travels/united_states/index.md

Travel notes on United States
=============================

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## General

* All the internet boxes from xfinity, one of the main ISP, have an open Wi-Fi
  hotspot. You can pay, or have a 30 minutes complimentary session upon
  signing up. Changing MAC address will let you have another complimentary
  session.
* Most US airports do not have any shops and facilities prior to the security
  checkpoint.
* Banks in the US will charge you a fee if you want to withdraw money with
  your european card. This fee is about 3$ (whatever the amount you withdraw)
  and is charged by the US bank, so your bank cannot waive it with specific
  options you might take. Some banks however do not charge this fee. See below
  for more infos.


## Rental cars

Rental cars and gas is cheap in the US (especially when compared to France).
If you are under 25, you will usually have to pay extra underage fees, which
can almost double the price of the rent.

One of the best option I found so far, if you are a student with a valid ISIC
card, is renting through
[Alamo](http://www.alamo-affiliate.de/isic/isic_eng.htm) which has a package
including everything which is quite cheap and offers peace of mine.

If you are not from the US, ensure your rental car comes with the "liability
insurance" (to cover damages you could do to others with the car), it seems it
is not always included. If you have a premium credit card (Visa Premier for
instance), your credit card insurances should cover damages to the car and you
can then discard any "collision damage waiver" insurance. Just read your
insurance policies first and make sure you are covered :)


## Withdrawal fee

The fee to withdraw money is about 3$, no matter the amount you withdraw.
There are some exceptions I could find, listed below.

With an LCL account, the following banks did not charge me the 3$ fee:

* Santander

With an LCL account, the following banks did charge me with the 3$ fee:

* TD Bank
* Chase
* Bank of America
* Most ATMs in shops and groceries.


## New York Area

### General

* MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) provides rails transportation
  service to Connecticut (MetroNorth), Long Island (LIRR, Long Island
  RailRoad) and Staten Island. You can buy tickets either at the booth or the
  vending machines, as well as 10 tickets (with about 10% discount). Note that
  if you have a foreign credit card, you will not be able to pay more than 50$
  with it (then preventing you from buying most of the 10 tickets sets).

### New York JFK Airport (JFK)

* Customs at JFK have **very** long queues, especially if this is your first
  visit with an ESTA. Expect to wait at least one hour (my personal max was
  three hours) between the moment you leave the plane and the moment you can
  actually leave the airport.
* As a consequence, your luggage will likely arrive way ahead of you. Having a
  lock on your checked luggage seems to really be a necessity if it is going
  to wait for you for about one hour on the carousel.
* There is free Wi-Fi access for 30 minutes. You have to pay if you want a
  longer access. Changing MAC address will give you another complimentary
  session.

### Newark Airport (EWR)

* If you are coming from a city along the [Northeast
  Regional](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Regional), trains make a
  stop at EWR airport. This is super convenient as you just have to take the
  Airtrain afterwards to get to your terminal. Plus Airtrain is free if you
  show your Amtrak ticket to the booth.


## New Haven

* Some parts of the city can be really sketchy. Best places to stay are close
  to Yale University campus, Downtown, Wooster Square and East Rock (where
  basically all grad students live). Close to the Yale hospital is not that
  good. Neither are Dwight and Dixwell.
* [Yale shuttle
  lines](https://your.yale.edu/community/getting-around-yale/shuttle) are free
  of charge for everyone, no need to actually be part of Yale community to
  take it.


## Boston Logan Airport (BOS)

* There is a free (bus) shuttle running continuously between the airport
  terminals and the closest "T" (Boston public transit) station. Then, the
  airport is connected to the main public transit at no extra cost (no special
  ticket at extra price to get to the airport).


## San Francisco Airport (SFO)

* I flew to and from SFO with Delta (domestic flight, terminal 1) in 2015.
  Huge queue at the security checkpoint, more than one hour wait.
* I flew to and from SFO with United (domestic, terminal 3) and with Virgin
  America (domestic, terminal 2) in 2017 and the queue at security checkpoint
  was quite fast.
* One of the best option to eat at Terminal 2 seems to be [Napa Farms
  Market](http://napafarmsmarket.com/napafarms/) offering decent food at
  decent price.


## Las Vegas area

### Driving in Las Vegas

* There are basically two main roads near hotels in Las Vegas: the Interstate
  15 and the Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip). The Strip is always busy and not
  fast, so usually your GPS will guide you on the I15. Drivers tend to not
  respect security distances, so be extra careful on the lanes on the right,
  as traffic can stop in front of you suddenly at any time (happened to me,
  the car behind me crashed into mine…).

### Mc Carran Airport (LAS)

* I flew to LAS with domestic flight and was renting a car afterwards. Note
  that most of rental cars companies are located in [a common
  place](https://www.mccarran.com/Transportation/RentalCars), few miles away
  from the airport terminals. It was quite difficult to find signs indicating
  which direction the rental car center was, and Las Vegas airport is really
  big…. Note that you have to take a free shuttle to get to the rental car
  center, it took around one hour for me between the moment I got off the
  plane and the moment I got my car (Sunday evening, around 9pm so not in rush
  hours).