70 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
70 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
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Travel notes on United States
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=============================
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[Go back](../)
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## General
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* All the internet boxes from xfinity, one of the main ISP, have an open Wi-Fi
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hotspot. You can pay, or have a 30 minutes complimentary session upon
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signing up. Changing MAC address will let you have another complimentary
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session.
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* Banks in the US will charge you a fee if you want to withdraw money with
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your european card. This fee is about 3$ (whatever the amount you withdraw)
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and is charged by the US bank, so your bank cannot waive it with specific
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options you might take. Some banks however do not charge this fee. See below
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for more infos.
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## Withdrawal fee
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The fee to withdraw money is about 3$, no matter the amount you withdraw.
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There are some exceptions I could find, listed below.
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With an LCL account, the following banks did not charge me the 3$ fee:
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* Santander
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With an LCL account, the following banks did charge me with the 3$ fee:
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* TD Bank
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* Chase
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* Bank of America
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* Most ATMs in shops and groceries.
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## New York Area
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### General
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* MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) provides rails transportation
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service to Connecticut (MetroNorth), Long Island (LIRR, Long Island
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RailRoad) and Staten Island. You can buy tickets either at the booth or the
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vending machines, as well as 10 tickets (with about 10% discount). Note that
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if you have a foreign credit card, you will not be able to pay more than 50$
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with it (then preventing you from buying most of the 10 tickets sets).
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### New York JFK airport
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* Customs at JFK have **very** long queues, especially if this is your first
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visit with an ESTA. Expect to wait at least one hour (my personal max was
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three hours) between the moment you leave the plane and the moment you can
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actually leave the airpor.
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* As a consequence, your luggage will likely arrive way ahead of you. Having a
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lock on your checked luggage seems to really be a necessity if it is going
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to wait for you for about one hour on the carousel.
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* There is free Wi-Fi access for 30 minutes. You have to pay if you want a
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longer access. Changing MAC address will give you another complimentary
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session.
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## New Haven
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* Some parts of the city can be really sketchy. Best places to stay are close
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to Yale University campus, Downtown, Wooster Square and East Rock (where
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basically all grad students live). Close to the Yale hospital is not that
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good. Neither are Dwight and Dixwell.
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* [Yale shuttle
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lines](https://your.yale.edu/community/getting-around-yale/shuttle) are free
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of charge for everyone, no need to actually be part of Yale community to
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take it.
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