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10 Tips You NEED TO KNOW Before Visiting the USA

Hi. I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Do you want to visit the US? Here’s what you need to know. Have you already visited the US? Would you like to visit the US someday? Going to an English-speaking country is a great way to get motivated or stay motivated to learn English.

I asked you all in the community tab here on YouTube where you would like to visit in the US, and a lot of you said LA, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Florida, Texas, Boston, a lot of places. I hope your dreams come true and you get to come visit the US. To help you prepare, today I’d like to give you 10 important facts that you need to know before you come to visit the US.

Of course, these are all my opinion and just from my experience, but sometimes it’s important to know the cultural differences or what to expect before you go somewhere. All right, let’s start with the first category, which is airports. Number one, Airports are not the best representation of the US. Every time that I’ve landed in the US coming from a foreign country, I’ve always had an unpleasant experience.

Unfortunately, this is kind of a negative way to start our list today. But, often I’ve heard people just say, “Get in this line. Go over there. Hurry up. Let’s go,” or maybe that was just the Atlanta airport. But no, I experienced that in Chicago, New York, DC, a lot of places. So if you have a kind of negative experience in an airport when you first land in the US, take a deep breath.

This isn’t a good representation of American people. I remember arriving back in the US from Korea, and in front of us in line at the customs office, or something like that, was this kind Korean grandpa. I imagine he hardly spoke any English. At least when he tried to communicate with other people, it seemed a little bit difficult. And when the customs officer was talking with him, he kept just speaking louder and louder and not really trying to understand or help him.

I felt really bad that this was this man’s first exposure to the US, and I hoped that he would have other pleasant experiences with other people on his visit. I hope that’s the same for you. If you have a negative experience, this is just an airport thing. I hope that you meet other people who are friendly.

Tips number two and three are about restaurants. Do you use TripAdvisor when you want to look for new restaurants? Do you think that Americans use TripAdvisor when they want to find a new restaurant or a good restaurant in their city? Nope. Every American I know uses Yelp. If you want to find local places that local people have recommended, download the Yelp app. This video is not sponsored by Yelp.

It’s just a common thing that we use here in the US. Download the Yelp app and search for restaurants in your area or if you need to get a haircut maybe hairdressers in your area. TripAdvisor might be good for sightseeing, maybe some landmarks or things like that. But for restaurants or bars, for food, these types of things, we always use Yelp, so make sure that you use what local people are using, which is Yelp.

Tip number three, if you go to a restaurant or bar, you need to tip 20% if your service was adequate or good. If it was terrible, absolutely awful service, you don’t have to tip it all. You could give them 10%. That’s up to you. But if the service was at least normal, you need to give them 20%. In the US, the tip constitutes an essential part of the server’s wage. In fact, the server’s only money that they’re getting are tips, so you need to give 20%.

An easy way to calculate this is if your bill was $32, take that first number, three, multiply it by two, which is six. And there you have 20%. $6 is 20% of 32. So you can add that together, and your total bill is $38. You need to do this also when you get a drink at a bar. Typically, 20% is acceptable. But if 20% is like 30 cents, the best thing to do is still to give a dollar.

A dollar is the minimum tip that is polite. I’ve been a server a lot, especially when I was in high school, when I was in college as part-time jobs, and if somebody left change on the table, which are coins, you felt like they were just trying to be rude to you. Because in American culture, if you leave coins, just coins … Of course, if it’s a big pile of coins, who cares?

It’s a lot of money still. But just a couple coins, it feels a little bit rude, so make sure that you give them at least a dollar. When you take a taxi, tip 20%. For Uber, I don’t use Uber that much. But from what I’ve heard, it’s not required to tip with Uber. Uber drivers are paid a regular hourly salary or per ride that they get, so you don’t need to tip, but you can always tip. It has always accepted.

Tip number four is about transportation. I recommend renting a car when you visit the US, unless you’re only going to stay in the middle of the city center, like in New York or San Francisco, really close, because the US is spread out. Even in LA, which is a huge city, it’s hard to get from one side to the other.

Or if you want to visit Yosemite National Park, that’s going to be a four-hour drive from San Francisco, so you’re going to need a car because Uber’s not going to take you that far. So, just think about your trip and realize that the US is really big, really spread out, so you’ll probably want a budget for renting a car when you come to visit.

Tip number five has four different parts because alcohol in the US is a little complicated. If you buy alcohol in the US, don’t be surprised if the person who’s selling you the alcohol asks to see your ID. In the US, it is very strict that you must be 21 years old to buy alcohol. And if someone looks under the age of 40, the person selling you alcohol will say, “Can I see your ID?”

Even if you’re 50 years old, maybe even 60, they might ask to see your ID. So, don’t be shocked about this. In fact, sometimes Americans get a little bit offended if the other person doesn’t ask to see their ID. So for me, I’m 31. Yes, I’m 31. I’m 31. One time I went to the store and the cashier didn’t ask to see my ID, and I thought, “Do I look like I’m 40 years old? Oh, no. Maybe I look older than I am.”

But really, the cashier said, “Oh, you come in here a lot. I know you,” so it wasn’t really a negative situation. But, sometimes people feel a little bit offended in this situation. Quite interesting. So, make sure you have your ID ready. Tip 5.1 about alcohol is that the person buying alcohol needs an ID, but sometimes in some stores in some states the cashier will ask to see everyone’s ID who is present.

So if you’re with your husband buying alcohol … This happened to me. We were at the grocery store, and we were buying a bottle of wine. He was paying for it. It’s our money, but it was him who was making the transaction. The cashier asked to see my ID, too. This happened to me only two times. One time I had my ID. No problem. The second time I didn’t have my ID, and she just said, “It’s okay.

Don’t worry about it.” So, I guess this isn’t too strict. But maybe if I had looked 16 years old or 15 years old, maybe they wouldn’t have sold it because they don’t want someone who is above 21 to be buying alcohol for someone who’s a minor. We say a minor for someone who is under 21 years old because they’re not allowed to drink alcohol. Do you think that people who are under 21 drink alcohol in the US?

If you’ve ever seen a movie about colleges, the answer is definitely yes. But, stores have to kind of follow these types of rules. Tip 5.2 about alcohol is that in some states you cannot buy alcohol at the grocery store. It’s kind of a state law that you have to go to a specific alcohol store to buy alcohol.

This is called an ABC store. So if you’re driving and you see an ABC store, and you’re visiting somewhere like Pennsylvania, if you go to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, I’m sure other states are like this too, you cannot buy alcohol at the grocery store. Sometimes there’s specific grocery stores that have a little section where you can buy beer and you have to pay for it in that section. You can’t pay for it with all your groceries.

Just check out this. Check about this in advance to make sure that if you’re going to the store you can actually get what you want to get. Tip 5.3 about alcohol is that in some states you cannot buy alcohol on Sunday before a certain time. So in my state, in North Carolina, you cannot buy alcohol before noon on Sunday.

One time, I went to the store to prepare and get a bunch of stuff for a big dinner that I was having on Sunday night at my house. I was getting lots of food. I was getting some wine, some beer. And when I went to buy everything, the cashier said, “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s 11:45. I can’t sell you alcohol until noon,” so I just waited in the grocery store for 15 minutes until noon and then I could buy it.

I think that this rule kind of goes back to the idea that you should go to church instead of drinking. I’m not sure exactly. But I’ll let you know something, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t stop people from drinking whenever they want. But you might encounter this, so just make sure you think about it in advance. Tip 5.4 about alcohol is that you cannot drink in public places like the park or on the street.

The beach is a little bit different sometimes depending on the state. And of course, some beaches might be more isolated or a lot of people drink there, so they’re a little bit more relaxed about the rules, so just look this up before you go. Because if you’re going to a really popular beach in Miami or a popular beach in California, the rules are probably going to be different.

And if you want to drink a beer on the beach, you want to be able to do that without worrying that someone’s going to stop you from doing that. So, just look up the rules in advance or ask your friends if they live in those areas. After hearing about all of those alcohol rules, is it any wonder that America gets called puritanical? I don’t really think so. Let’s go on to the next category.

The sixth tip is about people. Unlike the airport, I’ve heard from a lot of visitors to the US that American people are generally friendlier and smilier than they imagined. I’ve heard American’s often described as a peach that on the outside we’re soft and easy to get to know. Maybe the first time we meet you we’ll invite you to our house for dinner. That’s not uncommon. But maybe after we have dinner, if we have a great time, I might not call you for another month to get together again.

It doesn’t mean that I don’t like you. It just means that maybe it’s not a priority to get together right away, so there’s some kind of hard center. Maybe that’s just a generality, of course. But, I think that when you walk down the street, especially in medium-sized cities … If you smile at everybody in New York, it’s going to be a little bit weird. But if you’re in a smaller or medium-sized city like where I live, if I walk past someone on the sidewalk, I’ll make eye contact. I might say hey.

Maybe. Depends. But, it’s not unusual. If you did that in a really big city, people might think it’s a little bit weird. But, don’t be surprised if people are pretty friendly, pretty smiley. That’s kind of the typical stereotype of the US. Personally, I think it’s kind of true. Tip number seven is about health.

The US gets a pretty bad reputation for having expensive health care, and it’s 100% true, unfortunately. So if you’re in the US and you have some kind of minor health problem, like you need an antibiotic or you need a couple stitches, I recommend go into a place like a MedExpress.

This is the brand of this type of clinic, but there’s other brand names of that as well. But, it’s a kind of fast emergency room-type service, but it’s not the hospital emergency room. If you go to the emergency room at the hospital, that should be for serious issues. That’s going to cost several thousand dollars minimum. But if you go to a MedExpress, you can walk in, you can see a doctor usually within an hour, and your visit will probably be less than $200.

That’s what I do whenever I need something quick and I don’t want to … Especially if I’m in a different city where I don’t have a personal doctor there, I’ll just go to a MedExpress and it’s a kind of quick fix. If you’re really concerned that something serious might happen while you’re traveling in the US and you don’t want to have to go to the ER and pay full price for something, you can always get travel insurance.

I don’t have any personal experience with buying travel insurance for the US because I’m a US citizen and I’ve bought it for traveling to other countries, but you can always type into Google travel insurance for visiting the US or something like that, and you could probably find some companies that will give you short-term insurance for one week or two weeks when you’re visiting. That way you can kind of feel at ease that if something happens you won’t have to pay a lot of money.

Tip number eight is about sleeping. Of course you could stay in a hotel when you visit the US, but it’s really a great experience to stay at an AirBnB so that you can experience a real American home and feel a little more comfortable and at ease during your experience. If you’ve never used AirBnB, this is a service where homeowners can rent out one room in their house, their full house.

Or maybe they have a basement apartment so you’re kind of in a private area and the people who run this, they live upstairs, something like this. You have access to bedrooms, you have access to the kitchen, and usually you have access to your own living space so you can feel a little more comfortable. And if you would like, you can always talk with the host. You don’t have to.

You can just send them a message and they’ll tell you how to get in. But if you would like to get tips or advice from the host, it’s a great opportunity. Usually they have a little notebook of ideas sitting in your AirBnB room so that you can see their personal recommendations. But, you can always talk with them. You kind of have this personal one-on-one advice travel tour guide who you’re connected with no matter where you’re staying when you stay at this type of place.

It’s especially good if you have kids, because, for me, I have a toddler, and he goes to bed pretty early, like 7:00, 7:30. And usually at 7:30 I don’t want to go to bed. But if you have a hotel room, there’s nowhere else you can go. He’s sleeping in the same room. So when you have an AirBnB, he can sleep in the bedroom and you can still spend time in the kitchen, spend time in the living space, and you’re a little bit separated in that way.

Personally, I really love staying in these types of places. Just make sure that you read a lot of reviews and you write a nice message to the host so that they feel comfortable hosting you and letting you into their home. Tip number nine is about safety. Despite what you see in the media about shootings and all of this, the US is generally pretty safe. Of course, there’s going to be specific areas, specific streets that you don’t want to walk on, but it’s generally a good idea to walk around the city center.

I recommend being alert and aware as you’re walking. Don’t listen to music and look at the ground. Look around you. Look alert so that if there is a bad person in the area you’re not an easy target. You’re alert and aware. For me, I generally don’t walk around after it gets dark in my city. I live in a pretty small city, but I don’t feel comfortable walking around by myself at night.

So when I go somewhere after dark, I drive my car to the destination. I get out of my car, and I walk inside to that place. I don’t just wander around at night. If you come from somewhere that is extremely safe, theft, murder, robbery, all of these things are uncommon, I’m looking at you Korea and Japan, just be extra cautious because maybe you’re not used to keeping your purse with you. When you go to a coffee shop, maybe you leave your purse when you go to the bathroom.

In the US, we don’t do that. So make sure that you’re just a little bit extra aware, but you don’t have to be scared or worried. Just be alert, aware, and try to stay with someone else if you can. Tip number 10 is about English. Let’s end this video on a good note. So if you visit the US, you definitely need to use English.

I imagine if you’re watching this you are a non-native English speaker because this channel is for learning English. So if you visit the US, make sure that you have a little bit prepared, mainly just some basics so that you can order at restaurants or ask some questions about safety, these kind of standard things.

But overall, if you really want to use English and you want to interact with other people, this is a good chance to do it. Unfortunately, most Americans whose families have immigrated from other countries several generations ago, they don’t speak that native language anymore. They only speak English.

This happened with my family. My great grandparents came from Italy. My grandma can understand some Italian. My dad remembers Italian food, but he doesn’t speak any Italian, and me neither. So in this situation, we have lost the ability to speak Italian, even though I have some Italian heritage.

So if you are from Vietnam and you’re visiting Portland, if you’re from Brazil and you’re visiting Texas, you’re probably not going to find people who speak your native language, so it’s really important to use English.