Hi there, it's Ernest from Trip Astute. In this video, we're doing something a
little bit different. We're going to cover the quirky and important aspects of US
life that visitors should know when visiting the States.
(light chiming music)
A few months ago, we
did a video on what I noticed when I traveled to England. It was meant to be a
fun and lighthearted video. Oddly enough though,
the video got a lot of attention and as of today, has over 400,000 views. The
video seems to be trending in the UK so we had a lot of folks chime in on their
thoughts. A lot of people shared their experience in the US and some of the
confusing aspects of our life and culture. So today, I wanted to cover some
of the biggest and most significant differences, especially those that could
really affect your experience while here. While many of you in the US might not
think that any of these things are unique, I still think it's useful to be
mindful of them especially when you have family and friends visiting from abroad.
And for those of you who are watching from outside of the US, particularly our
new subscribers from the UK, I hope this list is not only entertaining but also
useful. I really tried to focus on differences and tips that might save you
time and keep you safe while visiting the States. Lastly, before I run through
the list, keep in mind that I'm intentionally ignoring politics and guns.
While these are very stark and unique aspects of US culture, I'm really trying
to avoid political debates on this channel. So before you comment on our
President or guns, just know I totally get it, but this is not where I want to
have that discussion. So, with that out of the way, let's go through the list. Number 1:
Paying for gas. If you're visiting the US, you'll notice that most gas stations
will require you to pay for fuel in advance before you start pumping. Most
Americans will simply swipe their credit card which then puts a hold on their
account until they're done fueling. This can be a big problem for international
visitors as the pumps are often not able to process a hold or verify their credit
card, especially since the US is a bit behind on
their payment technology. If you're faced with having to pay for gas, or petrol as
the rest the world knows it, you probably need to pay the attendant cash. For most
cars, you can expect to pay around $25 to $30 for a full tank.
If you end up filling up less, then just asks for change from the attendant once
you're done pumping. As a bonus tip, keep in mind that in the US the black pump is
usually designated as regular unleaded fuel. Green pumps are usually diesel,
which is not as common in the US as it is in the rest of the world. Number 2:
Stay in your car when being pulled over by the police. This one is extremely
important to know if you're visiting the US. If you're driving and you get pulled
over by the police, you'll want to remain in your car and keep your hands on the
steering wheel. You do not want to get out of your vehicle. While that may be the
normal process outside the US, doing so will likely result in the police feeling
threatened and potentially drawing their weapons. The normal procedure
in the US is to pull over to the side of the road and turn off your engine.
You'll want to roll down your driver-side window and keep your hands on your
steering wheel. The police will usually ask for your driver's license and
vehicle registration. Though I wouldn't start looking for it until the police
asks for it. I don't mean to scare people as this is such a common scenario in the
US, but it's an easy way to startle the police especially if you exit the car
and walk toward the officer. Number 3: Turning right on the red light. This is
one that seems to disturb a lot of people when they visit the US, even
though I think most Americans find it to be very convenient and useful. If you're
in an intersection and you want to turn right, you can do so on the red light if
there is: no pedestrian crossing at the time, no cars coming toward your
direction, and no signs saying that the right turn is prohibited on the red
light. If you find yourself in this situation, you'll want to stop at the
intersection first and allow any pedestrians to pass, then you can slowly
move forward into the crosswalk and turn right when it's clear and safe. Just be
careful of folks who ignore the crosswalk signal and try to cross the street at
the last second. On that note, number 4: Avoid
jaywalking. The US has laws against jaywalking, which
is basically disregarding the law and crossing the street outside of the
crosswalk or when the crossing signal is red. This is only enforced on busy roads.
It's meant to keep people from crossing streets where they can get hit by cars
and cause disruptions to the flow of traffic. I know it's very annoying, even
for Americans, but it's something to be aware of when you want to cross the
street. Also, police officers will often just wait around busy streets to catch
people jaywalking, so be careful when you're walking around high-traffic areas.
Number 5: Tipping. The tipping culture in the US is very excessive and is
confusing even to us Americans. While it's customary to tip servers 15% to 20%
at restaurants and bars, it's often unclear in other scenarios like
valet parking, hotels, and cafes. For example, Fiona recently told me that she
struggled with determining the amount to tip when visiting a hair salon. In these
cases, we usually default to 15% to 20%, but only if you were happy with
the service. Also, keep in mind that servers at restaurants and bars
typically make less than minimum wage in the US. That means that the tip is a
major component of their wages. While I personally think they should get paid
more, just know that we often see tipping in restaurants to be mandatory unless
the service was not up to standards. Number 6: Stop signs. A lot of visitors
have complained that they often don't know how to deal with multiple cars
arriving at a stop sign at once. The official rule is that the person to the
right has the right of way, though it can be messy when it's not clear who is to
the right. My suggestion is to be defensive and move slowly through the
stop sign. It's not worth fighting over the right-of-way, especially when we're
talking about a few seconds of time. Number 7: Sales tax.
One thing that a lot of visitors find confusing is our sales tax. When buying
an item at a store, you're almost always going to pay more than the label price.
Since sales tax is different in every state and county, we add it to the price
at the register. It's something that we're used to as Americans, but I can
understand how it's confusing to others. Just know that you'll likely have to pay
up to ten percent more than the sticker price depending on where you're visiting.
And finally, number 8: Showing your ID. This one drives Americans insane too. In
most restaurants and bars, you'll need to show your ID even if you're obviously
over the drinking age of 21. It's mostly a liability issue in that most
restaurants and bars don't want to be sued or found accountable for serving
alcohol to minors, or even perceived as singling out people based on age. This
can lead to some very annoying and frustrating situations. I've even seen
elderly people being asked to show their ID, which is just ridiculous. So, if you're
planning to have a drink in the US, make sure you're carrying some form of ID
that shows your birthday. Even if you're obviously over the age of 21, it's
possible that you'll need to prove it in order to have a drink or to even enter a
bar. There are a ton of smaller things that are on my list and I'll cover them
in another video. But these are the ones that I think can really affect someone's
experience or cause confusion when visiting the US, so I wanted to focus on
them. For those of you in the US, do you have any other tips for visitors? Or if
you visited the US from abroad, are there any other items that you think
should be included in the list? Let us know in the comments section below. We
hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful. If so, please consider giving us a
thumbs up and sharing our video with others that might also benefit or enjoy
our content. We're trying to get to 5,000 subscribers by the end of June, and we
would appreciate your help getting there. More importantly, we love hearing from
folks that our videos are helpful, so if you know of anyone that might benefit
from our content, we would love to see it shared with others.
Until next time, travel safe and travel smart.