Visa for travel in US
 

As a UK citizen I know I need a visa to travel to the US. The easy option is via the visa waiver programme but my understanding is that to qualify for this I would have to have a return/forward ticket. As I'm travelling overland by motorbike I won't have this so I assume that I need to apply for a B-2 visa which involves a trip to London for an interview.

I've lived abroad alot and have visited over 50 countries. The last time I had to have an interview was in 1994. I'm amazed at how complicated it is for a UK citizen to visit the "Land of the free"????c?

that's what keeps us free !!:scooter:

I bought a refundable return ticket Miami-London at the airport, just before leaving the UK and that was fine. I got completely refunded about 1 month later so it was fine to just travel with the visa waiver program and didn`t worry to much about interviews to apply for a proper visa. Of course, my plans were not to stay in the US for too long.

USA Visa
 

The visa waiver system allows a stay of 3 months in the USA and you must show a return ticket. I'm a UK citizen and applied for a visa in London. This entitles me to six months stay and no need to have a return ticket. When I flew to Miami I found a return ticket was cheaper than a single so got the return and didn't use the return half. I don't think you would have a problem with immigration if you got a refund or discarded the return flight booking. I have heard from so many sources that it must be true that you cannot get a new stay in the USA by crossing a land border. You probably can't ride into Canada and back to the USA and get a new 3 or 6 month stay.

I assume that is the case. Once I land in Alaska I'd have 90 days to get to Mexico. As I probably want longer I'm going to have to apply for a longer visa. I just hope there's no problem at the Embassy wiht me only having a singe ticket. In order to get the cehapest flight I need to buy the ticket now and then get my visa. If the refuse my visa I'm in trouble.

If you apply for a 6 month visa, you should have no issues, as long as you are out of the country within that period.

And you cannot use Canada or Mexico as a re-entry point for an extension, but if you take a flight to Hawai or somewhere else, that will enable another 6 months, or ride into Belize or Guatamala

er, last time I checked, Hawaii was part of the US?

Yep, true, but you cannot ride there, you must fly or use a boat, so therefore it is a valid exit/entry point for a return ;) It is only land borders that cannot be used.

Not all of Hawaii is USA there is a little bit that is still UK thanks to James Cook. But he was killed to keep it.

Closer to the mainland would be France.
Petite Miquelon, St Pierre.
Its just a short ferry ride from Newfoundland.