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United States of America
Quick Facts
Capital Washington, DC
Government federal republic
Currency US dollar (USD)
Area 9,629,091 sq km
Population 280,562,489 (July 2002 est.)
Language English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority)
Religion Protestant 56%, Roman Catholic 28%, Jewish 2%, other
4%, none 10% (1989)
The United States of America ("USA", "US",
"United States", "America") is a country
in North America. One of the largest and richest countries
in the world, it has a mixture of densely-populated urban
areas with wide areas of low population and incredible natural
beauty. With a history of immigration dating to the 17th century,
the USA prides itself on its "melting pot" of different
cultures from around the globe. Even the briefest visit to
the United States is a study in contrasts.
Table of contents [showhide]
1 Regions
2 Cities
3 Understand
3.1 Geography
3.2 History
3.3 Culture
4 Get in
5 Get around
5.1 By plane
5.2 By train
5.3 By car
5.4 By bus
6 Talk
7 Buy
8 Eat
9 Drink
10 Sleep
11 Learn
12 Work
13 Stay safe
14 Stay healthy
15 Communicate
16 For more information
Regions
The United States stretches across the breadth of North America,
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, with non-contiguous
states in the Arctic circle and in the equatorial region of
the South Pacific ocean. Its regions are far-flung and various.
This is a rough grouping of the country into regions relevant
to the traveler.
New England -- Oldest English settlements in the USA
The Mid-Atlantic -- Dense urban areas, rugged mountains
The South -- Country folk and old aristocratic lineage
Florida -- Beaches, swamps, fast lifestyle, strong Latino
culture
The Midwest -- The first steps Westward; "Middle America"
The Great Plains -- Wide open, corn fields, amazing vistas
Texas -- A nation unto itself
The Rocky Mountains -- Purple mountains majesty
The Southwest -- Painted deserts, spicy salsa, adobe pueblos
California -- Hollywood and palm trees, Silicon Valley, deserts,
more
The Pacific Northwest -- Rainy, lush, laid-back
Alaska -- America's foothold on the Arctic circle
Hawaii -- Isolated volcanic island chain, vacation paradise
Politically, the USA is divided into independent entities
called states (thus the name); see list of American States
for a full listing.
Map of United States
Cities
America has over 10,000 cities, towns, and villages. The following
is a list of the most famous among travelers.
New York -- The Big Apple. America's biggest city, the trendsetter
Boston -- Colonial capital of New England, keeper of the nation's
history
Miami -- Fast-moving capital of the Caribbean
Chicago -- The Windy City. Bustling heart of the Midwest
New Orleans -- French capital of Louisiana, party central
for the South
Las Vegas -- Gambling mecca, sin city
Los Angeles -- Swimming pools, movie stars
Philadelphia -- Original capital, birthplace of the constitution
Phoenix -- Fast-growing desert megalopolis, warm winters,
high tech
San Diego -- Perfect weather year around
San Francisco -- Victorian houses, hills, Internet start-ups,
diverse cuisine
Seattle -- Rainy, green, new center of the Pacific rim
Portland -- Rainy, green, smaller than Seattle
Washington -- the nation's capital
Other cities can be found in their corresponding regions.
Understand
The United States is difficult to characterize because of
its size and diversity, diversity in both geography and in
people, but an overview will help travelers to see these differences
and perhaps help to find what it is that interests them most,
since it is not realistic to see a little of everything unless
one has a very long time to spend indeed. Part of the United
States' appeal is that you can experience so much diversity
in one country.
Geography
The United States of America is the third-largest country
in the world, both in terms of area (at 9.6 million sq km,
it's about half the size of Russia) and population (though,
even with 280 million residents, it's far behind China and
India).
America is bound by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the
Pacific Ocean to the west, with much of the country's population
living on one of these two coasts. Its only borders are shared
with Canada to the north, and Mexico to the south.
The climate is mostly temperate, with some amazing exceptions.
Alaska is an arctic state, while Hawaii, essentially in the
middle of the Pacific ocean, and Florida are tropical. The
western half of the country is covered by plains, mountains.
The Great Plains are dry, flat and grassy turning, further
west into arid desert with startling outcrops of rock columns
and deep canyons.
The Missouri-Mississippi river system runs from the far north
to the Gulf of Mexico, cutting the country almost in half,
and giving a convenient mental border between "East"
and "West." Four major mountain ranges (the Appalachians,
the Rockies, Cascades, and the Sierra Nevada) also run north-south
through the continental US, giving another set of clear divisions.
History
America, in the large sense, was once populated by Amerindian
peoples. In the United States those that remain are known
as Native Americans. With populations once in the tens of
millions, most led tribal, hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Later
some settlements and political enclaves based on agriculture,
such as the Five Nations of the Northeast and the Pueblo peoples
of the Southwest, developed.
European settlement of the area began in the 16th century
with the establishment of St. Augustine in Florida by missionaries
from Spain. The Spanish also established colonies in much
of the Southwest, California, Texas and Louisiana as extensions
of their North American stronghold in Mexico. Meanwhile, French
missionaries and settlers from Canada made inroads into the
Great Lakes region of the Midwest and down the Ohio and Mississippi
river systems. The colony of Louisiana, centered around New
Orleans, subsequently became a French stronghold in the Gulf
of Mexico. Smaller colonies were established by the Netherlands
in present-day New York, by Sweden on the Atlantic Coast,
and by Russia in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
The founding of British colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts
in the early 17th century marks the beginning of what we now
know as the United States of America. By the early 18th century,
13 colonies ranged along the Atlantic coast from Georgia to
present-day Maine. It also marked the beginning of the displacement
of the Native American population westward and the extinction
of many others, as well as the end of the embryonic Dutch
and Swedish footholds.
There were distinct differences between the British settlers
of the north and south: the southern areas, because of a longer
growing season, had richer agricultural prospects, especially
for cotton and tobacco. Large plantations developed with most
of the labor being provided by African slaves, as was typical
of most of Central and South America, and for the same reasons.
The Northern colonies on the other hand developed as mercantile
societies modelled after the "home" country, Britain.
This dichotomy would later lead to a civil war.
By the late 18th century, the colonials were divided between
loyalists and those who wished to separate from Britain. The
revolutionaries carried the day and declared independence
on July 4, 1776. This precipitated a Revolutionary War against
the British, and this date has become a national holiday commemorating
the establishment of the country. The American Constitution
was inspired by Enlightenment-era ideas about government and
human rights and remains a model that is considered by newly
forming democracies around the world.
The late 18th and early 19th century were characterized by
the stabilization of the Federal government and the first
steps of Western expansion. Many Americans felt a Manifest
Destiny to expand all the way to the Pacific ocean. Territories
in the Midwest were added as new states, and the Louisiana
Purchase of 1803 gave the United States nominal control of
former French territory along the Mississippi River, and stretching
out to the Pacific Ocean. Much of this area was however contested
by Britain, especially in the northeast. Florida was purchased
in 1813 from the Spanish; American settlers in Texas and California
both rebelled against the Mexican government, and these areas
were added to the Union, as territories. The Mexican-American
War of the 1840s won the territories of Arizona and New Mexico,
giving the continental US the rough outlines it has today.
The marginalization of the Native Americans, and their concentration
in the west by treaty, military force, and by the inadvertent
spread of European diseases, continued apace.
By the mid-19th century the differences between North and
South had become severe. Though slavery was not the only issue
between the two, it was an important one. In particular, the
question of whether the new states in the west would be "slave"
or "free" became a critical issue. By the 1860s,
the Southern states decided to secede from the Union and civil
war broke out. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history,
costing hundreds of thousands of lives. With the victory of
the North a single country was maintained. While slavery was
abolished, the former slaves formed an underclass in the south
and were not well integrated into the culture.
The late 19th century saw the USA cementing its power on
the continent and making tentative expansions abroad. Alaska
was purchased from the Russians in the 1870s, and Hawaii was
taken over from British control in the 1880s. The Spanish-American
War gained the first "colonial" territories: the
Philippines and Cuba (both later granted independence) and
Puerto Rico (which remains by choice a US territory).
In the Eastern cities of the United States, an immigration
boom had begun. Southern Europeans, especially Italians, and
Eastern Europeans, including many Jews fleeing Russian pogroms,
joined Irish refugees to become a cheap labor force for the
country's growing industrialization. Many Southern African-Americans
fled rural poverty for the relative security of industrial
jobs in the North. Other immigrants, including many Scandinavians
and Germans, moved to the now-opened territories in the West
and Midwest, where land was available for free to anyone who
would develop it. A network of railroads, most notably the
transcontinental railroad which runs from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, crisscrossed the country, allowing faster movement
of people and materials, and thus accelerating development.
With its entrance into World War I near the end of the conflict,
America truly established itself as a world power. The creation
of real wealth grew rapidly in this period, yet in the Roaring
20s stock speculation created an immense "bubble"
which, when it burst in October of 1929, created economic
havoc, known as the Great Depression, across the country and
around the world. This crisis exacerbated the disaffection
among the working classes in the United States and around
the world and led to a rise in socialist thinking that was
to have a large effect on the rest of the century.
In late 1941 the United States entered World War II, which
had begun in Europe in 1939. In Alliance with the United Kingdom
and the Soviet Union, the USA helped defeat the fascist regimes
in Italy, Germany, and Japan. At the end of this war of unprecedented
scale, the United States, because of its relative isolation
and power, became the dominant economic power in the world,
producing nearly half of the world's production. The Soviet
Union, a former ally, though now devastated from the war was
still a powerful military power, and became a rival of the
United States and the other "western" countries,
giving rise to what is now known as the Cold War.
Also at the end of the war, African Americans, who had long
suffered de facto disenfranchisement, demanded equal rights,
with widespread demonstrations. This, and the status of women
and other "overdue" societal changes that had been
contained by the effort of the war, flowered into a virtual
revolution. The unpopular war in Vietnam, a byproduct of the
Cold War, added to the social strife. Taken together these
changes led to significant change in the country: the economic
and political conditions for African Americans substantially
improved; a majority of women entered the workplace, and this
had a powerful effect on homelife, the workplace and the economy;
homosexual rights were incorporated in the law. Yet the fruition
of all these changes is still incomplete.
Culture
In some countries it can be said that there is a "culture"
that typifies the country and distinguishes it from others,
characteristics, for example, such as art, manners, religious
outlook, and the knowledge and values of the population. This
characterisation is not in general possible for the United
States. In part this is because the population's culture originates
from numerous roots in other countries, and in part it is
because of the initial dichotomy between the agricultural
south and the industrial north and the related distinction
between urban and rural lifestyles that is common the world
over. If one visits New York City, Peoria Illinois, Macon
Georgia, and Dallas Texas, one should be prepared to see very
distinct cultures indeed.
Yet there is a culture that is said to be American, in a
way a stereotype of what America wishes itself to be, a culture
that people over the globe have seen in Hollywood film, and
that has energized immigrants from all over the world. Like
all stereotypes there is a certain truth to it; likewise,
there is a certain falsity. For example, it has been said
that America is a "classless" society, in the sense
that the term class might have had in, say, aristocratic Europe,
or perhaps in India, societies in which the class one is born
into largely determines one's station in life. In America
there is class mobility in this sense. In some sense this
is a residue of the country's original, boundless feeling
and the self sufficiency that "pioneers" required.
It is also probably true that Americans are more materialistic
and individualistic than other cultures, though that may be
true of any very wealthy society. The wealth on display almost
casually in large shopping malls all over the country might
seem shocking to someone from a developing country. Yet it
is also true that America is more religious than many other
countries. So it is a mixed bag, and this should make it an
interesting place to visit.
Politically, the country has recently been almost evenly
divided, with the people on the east and west coasts resembling
closely the center-left populations of Europe, while the people
in the middle and in the south tend towards right of center.
In a similar way, urban areas tend toward the left while rural
areas tend toward the right. But politics in America are very
fluid and in a historical sense have varied widely.
Get in
The United States currently has reciprocal documentation agreements
with Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean islands, most Latin American
countries, and most western European countries, making it
unnecessary to get visas before arrival, but this is now (spring
2004) in flux. The terrorist attacks in 2001 precipitated
stricter rules for passports, and new passports which are
to contain biometric information such as fingerprints, facial
or retina scans, are required in the fall of 2004. Yet the
technology to implement this requirement is not expected to
be in place by that date so this date may be extended; the
issue is now under debate in congress and extension will almost
certainly be granted. But if it is granted, then visas may
temporarily be required (until the new passports are issued)
even for residents of countries for which visas are not now
required.
The best advice for travelers today, from any country, is
not to assume, but to check on documentation requirements
with the United States State Department or with your nearest
United States consulate. In addition, if coming to the country
by auto, be sure to have documents including car insurance,
rental agreements, drivers license, etc., before trying to
enter the US, as the process has become more strict in the
last few years.
Travelers from other continents may not bring meat or raw
fruit or vegetables into the USA, but may bring cooked nonmeats,
such as bread. See APHIS for details.
There are basically three ways to get to the USA: By air
and by ship and, from Canada or Mexico, by auto. But because
of the size of the country the air and ship ports are described
in the cities which contain international airports or ocean
ports. As to roads from Canada and Mexico, they are too numerous
to mention and travelers should consult Yahoo Maps or Mapquest
or any other online mapping service. You will be able to get
detailed itineraries from wherever you are to wherever you
wish to go.
While even medium sized inland cities such as, for example,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have an international airport there
are limited flights to most of these airports and most travelers
find themselves entering the US at one of the major entry
points along the coasts.
The three primary entry points to the country are:
From the east New York City and Miami Florida are the primary
entry points from Europe and other transatlantic points of
departure.
From the west San Francisco and Los Angeles, California are
the primary entry points for transpacific points of departure.
From the south Miami, Florida is the primary entry point
from Latin America.
Entering the US by sea, other than on a registered cruise
ship, may be difficult. The most common entry points for private
boats are Los Angeles and the surrounding area, Florida, and
the Eastern coastal states.
Some passenger ferries exist between Canada and the US, notable
from the Atlantic Provinces to New England, and from Victoria,
British Columbia to Seattle.
Get around
The size of the US, its far-flung major cities, and its relatively
non-existent rail mode of travel, make air the dominant mode
of travel for short term travelers. But if you have time travel
by car can be interesting.
By plane
By far the most convenient form of intercity travel in the
USA is air travel. Coast-to-coast travel takes about 6 hours,
compared to the days or weeks necessary for land transportation.
Most cities in the US are served by one or even two airports,
with many small towns also having some passenger air service.
A hub and spoke system of air travel is most common. In this
scheme small cities' air traffic go first to a hub city where
traffic is aggregated before flying on to the destination
city. Transfer for for bags checked at the original airport
is handled automatically to your final destination. Depending
on where you are starting from, it can sometimes be cheaper
to drive to a nearby large city and fly from there or, conversely,
to fly to a large city near your destination and drive from
there.
Major carriers compete vigorously for business on major routes,
and bargains can be had for travelers willing to book two
or more weeks in advance. The converse of this is that most
smaller destinations are served by only one or two regional
carriers, and prices there can be surprisingly expensive.
There are some discount air carriers in the USA and they are
becoming more dominant all the time. Southwest Airlines is
the largest and best known; unlike its European counterparts,
there are significant penalties for not booking in advance.
Most airlines have web sites where you can book flights on
that airline directly, and they are often cheaper this way.
In addition there are online travel agencies, such as Expedia
and Orbitz which list most flights of all the airlines and
you can pick and choose based on price, travel time, number
of stops, etc. A little time spent familiarizing oneself with
these websites can often save considerable money.
By train
Passenger trains in the United States are surprisingly scarce
and expensive. Most Americans don't use them and they are
usually only used as a novelty or for short commute trips.
Passenger rail in the USA is now nationalized since private
carriers simply could not compete with air in carrying long
distance travelers, although commuter passenger travel is
alive and well, carrying workers from the suburbs into some
of the very large cities. The national rail system, Amtrak
(1-877-YES-RAIL), provides service to many cities, concentrating
more on sightseeing tours than efficient intercity travel.
They have promotional discounts of 15% for students and seniors,
and a 30-day USA Rail Pass for international travelers only.
Perhaps the only line in regular daily use by Americans themselves
is the Northeast Corridor line, running between Boston and
Washington (D.C.). It stops in New York, Philadelphia and
many other cities on the way. This line is electrified, with
top speeds of 125 miles per hour (though the average speed
is a good deal slower). The fastest trains are the Metroliner
and the Acela Express, both of which have first class service,
but can be quite expensive. Given the difficulty and expense
of getting from the center of some of the major Northeastern
cities to their respective airports, trains can sometimes
be more convenient than air travel.
While some trains in the Northeast Corridor and other medium-distance
lines do not require advance reservations, the premium trains
and most of the long-distance trains do require such reservations.
During usual American vacation times, some long-distance trains
can sell out weeks or even months in advance, so it pays to
book early if you plan on using the long-distance trains.
One major scenic long-distance train route runs from Emeryville
in the Bay Area of California to Chicago, via Reno, Salt Lake
City and Denver. The full trip take around 60 hours, but has
incredible views of the Western deserts, the Rocky Mountains,
and the Great Plains, things that you just cannot see if you
fly. The trains run only once per day, and they usually sell
out well in advance.
By car
America's love affair with the automobile is legendary, and
most Americans prefer the convenience of car travel for getting
to nearby cities in their state or region. Many "snowbirds"
drive to a haven in the south for the winter so that they
have their auto with them. Besides intercity travel, a car
can be necessary even to get around in a single city. Travelers
from outside the country may not sufficiently appreciate the
need for an automobile in the USA. Of course in very large
cities like New York City or Chicago there are extensive in-city
bus service and large numbers of cruising taxicabs, but in
most medium-sized American cities, particularly in the west
and south, cities are very spread out and bus service thin.
Taxis are always available but you may have to call ahead
for one and wait a half-hour or so to be picked up, and then
you have the problem of getting back and you will probably
have to call again and wait.
A romantic appeal is attached to the idea of long-distance
car travel; many Americans will tell you that you can't see
the "real" America except by car. Given the dearth
of public transportation within American cities, the loss
of time travelling by car between cities, compared to flying,
can be made up by the convenience of driving around within
cities once you arrive. In addition, many of the country's
major natural attractions, such as the Grand Canyon, are almost
impossible to get to without an automobile.
The United States is covered with a convenient system of
interstate highways, funded by the federal government, and
built and maintained by the states. These huge roads stretch
from one end of the country to the other, either north-south
or east-west, and can make it easy to eat up long distances
in record time. A drawback is that the highways usually run
well outside small towns, served only by fast-food chains
and gas stations. If the point is to "see America",
traveling on the large highways can be somewhat counterproductive.
Renting a car in the USA usually runs anywhere from $30 and
$100 per day, with some discounts for week-long rentals. The
major rental agencies are Hertz (+1 800 230 4898) and Avis
(+1 800 230 4898). There are no large national discount car
rental agencies but in each city there is usually at least
one. The internet or the Yellow Pages is how to find them.
One more or less national chain is Rent-A-Wreck (+1 800 944
7501). It rents used cars at significantly lower prices. Most
rental agencies have downtown offices in major cities as well
as offices at major airports. Not all companies allow picking
up a car in one city and dropping it off in another, and most
have higher rates for long-distance travel; check with the
rental agency when making your reservations.
You may wish to join some kind of car club before starting
a large American road trip, and a having a cell phone is a
very good idea. Most rental agencies have some kind of emergency
road service program, but they can have spotty coverage for
remote regions. The largest and most popular club in the United
States is The American Automobile Association (1-800-391-4AAA),
known lovingly as "Triple A". Triple A membership
runs about $50, which is well worth the peace of mind. Triple
A members also get discounts at many hotels, motels, restaurants
and attractions; which may make it worth getting a membership
even if you don't drive.
By bus
Intercity bus travel in the United States combines the bureaucratic
inefficiency of its rail service with the mind-numbingly long
durations of travel by car. However, a gigantic infrastructure
in bus travel exists in the United States, mainly frequented
by people who can't afford the high price of airplane tickets
or who have a fear of flying. Traveling by bus in America
is a truly democratic experience. Bus travel also fills an
important gap where air travel would be ridiculous -- say,
for cities only an hour or so away by car, mostly in the East
and Midwest.
Greyhound Bus Lines (+1 800 229 9424) has the predominant
share of American bus travel. Their North American Discovery
Pass allows unlimited travel for ranges of 4 to 60 days, but
you might want to try riding one or two buses first before
locking yourself in to an exclusively-bus American journey.
Talk
The United States of America has no official language, but
English, or, rather, American English, is by far the standard
for everyday use. Visitors from Commonwealth countries may
get some funny looks at more colorful or slang expressions,
but should otherwise get along fine. A degree of romance is
attached to non-American English accents, and people may be
friendlier to you because of yours.
There are fascinating regional accents in the South and Texas,
in New England, in New York City, in California, and in the
upper Midwest, but aside from pronunciation and a few colorful
local phrases Americans from different regions all speak English.
Americans tend to speak with a flat "Midwestern"
accent, much popularized by radio, TV and movies. However,
people with strong local accents may be difficult for non-native
English speakers to understand.
African Americans across the country often speak a "dialect"
popularly called "Black English" that derived from
their Southern roots. Black English also has some characteristics
of African languages, and often uses rhyming slang.
In many parts of the USA, such as California, the Southwest,
Texas, Florida, and New York, Spanish is the first language
of a large minority of residents, mostly immigrants from Mexico
or Latin America. Although it's rare to be in areas where
no one speaks English, a good handle on Spanish can make communications
easier in some areas.
Besides immigrants or second generation Americans, few Americans
can speak a foreign language fluently. Many educated Americans
have received at least limited foreign language education
(Spanish being the most common choice by far), but even so
they likely haven't made use of it in years. Visiting America
without at least a rudimentary knowledge of English will be
quite difficult, yet if you learn a little, even from a phrase
book, you will probably do alright, and generally, if you
ask, people will be glad to help you.
People may have strong and unexpected feelings about local
politics and U.S. foreign policy and conversations about those
topics need to be handled carefully.
Buy
The official US currency is the United States dollar (symbol:
$). Conversion rates vary daily, but rough ratios with other
major currencies (as of 2004) follow.
Euro: 1:1.29
Yen: 105:1
Canadian dollar: 1.3:1
British pound: 1:1.9
Australian dollar: 1.25:1
For current conversion rates you may go here.
Because of America's relative isolation, currency exchange
centers are relatively rare outside the downtowns of coastal
cities and international airports. However, some banks are
able to convert foreign currency to U.S. dollars, although
it is often unclear which banks will and won't and in any
case the exchange rate is likely to be unfavorable.
Most automatic teller machines (ATMs) can handle foreign
bank cards or credit cards, but fees of $2-$10 can apply.
Credit cards such as Master Card, Visa, and Discover are
widely accepted, and almost all restaurants, hotels, and shops
will accept them. When making large purchases, it is typical
for the shop to ask for picture identification
Most Americans, except in big cities, shop at malls. These
shopping centers vary from small strip malls with perhaps
a dozen or so stores, to gigantic malls that contain hundreds
of stores and acres of parking space. These will certainly
include some so-called big box stores, facilities that in
themselves are huge and that aggregate anything from baby
shoes to lawnmowers under one roof. Nearly every mall will
have a large supermarket where you can purchase an immense
variety of groceries and food, as well as prepared food, and
in many, you will find such things as pharmaceuticals, wine,
liquor and beer, flowers, baked goods, and even clothing.
Generally you can get to a mall only by car, although for
the larger ones bus service is usually available.
American posted prices are usually set in stone and non-negotiable.
Some retail stores have student or senior discounts but you
will probably have to ask. Americans love a good bargain and
respect a bargain-hunter, so it never hurts to ask store personnel
how to get lower prices. Posted prices do not include sales
tax, which is added in most states for most items. It will
vary from a few percent to as much as ten percent, although
some states do not tax essential items such as foodstuffs.
Eat
The variety of restaurants throughout the United States is
remarkable. One thing that a traveler from Europe or Latin
America will notice is that many restaurants do not serve
beer, wine or liquor. Another is the sheer number and variety
of fast food and chain restaurants. Most open early in the
morning and stay open late at night, a few are open 24 hours
a day. And the majority are accessible only with a car.
Fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds, with which most
people are familiar, are ubiquitous. But the variety of this
type of restaurant in the US is astounding: pizza, Chinese
food, Mexican food, fish, chicken, barbequed meat, and ice-cream
only begins to touch on it. In general alcoholic beverages
are not served in these restaurants, "pop", "soda",
or other so-called "soft-drinks" are standard. The
idea here is that one chooses the type of food one wishes
first, and then selects a restaurant that serves it. The quality
of the food served varies, but in general, because of the
strictly limited menu, it is good. Also the restaurants are
usually clean and bright, and the service, to the extent there
is service, is friendly. Here again you will probably need
a car to get to one that you want.
Take-out food is also very common. You will order by phone
and then usually drive to the restaurant to pick it up and
take it away. Many places will also deliver this type of food
to your hotel or home.
Next in the classes of restaurants might be chain restaurants
not of the fast-food variety. These normally specialize in
a particular cuisine. A few larger are Red Lobster, The Olive
Garden, Chi Chis for TexMex food and many others. These restaurants
generally serve alcoholic beverages, though this is not always
true.
Another class of restaurant is the so-called family restaurant.
These can be chain restaurants or not, but the code meaning
of the term is that they do not serve alcoholic drinks.
Chinese food is also widely available though a traveler from
China might find it somewhat "Americanized". Japanese
sushi and Thai food, have also been adapted for the American
market in recent years. Fusion cuisine combines Asian ingredients
and techniques with more traditional American presentation.
No compendium of American restaurants would be complete without
mentioning the truck stop. You will only encounter these places
if you are taking an intercity auto or bus trip. They are
located on superhighways and cater to truckers, usually having
a separate area for diesel fuel -- which incidentally is not
available in regular gas (petrol) stations -- as well as areas
for parking the big rigs. Many have shower facilities for
truckers as well. These fabled restaurants serve what passes
on the road for plain home cooking, things like hot roast
beef sandwiches, meatloaf. fried chicken, and of course the
ubiquitous hamburger and fries.
Very large cities in America are like large cities anywhere,
and one may select from inexpensive neighborhood eateries
to extravagantly expensive full service restaurants with extensive
wine lists. With a rich tradition of immigration, America
has a wide variety of ethnic foods. Everything from Ethiopian
cuisine to Lao food is available in major cities with large
immigrant populations. In 'up-scale" restaurants, rules
for men to wear jackets and ties, while once de rigueur, are
becoming more relaxed, but you should check first if there
is any doubt.
In most medium sized cities you will also find a wide variety
of restaurants of all classes, but in the south, midwest and
west non-chain restaurants exist, but seem to be becoming
an endangered species.
As with other cooking traditions, Americans have given Mexican
food their own twist. Combining in various ways beans, rice,
cheese, and spiced beef or chicken with round flatbread loaves
called tortillas, dishes are usually topped with spicy salsa,
sour cream, and an avocado mix called guacamole. Small shops
called taquerias can be found in the Southwest of the USA,
where a good meal can be put together for $5-$10. The North
and East usually have more pricey establishments, with entrees
running about $10-15.
Vegetarian food is easy to come by in big urban areas. Most
big cities and college towns have vegetarian restaurants serving
exclusively or primarily vegetarian dishes. In smaller towns
you may need to check the menu at several restaurants before
finding a vegetarian entree, or else make up a meal out of
side dishes. Veggie-only breakfast foods such as pancakes
or eggs can be found at most diners.
People on low-fat or low-calorie diets should be well-served
in the USA, as there has been a continuing trend in calorie
consciousness since the 1970s. Even fast-food restaurants
have "lite" specials, and can provide charts of
calorie and fat counts on demand.
Unlike much of the rest of the world, tipping in America
is expected. A standard rate is 15%, with 20% being expected
for especially good service. Having said that, many restaurants
automatically include a surcharge for the staff of 15% or
more for parties of six or more. Check before you pay.
Drink
Drinking customs in America are as varied as the backgrounds
of its many peoples. With some few interesting exceptions
one will find that in the countryside bars or taverns, as
distinct from restaurants, are few. However in urban settings
you will find numerous bars and nightclubs where food is either
nonexistent or rudimentary. In very large cities, of course,
drinking places run the gamut from tough, local, "shot
and a beer" bars to upscale "martini bars"
where you may sample anything from the traditional martini
cocktail to exotics which might include "coffee"
martinis and "chocolate" martinis. Of course this
fad may become extinct at any time, to be replaced by some
new concoction. One thing that may at first startle visitors
from more conservative countries is the number of women that
go to bars, both accompanied by men, unaccompanied, and in
groups.
While most American beer drinkers prefer light beers, a wide
variety of beers are available all over the States. It is
not too unusual to find a bar serving one hundred or more
different kinds of beer, both bottled beer and "tap"
or "draft" beer. And "Real" beer is making
a comeback. Microbreweries -- not so micro anymore, by the
way -- make porters, reds, lagers, and stouts in much smaller
quantities with traditional methods. Most microbrews are distributed
regionally; bartenders will know the local brands. Some brew
pubs make their own beer in-house, and generally only serve
the house brand. Some states also have a weird thing called
3.2 beer which is 3.2% alcohol, though many light beers aren't
much more than that anyway but they get cans proclaiming 3.2%.
In Colorado some restaurants have licenses where they can
serve real beer and others only serve 3.2% beer
Wine in America is also a contrast in low-quality commercial
fare versus extremely high-quality product. California wines
are some of the best in the world, and are available on most
wine lists in the country. California wines are labeled by
the grape (merlot, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay) rather
than the regional appellation, although wine producers are
trying to give names like Napa Valley some more clout on the
market. French wines are available, especially in the East.
Some Chilean and Australian wines can also be found, but what's
imported to the US is usually of lower quality. Other countries
-- including Spain and Italy -- are also increasingly making
their way on to America's wine map. Sparkling wines such as
Champagne and Prosecco are available by the bottle in many
restaurants, especially Italian restaurants, but are rarely
served by the glass as they often are in western Europe. You
will find that the wines served in most bars and taverns in
America is of the "bulk" variety, not very good,
and often not served in proper glasses. On the other hand,
"wine bars", where wine is the featured attraction
are becoming more common in urban areas and in these establishments
a wide variety of quite good American and foreign wines are
available.
Hard alcohol is usually drunk with a "mixer", such
as tonic water, cola, or another type of "soda",
and each combination usually has a catchy name: for example,
vodka and orange juice is called a "screwdriver",
while a combination of vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice,
and cranberry juice goes by the pretentious and portentious
name of "sex on the beach". Asking for liquor plus
mixer will sometimes get you funny looks, but you'll get what
you want. Drinking hard alcohol straight is mostly done in
shots -- 1 or two oz. glasses that are often drunk in one
swallow, usually after a toast. There is a long term trend
in the US toward light colored liquors, especially vodka,
and away from the more traditional darker liquors such as
whiskey and bourbon that drinkers' fathers favored.
In some places, such as as Texas, many bars only have a beer
and wine license and you are allowed to bring your own hard
liquor in and then they sell you juice and sodas at inflated
prices since they can't sell you the liquor at inflated prices.
These are called setups. It can turn a $1 Coke into a $2.50
Coke but if you mostly are drinking liquor instead of Coke
it can be a money saver on a night out on the town. There
are places called "dry counties" in a number of
southern states as well which means you have to plan ahead
or belong to a private club to drink. Sunday sales are a problem
in a some states for hard liquor but beer and wine are invariably
available after noon on Sunday almost everywhere.
Nightclubs in America run the usual gamut of various music
scenes -- from discos with top-40 dance tunes to obscure clubs
serving tiny slices of obscure musical genres. One dance format
probably unfamiliar to foreign visitors is country music,
a musical form derived from traditional folk tunes but played
with electric instruments. Country music dance clubs, or honky
tonks, are laid fairly thick in the South and West, especially
in rural areas and away from the coasts, but one or two can
be found in almost any city.
Sleep
By far the most common form of lodging in rural United States
is the motel. Providing inexpensive rooms ($25-$80 per night
-- as of 2004) to automotive travellers, most motels are clean
and reasonable with a limited array of amenities: telephone,
TV, bed, bathroom. As with most low-cost accommodations around
the world, the cheaper motels tend to attract a varied clientele.
Motel 6 (+1 800 466-8356) is a national chain with reasonable
rates ($30-$60, depending on the city).
Hotels are available in most cities. Rooms usually run about
$80-$200 per night, with the top limit blowing wide open for
some super chi-chi spots. In many rural areas, especially
on the coasts, bed and breakfast (B&B) lodging can be
found. Usually in buildings with less than a dozen units,
B&Bs feature a more homely lodging experience, with complimentary
breakfast served (of varying quality and complexity). Bed
and breakfasts range from about $50 to $200 per night, with
some places being much steeper. They can be a nice break from
the impersonality of chain hotels and motels.
There are also youth hostels across the USA. Most are affiliated
with the American Youth Hostel organization (affiliated with
Hostelling International). Quality of hostels varies widely,
but at $8-$24 per night, the prices are unbeatable. Despite
the name, AYH membership is open to people of any age. Independent
hostels (not affiliated with AYH) are also available, particularly
in larger cities (use a hostel guide to find them).
Camping can also be a very affordable lodging option, especially
with good weather. The downside of camping is that most campgrounds
are outside urban regions, so it's not much of an option for
trips to big cities. There is a huge network of National Parks
(+1 800 365-2267) in the US, with most states and counties
having their own park system, too. Most state and national
campgrounds are of excellent quality, with beautiful natural
environments. Expect to pay $8-$20 per car on entry. Kampgrounds
of America (KOA) has a chain of commercial campground franchises
across the country, of significantly less charm than their
public-sector equivalents.
Learn
The United States education system, as one might expect, is
quite varied. Its elementary and secondary schools, in terms
of relative quality, stand somewhere in the lower middle of
the advanced countries, depending on how such matters are
objectively measured, yet there are many excellent schools
at this level throughout the country. The vast majority of
these schools are publicly funded, that is all costs are born
by the government through taxation. This is mainly at the
county or city level of government, generally in the form
of a tax on property. There are also numerous private schools
at this level, most often religiously affiliated and funded
through tuition or donations, or a combination of both. Both
the organization and the funding of public schools at this
level is currently a subject of hot political debate.
At the college or university level the United States, by
almost any measure, has no peer. The types of universities
and colleges run the gamut from large state university systems
to a great variety of privately funded colleges and universities.
Virtually all colleges and universities are funded by "tuition",
that is a fee charged to the student. However for citizens
there are government guaranteed loans, available from most
banks at reduced rates of interest, and payments are deferred
while the student attends school. Details can be found at
the website of the US Department of Education. In addition,
schools themselves often provide subsidies, or outright grants,
ranging from a small supplement to one hundred percent of
the tuition and room and board for very low-income families.
Most of this money comes from the universities' "endowments",
gifts donated to the school from former students or from wealthy
people generally. As the most extreme example, Harvard's endowment
stands (in 2004) at nearly $20 billion. Many colleges -- Harvard
is again a notable example -- are or were religiously affiliated,
and many, though not most, remain so -- though today this
may be more reflected in spirit than in academic teachings.
One reason for the general excellence of these schools is
attendance by top caliber foreign students, especially in
graduate programs. This also has had a significant beneficial
effect on the financing of college level learning, since these
students contribute substantially in the form of tuition.
Often financial aid for foreign students is provided by their
home country, but some aid does exist in the US for international
students via private organizations. Usually such programs
will require a US citizen to guarantee that this form of assistance
will be repaid.
State university systems are subsidized by state government,
and while they are not restricted to residents of the state,
residents of that state may attend at sharply reduced rates
of tuition. A large state university may have up to twenty
campuses spread around the state, with tens of thousands of
students.
Medium and large cities often have what are known as commuter
colleges, oriented towards education for both regular students
and for working adults as well. These schools provide little
in the way of student housing or a "campus culture".
Private technical institutes, which provide an education
aimed at obtaining a specific job such as computer science
or business management are also quite common. Some of these
schools are state subsidized, in full or in part, while others
are fully private, with the entire cost born by students in
the form of tuition.
Application fees for college usually run from $50-$150, with
no guarantee that you will be accepted. Casual students simply
looking to improve their knowledge will find city colleges
an excellent deal -- you can take one or two courses for a
few hundred dollars on any of a variety of subjects, and admission
is usually open to all comers. Part-time study is usually
not sufficient to get a student visa, though - student visas
require either half or full time enrollment.
There are any number of student exchange programs for full-time
students in foreign universities who want to spend a term
or a year in the United States. You can ask at your university's
student exchange center for details. Be forewarned, however:
many of the state universities are located in remote towns,
hundreds or thousands of miles from any big urban centers.
Be prepared for a lot of small-town living, and don't expect
to spend your weekends in New York if your college is in North
Dakota.
Work
America is a mecca for job-seekers from around the globe,
but it can be difficult to get documentation to work legally
in the US. Work permits, or green cards, are given out on
a quota system according to the seeker's country of origin.
The safest course for an applicant is to find work in the
USA before arriving, and let the company you plan to work
for sponsor you for a work visa, but this can be quite difficult
to do, and is usually time-consuming. The best opportunities
in this regard are for people who bring skills currently in
short supply in the USA.
Stay safe
The United States has a reputation in other parts of the world
as a hotbed of random crime and murder. There's some merit
to this stereotype; America has the highest rate of shootings
in the industrialized world. Other types of crime, however,
are lower or on par with other developed countries. Like most
things in the US, crime varies greatly depending on the area.
Larger cities have higher crime rates, as might be expected.
Standard cautionary procedures for traveling in high-crime
areas should be observed.
In most cities, avoid walking alone in city centers after
dark. Don't let anyone in your car you don't know; if anyone
reaches for your car's doorhandle, drive away immediately.
Keep any personal belongings in the trunk of your car, out
of view of curious passersby. Picking up hitchhikers is generally
considered to be unsafe, and is illegal in some states.
Note that Americans rarely carry large amounts of cash with
them, and this causes thieves to often target foreign tourists.
Gay-bashing is rare, but physical attacks can and do happen,
especially in cities and states where there's not an established
gay and lesbian population.
Almost all cities in America now support the 911 program.
Simply pressing 911 at any telephone will connect you to an
area call center for all the emergency services in the area
(police, fire, ambulance, etc.). Dispatchers will send appropriate
personnel to deal with accidents, serious sickness, criminal
or any other emergency situations. The 911 call center can
trace your call to locate the caller. Abuse of the 911 program
for non-emergency purposes can result in a heavy fine. Only
use it if life, limb, or property are in immediate danger.
Some cities have a 311 number for questions which are not
of immediate danger.
Stay healthy
Though the United States has the best health care in the world,
it is also by far the most expensive. The USA is the only
industrialized nation in the world with no national healthcare
system. Americans generally use private health insurance,
paid either by their employer or out of their own pocket.
As a traveler, make sure you have either traveler's insurance
or insurance provided by your government, before arriving
in the USA. Getting health care in the US without insurance
can be quite costly.
The medical infrastructure is mostly handled at a city or
county level. Generally, though not always, hospitals are
private, not-for-profit institutions, though some are run
by city governments, or by religious or charitable organizations.
Some will not admit patients who are not members of a health
insurance program with which they are affiliated.
A certain amount of free health care for the poor is available
at all hospitals that accept government subsidies, and that
is a very large percentage. And hospital "emergency rooms"
are required by law not to turn anyone away -- emergency or
not. Some Americans without health care rely on emergency
rooms for non-emergency treatment. The waiting time can be
long (hours) except for a serious emergency. Note that emergency
room care costs about 2-3 times as much as care from a regular
doctor. Some cities provide free clinics, or low-cost walk-in
clinics, but these often provide only limited services.
Planned Parenthood has clinics and centers around the country
providing birth control and other reproductive health services,
as well as general healthcare services for any mother or child
under the age of 18.
Communicate
Prior to the popularity of personal cell phones, public telephones,
"pay phones" which accept coins, were ubiquitous
on sidewalks all over the United States. Now one will probably
have to enter a store or restaurant to find one.
Cities and regions within the US are assigned three-digit
codes, called area codes. Some medium and large cities have
several area codes. If so, one needs to dial this code before
dialing the "local" telephone number. Local telephone
numbers, those within a particular area, are seven digits
long and listed in the form, NNN-NNNN. Most visitor areas
and some restaurants and bars have two books of telephone
numbers: the white book, for an alphabetical listing of telephones;
and the yellow book, a listing of business and service establishments
by category, for example, "Taxicabs". Directory
information can also be obtained on the telephone, usually
by dialing 411. This is normally an extra cost call, unless
dialed from a pay phone.
Unfortunately there are as yet no international standards
for cell phones. Consequently, one you purchased in another
part of the world will probably not work here. Most mobile
providers in the US now support text messaging both within
their own networks and frequently among each other's networks,
though large delays are sometimes associated with inter-carrier
messaging. Third generation, or 3G, mobile technology is slowly
being deployed in the US but many carriers are still working
on upgrading their existing first- and second-generation networks.
There are a handful of nationwide carriers in the US who operate
nationwide GSM networks, but they operate on different frequency
bands from the rest of the world for regulatory reasons (the
900/1800MHz bands were already allocated for other uses).
Nevertheless, they do have extensive domestic and international
"roaming" co-agreements, so international travelers
who have GSM "world phones" can likely roam in the
US (check with your home provider for further information).
Still, international travelers who are planning long trips
should be advised that it may be less expensive to buy a local
pay-as-you-go or prepaid phone, especially if you're planning
to make many calls within the US.
Long-distance telephone calling cards are available at most
convenience stores. Most calling cards have specific destinations
in mind (domestic calls, calls to particular countries), so
make sure you get the right card.
America is a highly technological country, with over 75%
of it's population having Internet access, Internet cafes
are not common, especially outside of major metropolitan areas.
The best bet for computer rental is at a "photocopy shop,
such as, Kinko's (+1 800 2KINKOS/+1 800 254 6567) which is
a national chain. Most hotels are equipped with Internet connections.
Some of these have "business centers" where you
can use a computer connected to the internet, fax a message,
and use a computer printer and make limited copies. Other
hotels assume you will be using your own laptop and they provide
in-room internet connections or in the business center. Sometimes
access is wireless. Often this service is billed as a separate
cost, but increasingly it is not extra and is part of the
cost of the room. All public libraries now provide Internet
access, free of charge, but you may have to wait in line and
their hours of operation are limited. Many libraries limit
user access to 30 minutes at a time.
Some cities also have free WiFi connectivity, although this
movement is still in its early stages.
For more information
The Federal system of government in the United States puts
the states in charge of tourism and the federal government
in charge of foreign policy.
The result of which is that the Federal government provides
the best information about legal requirements for entry, while
the most detailed information about places to visit and see
will be provided by the state tourism bureaus which will be
happy to send you maps and literature. Contact information
will be available in the individual state entries.
route 66
States of the USA
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North
Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South
Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Washington
DC
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