travels/united_states/index.md

Travel notes on United States

Go back

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 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, 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 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 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, 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).