinking about traveling this summer, and Canada was one of my ideas.

Car camping isn't exactly safe...a few guidelines to make it safer. For the most part, it is legal (or accepted) to sleep in rest stops. If you plan to, make a photocopy of your registration, insurance, and license, blacking out sensitive material, and put it in the dashboard of your car before you go to sleep.

A great way to find a place to crash, and to meet a local who can show you around town is CouchSurfing.com. While I haven't 'couchsurfed' yet, the people who I had contacted about some of my plans were really nice, and welcoming. Check it out, its a great resource to talk about travel on the forums, in groups, as well as in the chat room.

To be safe, save up at least $2500. Consider gas will be atleast $300. (Philly to Quebec is about 600 miles...at an average of 15 miles to the gallon, you'll need atleast 80 gallons round trip, at a cost of an average of a $2.00 [rounding up] a gallon, thats about 160 bucks...then consider driving around in town...etc.) then consider $20 a day for food. (To be safe) which is about $600 for 30 days. Then consider you'll probably end up staying in a hotel/hostel a few times, lets say 10 to be safe, at about $100 a night, so maybe about $1,000 just on living. Not to mention drinks at the bar, and all the other little...pleasure...purchases.

Granted...thats just to be safe. I bet you could get away on $1000, even less if you are feeling risky.

Protip: We use liters when measuring gas.
Protip 2: Quebec sucks
Protip 3: Tobacco is expensive. Look to buy it on Native reserves if you're in Ontario/Quebec.

Canada is a big place. Saying that you're going to Canada is like saying that you're going to the States; it really doesn't give any idea of whereabouts you're headed.

Enjoy it, traveling's fun and there's lots to see; unless you hit prairie, then just keep driving or drinking till you find somewhere else.

You get a passport from these guys: http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

I live in Ontario, Just outside of North Bay, to be specific, about 3 hours north of Toronto.

Anyway, Canada is an amazing and beautiful country to visit, good choice. The majority of our cops arent lunatics like you have down in Philly, so just keep a generally low profile and youll be good. One good thing about Canada is in most places you can walk down the street smoking a joint without having to worry, as a good percentage of our population smokes, anyway, to the point:

Now because you are in Philly I recommend you visit either Ontario, or the Maritimes coming up through Ontario. Personally one of my favorite places in Canada is Western BC, but that would be a much, much more expensive trip. And most of the provinces between BC and Ontario are flat and boring for the most part, unless you travel far north. Quebec can be cool, depends on where you go though, Canada is so large haha.

But I dont know what kind of a trip you're looking for, Canada is such an expansive country with such a variety of environments just wihtin a couple hours of each other. If you're an outdoorsey type of person, like to hunt, and fish and whatnot, a good long drive into far Northern Ontario or up towards Manitoba would be cool, but dont expect much in the way of civilization.

Like I said, going to British Columbia is always an amazing trip, but based on your location I figure you dont want to make a trip thats more than 2/3 as long as if you were going to somewhere in the east. You could always check out Eastern Ontario, its really really beautiful here, with a good amount of civilization too, not a long trip to go to Toronto from philly, driving 4-5 hours north of there will put you right at the Quebec border and in amazing deer / pine territory.

I work for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and they always have us out in the bush here, I really like it. Ontario Parks has many different provincial parks they run throughout the province that has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Check out Kearney Lake, Algonquin provincial Park, and Arrowhead provincial park. Those are just 3 of many that are close, accessible and all within under 4 hours driving time of Toronto

Post back with some info as to what you're hoping to experience or what types of things youd like to see and Ill offer more comprehensive help, maybe some destinations a bit more distant if youre interested.