Travel USA travel tips and tricks

[crownie]

Hey guys, could anyone in the know please confirm/deny what a travel agent told me the other day regarding entry into the US.

My plan is to fly one-way from Auckland to LAX, armed with a one-way ticket from Seattle to Vancouver 88 or 89 days after I arrive at LAX. Is this (combined with Canadian visa papers) enough to satisfy US immigration at LAX that I intend to leave before my 90-day tourist visa expires? A guy at STA told me this would be fine, but I'm worried it might be a hardline "return flights only" thing when I get there. Any help would be awesome!

i entered the US via Honolulu and didnt get asked one question going through customs.

 

[Barts]

Hello everyone, my trip to the US of A starts Friday. I've saved up a fair bit, but I'm just looking for some re assurance for a daily budget. I'm just talking about spending money here. All my internal travel and accommodation is sorted. Can you brilliant people out there give me some estimates? I'm thinking $50 a day. What do you all feel is the best estimate?

 

[MrKK]

Hello everyone, my trip to the US of A starts Friday. I've saved up a fair bit, but I'm just looking for some re assurance for a daily budget. I'm just talking about spending money here. All my internal travel and accommodation is sorted. Can you brilliant people out there give me some estimates? I'm thinking $50 a day. What do you all feel is the best estimate?

It depends greatly on where you're going and what you plan on doing, but as a rough guide on my 2 trips within the last 2 years we've spent about $200/day as a couple for the following:
meals
drinks
entertainment (shows, sporting events)
entrance fees for tourist attractions / national parks
transport (taxis, fuel for hire car)
a bit of shopping

I'd consider our trips about average in terms of luxury, neither dirt cheap nor extravagant, and a mixture of expensive cities (NY, Vegas) and road trips through national parks and small towns.

$50/day is doable but I think you'd be eating very basic food, not drinking and having to skip some attractions - basically, not getting the most out of your trip. My advice is double that if at all possible.

 

[Goodo73]

Hello everyone, my trip to the US of A starts Friday. I've saved up a fair bit, but I'm just looking for some re assurance for a daily budget. I'm just talking about spending money here. All my internal travel and accommodation is sorted. Can you brilliant people out there give me some estimates? I'm thinking $50 a day. What do you all feel is the best estimate?

As per MrKK's comment, it depends on what you plan on doing. If you've already got specific activities in mind, you should be able to work an approximate cost of those. I'd say $100/day at a minimum. Even $150 would be better. $50 would limit you a fair bit I'd think.

Have a ball!

 

[Ghostwriter]

Anyone flown United Airlines?, i've read some stuff on trip advisor and its not too complimentary, they still have the old tv screens and not personalised inflight entertainment, my sister booked the flights and i assumed it would be similar to Qantas or v australia, now i'm gonna have to take a book to read, how frakin' boring.

 

[AGC]

Anyone flown United Airlines?, i've read some stuff on trip advisor and its not too complimentary, they still have the old tv screens and not personalised inflight entertainment, my sister booked the flights and i assumed it would be similar to Qantas or v australia, now i'm gonna have to take a book to read, how frakin' boring.

Flew them from Orlando to Houston to Peru - which is hardly a glamour leg, and internally in the US. They were great. No complaints whatsoever, and the entertainment was good. Can only imagine it'd be just as good if not better on an Australia to LA trip.

I think when you get down to it, a lot of people just like to have a whinge. I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find 5 or so movies that interested you on your trip. Food is solid enough. Hostesses are a mixed bag, and the leg-room is good enough.

Just as an aside, but V Australia is bloody fantastic!

 

[Ghostwriter]

Flew them from Orlando to Houston to Peru - which is hardly a glamour leg, and internally in the US. They were great. No complaints whatsoever, and the entertainment was good. Can only imagine it'd be just as good if not better on an Australia to LA trip.

I think when you get down to it, a lot of people just like to have a whinge. I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find 5 or so movies that interested you on your trip. Food is solid enough. Hostesses are a mixed bag, and the leg-room is good enough.

Just as an aside, but V Australia is bloody fantastic!

Thanks for the reply, yeah if you liked the service you're probably not going to say anything (on trip advisor). Fly out Monday will give an appraisal after then.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Anyone flown United Airlines?, i've read some stuff on trip advisor and its not too complimentary, they still have the old tv screens and not personalised inflight entertainment, my sister booked the flights and i assumed it would be similar to Qantas or v australia, now i'm gonna have to take a book to read, how frakin' boring.

Terrible. I missed my connection in LA and had to wait 5 hours because they were delayed 90 minutes in Sydney and didn't speed up to get to LA on time. Not only that but the flight attendents are all old and bitter and yes there is no personalised inflight entertainment on most of their planes including the 747-400 you fly with from Melbourne -> Sydney -> LA. Having said that they are the cheapest and if you are flying internally in the US a few times those flights will barely cost you anything if you book it all together. On my return leg from LA to Sydney some crazy woman lit up a couple of cigarettes in one of the lavoratories as well lol. Needless to say she was arrested on arrival in Sydney.

 

[dales.girl38]

Anyone flown United Airlines?, i've read some stuff on trip advisor and its not too complimentary, they still have the old tv screens and not personalised inflight entertainment, my sister booked the flights and i assumed it would be similar to Qantas or v australia, now i'm gonna have to take a book to read, how frakin' boring.

I've flown with them a couple of times to LA - my last 3 trips to LA have been with V Australia, love them.

Bad entertainment, bad service.. just bad. Having said that, you'll get there in one piece and if you can save a fair bit of money it's probably worth a look. It's about the destination, not the journey, in this case

 

[BERT]

Anyone flown United Airlines?, i've read some stuff on trip advisor and its not too complimentary, they still have the old tv screens and not personalised inflight entertainment, my sister booked the flights and i assumed it would be similar to Qantas or v australia, now i'm gonna have to take a book to read, how frakin' boring.

When are you flying? They are changing the aircraft on the Mel-Syd-LA and San Fran route in April next year and they will have personalised inflight entertainment etc. I've flown them before and hated it. Pay extra for the Econ Plus seats. Shocking service. There domestic flights in the US were fine.



http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel...77s-for-australia-flights-20130819-2s5yi.html

 

[Goodo73]

It's about the destination, not the journey, in this case

For a 14-hour flight I'm not entirely sure that's true.

 

[dales.girl38]

For a 14-hour flight I'm not entirely sure that's true.

Probably depends on how well you handle flights in general - on my last flight home I slept for 8 hours pretty much continuously. On one of my United trips I managed to get 3 seats to myself and could lie down, that was pretty good.

 

[DrVanNostrand]

Anecdotally, how safe are CBD areas (don't they call it 'downtown'?) after dark over there in the bigger cities? For comparison, I rate inner Brisbane and Melbourne as very safe.

Hostels over there seem to be a good $10/night more expensive than they are in Australia and NZ. I know they include more extras like breakfast and WiFi, worth it?

 

[Ghostwriter]

When are you flying? They are changing the aircraft on the Mel-Syd-LA and San Fran route in April next year and they will have personalised inflight entertainment etc. I've flown them before and hated it. Pay extra for the Econ Plus seats. Shocking service. There domestic flights in the US were fine.



http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel...77s-for-australia-flights-20130819-2s5yi.html

Monday, yeah really looking forward to it now, not.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Anecdotally, how safe are CBD areas (don't they call it 'downtown'?) after dark over there in the bigger cities? For comparison, I rate inner Brisbane and Melbourne as very safe.

Hostels over there seem to be a good $10/night more expensive than they are in Australia and NZ. I know they include more extras like breakfast and WiFi, worth it?

Would depend which city and whether you are by yourself or with other people. Downtown LA is pretty shit but it's not like you see on TV shows or movies where a group of males hang out on each corner packing heat and drugs. The Bronx I would definitely not want to be other than at Yankee stadium when a game is coming up or just finished and stay out of Oakland unless you are going to a Warriors, A's or Raiders game. Havn't been to any of them but apparently Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and St Louis are more dangerous than the regular city but if you keep out of the bad areas you should be fine, even by yourself.

 

[TheSituation23]

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/neighborhoods/crime-rates/25-most-dangerous-neighborhoods/

 

[kaiserchief13]

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/neighborhoods/crime-rates/25-most-dangerous-neighborhoods/

Suprised Houston made that list. Was there a few months back and thought it was one of the safest cities in the country.

 

[TheSituation23]

Suprised Houston made that list. Was there a few months back and thought it was one of the safest cities in the country.

lots of gang violence in Houston, especially Latino gangs.

 

[TheSituation23]

as a whole though Houston is one of the safest major city's in the U.S.

 

[DrVanNostrand]

Would depend which city and whether you are by yourself or with other people. Downtown LA is pretty shit but it's not like you see on TV shows or movies where a group of males hang out on each corner packing heat and drugs. The Bronx I would definitely not want to be other than at Yankee stadium when a game is coming up or just finished and stay out of Oakland unless you are going to a Warriors, A's or Raiders game. Havn't been to any of them but apparently Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and St Louis are more dangerous than the regular city but if you keep out of the bad areas you should be fine, even by yourself.

Yeah, backpacking on my own for a few months early next year. Was asking with Philadelphia particularly in mind which I've heard is a real dive. Probably wouldn't head out on the town after dark on my own in any city, plenty of mates to be made in hostels to live it up with. American sports aren't really my thing, I'll have a handy Sherrin on me wherever I go.

Amazing to think over there they have suburbs that are simply no-go for whites. Insane.

 

[Goodo73]

Amazing to think over there they have suburbs that are simply no-go for whites. Insane.

And the reverse is true.

 

[AGC]

Would depend which city and whether you are by yourself or with other people. Downtown LA is pretty shit but it's not like you see on TV shows or movies where a group of males hang out on each corner packing heat and drugs. The Bronx I would definitely not want to be other than at Yankee stadium when a game is coming up or just finished and stay out of Oakland unless you are going to a Warriors, A's or Raiders game. Havn't been to any of them but apparently Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and St Louis are more dangerous than the regular city but if you keep out of the bad areas you should be fine, even by yourself.

Agreed.
Downtown LA is just a dive, but never felt unsafe.
I was in St Louis for the best part of a year. Amazing city, because it's often in Americas top 2-3 'most dangerous' cities, but there were areas of the city that you'd feel perfectly safe walking around at midnight - more so than King Street; and other parts that are absolute dives where you could probably see yourself getting mugged fairly quickly.

I think people try and make some US cities seem like absolute war zones; but there are generally areas that you just don't go into (gangs, drugs etc) but other areas are no worse than areas in Melbourne. Often the downtown areas of cities (NY, Chicago, Seatle and a few others aside) are actually pretty quiet, and the attractions are in other areas (see Miami, LA, Vegas etc).
I think the worst thing is travelling by Greyhound and Amtrak, as usually they're smack bang in the shite areas of town (L.A's greyhound station is probably the worst)

 

[TheStinger]

Anecdotally, how safe are CBD areas (don't they call it 'downtown'?) after dark over there in the bigger cities? For comparison, I rate inner Brisbane and Melbourne as very safe.

Hostels over there seem to be a good $10/night more expensive than they are in Australia and NZ. I know they include more extras like breakfast and WiFi, worth it?

For the cities I went to...

Chicago - I caught a bus back from Milwaukee which arrived at 1am in a fairly dodgy part of town. I had to walk through The Loop (the center of town basically) to a metro statio on the other side of the city (ok I didn't HAVE to walk, but I did) and I experienced nothing untoward whatsoever. I was perfectly safe. However, I got talking to a young black guy on the metro one day and he was interested in where I was going and stuff and when I said the area near the White Sox stadium, he said to never go in that area at night. Any train station with a name (like Franklin st etc) is fine. Any station with a number (3rd Ave) don't go there after dark. He said even in his neighbourhood, there are certain corners that he just won't go anywhere near after dark. And he fits in there. He wasn't trying to scare me, he was just letting me know how it really is, which I appreciated. (ripping bloke btw, had a great convo with him while we were stopped for ten minutes waiting for the track to clear in front of us).

Miami - Downtown is an absolute dump. I never went there at night, but I can imagine it is bum city.

San Francisco - During the day, everywhere is fine. At night (about 10pm) in the heart and Bayside of the city, it becomes a homeless shelter and can be quite rough and ready. I would recommend taking taxis and staying in groups there at night. Especially females.

Los Angeles - Despite its reputation, I didn't find it necessarily that bad. I was staying in West Hollywood and for the most part I felt perfectly safe there. Getting to and from the Staples Center on the metro at night was no worse than during the day. I think it is more of a reputation from some of the suburbs (Compton etc) that give it its reputation.

 

[kaiserchief13]

For the cities I went to...

Chicago - I caught a bus back from Milwaukee which arrived at 1am in a fairly dodgy part of town. I had to walk through The Loop (the center of town basically) to a metro statio on the other side of the city (ok I didn't HAVE to walk, but I did) and I experienced nothing untoward whatsoever. I was perfectly safe. However, I got talking to a young black guy on the metro one day and he was interested in where I was going and stuff and when I said the area near the White Sox stadium, he said to never go in that area at night. Any train station with a name (like Franklin st etc) is fine. Any station with a number (3rd Ave) don't go there after dark. He said even in his neighbourhood, there are certain corners that he just won't go anywhere near after dark. And he fits in there. He wasn't trying to scare me, he was just letting me know how it really is, which I appreciated. (ripping bloke btw, had a great convo with him while we were stopped for ten minutes waiting for the track to clear in front of us).

Miami - Downtown is an absolute dump. I never went there at night, but I can imagine it is bum city.

San Francisco - During the day, everywhere is fine. At night (about 10pm) in the heart and Bayside of the city, it becomes a homeless shelter and can be quite rough and ready. I would recommend taking taxis and staying in groups there at night. Especially females.

Los Angeles - Despite its reputation, I didn't find it necessarily that bad. I was staying in West Hollywood and for the most part I felt perfectly safe there. Getting to and from the Staples Center on the metro at night was no worse than during the day. I think it is more of a reputation from some of the suburbs (Compton etc) that give it its reputation.

Downtown LA is shit. I was walking there with a group of 3 other males so we didn't have any problems however we did walk past a big black dude counting his roles of money just standing on the side of the road. Saw that and 3 hookers who walked past us and tried to hook us in. This was after a Kings game as well.

San Francisco agree completely. I got lost while walking around the city at night and literally if you walk 1 block too far it's full of homeless and dodgy looking people, but also the lights seem to be shit there as well. I was by myself so I wanted to get the hell out of there ASAP.

 

[Ghostwriter]

I've flown with them a couple of times to LA - my last 3 trips to LA have been with V Australia, love them.

Bad entertainment, bad service.. just bad. Having said that, you'll get there in one piece and if you can save a fair bit of money it's probably worth a look. It's about the destination, not the journey, in this case

Arrived PDX about an hour ago, couldn't fault United Airlines at all, although the inflight ent. was oldschool, 3 good movies to watch, plenty of free booze, a few spare seats to stretch out on, chatty and friendly passengers, and the flight attendants didn't miss a beat, worked all night and kept the booze flowing, will definitely fly with them again, only delay was a hold up at immigration, and a busted padlock, obviously the jar of vegemite set the alarm bells ringing.