Hey you guys Phoebe here from Little Grey Box. Are you planning a trip to the United States?
Matt and I recently found ourselves in San Diego and wanted to
share with you some of our must-know tips for San Diego, California and the USA in general
It's important for travellers to understand the visa requirements before
you set off on your adventure. Now under the visa waiver program some nationals
may be eligible to enter the United States for up to 90 days without a visa
for tourism purposes. If you are eligible for that you still need to apply for
something called an ESTA. that's E S T A and that is done online at a cost of
USD$14 per person now to do that online you just go through and
answer a whole bunch of questions which can be quite detailed and they do
require information like your social media handles. I always find the TSA to
be some of the strictest airport security I've ever come across
and Matt and I have picked up a few tips and tricks along the way that make
navigating TSA that much easier First things first, you want to make sure that
your checked luggage has TSA approved locks if you're not sure just simply
Google your luggage right now and check that it does have a TSA approved lock if
it doesn't you're going to need to make sure that if you want to lock your
luggage you get a TSA approved lock it's as simple as that. That way if they need
to get in and have a look inside your luggage they can do that without having
to break or ruin your bag. Next you're gonna make sure that you get to the
airport a minimum of three hours before your flight that sounds like a really
long time but not in the States because TSA are very very thorough and I've
experienced really long lines in different parts of the country make sure
that you're wearing shoes that are really easy to slip on and slip off as
you will be required to take them off when it comes time to scan your bags
Make sure that you're easily able to access things like your liquids and your
laptop that's gonna help you speed through and not hold up the line behind
you or feel flustered when it comes time to take those things out of your bag
You also want to make sure that your liquids are under a 100ml and meet the
current restrictions. be sure to check the TSA website
so you are current on what that is and those liquids usually under 100ml
and in a clear plastic bag one little plastic bag per person maximum
When we arrived in LA as that was our first port of arrival that's
where we had to clear customs and it will most likely be the same case for
you as well wherever you land even if you're connecting through somewhere else
you have to collect your bags and go through customs at your first point of
arrival if you just arrive and you don't go to the baggage area and you don't
claim your bag and you don't move it through it's not going to get there
even if your bag is checked all the way through the responsibility is yours
you're not looking to hire a car you're going to need a way to get around you
can of course use public transport but Uber and Lyft seem to be king in the
United States uber is probably a preferred go-to and
that's simply because we already have it loaded on our phones so we have that
ready to go in Australia and as soon as we land in the States we don't have to
re-register accounts or worry about verifying with the US number or anything
like that one thing to consider if you like us you're probably not going to get
a local SIM card when you're there so just make sure if you are relying on
uber you've got access to Wi-Fi at the key times that you're going to need it
to book your ride Matt and I always get a little bit nervous before we do it
simply because we're driving on the wrong side of the road and sitting on
the wrong side of the car northern hemisphere it's wild if you're really
worried about it and you aren't confident and you don't think you've got
what it takes always err on the side of caution don't
put yourself in the situation that's potentially dangerous
we had a car booked through Avis and I would just say that we didn't have a
positive experience with the person who took us through our rental I just found
him to be excessively rude so I personally wouldn't recommend Avis based
on that experience we did also hire a second car through a company called
sixth and that experience was fantastic they gave us an upgrade they were really
nice they were really helpful and that's more of the the kind of experience that
we look to recommend now whether you are hiring a car and driving yourself around
or simply getting around on foot you are going to need to be able to find your
way around and live maps are the best way to do that should
not have any data that you can use or should you find Google Maps a bit clunky
which I do when you don't have access to Wi-Fi we always use an app called maps
dot me I tell you guys about this pretty much every video we make it's because
it's my holy grail app the only thing you need to make sure you do is star the
places that you want to go to before you lose Internet access because sometimes I
find that can be a little bit hard to find a specific place and it just helps
to have those already researched before you set out on your adventure you guys
tipping is a thing in the States and if you find yourself in California you are
absolutely going to need to tip a lot of people that you come across and it's
really good to know in advance what's expected how much you should tip and who
you should tip I will just say right up front that as somebody who comes from a
country where tipping isn't the norm I do find it a bit uncomfortable at first
I guess in a way for me it's almost confrontational because I feel like I
have to assign a monetary value to somebody and I think that that person is
really really amazing and I don't think a dollar there is adequate payment for
the work they do so I always feel like I'm under valuing people and I find that
really uncomfortable so if you're the same just prepare for that but one way I
get over that is just to talk to people about it I say hey sorry I feel really
awkward should I tip you is this a tipping situation and Americans are so
used to it that they're like yeah this is a tipping situation or no, no need to
worry about it. You do kind of get used to it and then you feel like a boss when
your palming fives to people. A standard kind of a tip at a restaurant would be
around 15 to 20 percent of the total cost of the meal the way I understand it
is if that you fail your service was so terrible that the server and the staff
deserved no tip that you should probably speak to the manager about it that way
they can improve on whatever the problem is for the next people too. Now for your
valets something like 1 to 5 dollars is a great tip for your bellhops you know a
dollar or two per bag you might want to tip your bartenders one to two dollars
per drink for example and Matt and I always leave a tip for the housekeeping
staff too. The minimum wage in the US is notoriously low so tips form a really
important part of people's incomes and we're talking about people that are
trying to support their families. So a dollar or two for me may not feel
like that much but to them it forms a really key part of their income and it's
always good to give what you can when you can to help others
Whenever I visit the US I'm always kind of taken aback by how friendly people are and I don't
think it's that Australians are unfriendly I think we have more of a
kind of a 'keep to yourself' culture because we don't like to bother each
other I can just be standing somewhere and people be like 'Hi! Hey where are you
from what are you doing here' or you know... even if you're.. I don't know at the
airport if you're at a restaurant if you're anywhere people are just so
friendly and so chatty I mean we walk around with our vlog equipment all the time
and nobody says anything In the States people come up they're like 'Hi, are you a
vlogger? What do you do? What's your channel? What's this? What's that? People are so chatty
Oh! This is a mistake Matt and I make
every single time we go and that's that we forget that the portion sizes are
huge we order these big meals expecting that you know oh we will just share this
and we'll get this and that and then these meals come out and they are monstrous
Sometimes we get to the point where we can't fit it all in and we
share one meal between two of us I imagine at fancy restaurants it
probably isn't a problem but just your regular restaurants your run-of-the-mill
stuff that's what you're gonna find those really big portion sizes
If you're planning on visiting one of the National Parks, like we did, you are going to need
a Parks Pass, now you guys we went to visit Joshua Tree and absolutely loved
it you haven't already and you're thinking about visiting you should go
watch that video now but we had to get a Parks Pass sorted before we entered Joshua
Tree National Park it's easily done but it is essential
One thing we weren't really conscious of on our last trip and should have been because we should know
better is that there are a lot of deposits required your security deposits
we didn't really leave enough money sitting in the bank that could be
accessed on a card like that and had to quickly do some reshuffling last minute
to make that money available so be smarter than we were make sure that you
have enough deposits for things like your car hire different hotels and you
don't want to tie up too much of your money in those deposits and not have any
left for spending so make sure you've got that balance sorted before you go
now you guys usually when Matt and I travel we just use our bank card because
it has no international transaction fees or local
ATM fees we do have to jump through a couple of hoops to be able to use it and
get that benefit but it's something we're willing to do for how often we
travel now if you don't have access to a bank card like that or it doesn't sound
like the right fit for you a travel X travel money card might we got to use
one for the first time on our trip to San Diego and there are a few different
benefits that might be appropriate to you as a traveler you load your foreign
currency your US dollars onto the travel money card yourself you can do that
online or through the app or if you really wanted to you could do it in
store that means that you can choose a day that has a really good exchange rate
and lock your exchange rate in right then and there when you're really
worried about international transaction fees you tend to take out large sums of
money and then you're carrying all that cash around on you and it can feel a bit
unsafe with your travel money card you can avoid those international
transaction fees you might be able to take out money a bit more regularly and
not have to worry about covering carrying huge bulky bits of cash around
with you I always worry if someone steals my credit card they couldn't max
it out with your travel money card they could only spend what was on them so if
you wanted to be a bit of a savvy traveler you could be loading your
currency on just a couple of days in advance via the app let's say you put on
you know five hundred dollars to last you three days or something like that if
you do get your card stolen or lost there's the 24/7 support and worst case
scenario some of these spends five hundred dollars much different to having
your credit card next Matt and I nearly had a heart attack the first time we saw
somebody in front of us turn right on a red light you guys but it is actually
legal so if you are driving just something that you need to know when you
come to a red light you do need to come to a complete stop if it's signed
otherwise and says you cannot turn right on red absolutely don't but otherwise
you are able to turn right on red provided it's safe to go oh hello to all
my metric friends out there you guys you're in for a wild time when you go to
the US because let me tell you they're on the Imperial system and it's
confusing AF there's gonna be no kilometres you're going to be looking at
miles there's going to be no leaders you're going to be looking at gallons
and that's especially confusing at the petrol station this is one that really
stumped me and I had a really hard time wrapping my mind
around and that is that if you're driving a car and you need to put fuel
aka gas into it you're going to have to pre-authorize your card to do so whether
you do it at the pump or going store you need to choose an amount to
pre-authorize on your card so you kind of have to guesstimate it do I think I
need $20 fuel $50 fuel $100 fuel then you have to pre authorize that on your
card you fill up but don't worry you'll only be charged for what goes into the
car even when I was doing my very fanciest Australian accent ala Chris
Hemsworth it was not getting through I think just the way we speak must be a
little bit different to what our American friends are used to hearing but
you guys there are gonna be a few moments where you struggle to get your
message across you know things like gas is fuel and jam is jelly and ketchup
this tomato sauce and biscuits are not biscuits that's something completely
different just be aware Australia we have some bit of let's just say we're a
bit loose without casual language and words like bloody and hell a totally
flying down here that's just a positive expression in the United States no not
so cool so if anything just wind your language back especially if you're from
Australia and be a bit more conservative when you go into California so you're
probably going to think that it's going to be sunny the whole time it's going to
be beautiful and hot and warm you guys you have to check the weather forecast
before you go because while you might like to think it's a tropical climate it
ain't it's actually more like a desert climate and that means that it can be
quite cool it can be cool especially in the evenings at the very least you're
going to need a coat a jacket something to put over your shoulders once the Sun
Goes Down and you can have those windy days which make it really quite chilly
now travel insurance is always essential but you guys it's really really really
essential in the United States an ambulance ride for example can set you
back something like $2,700 it's no joke if you have to go to the
hospital and something goes wrong we all know that medical expenses in the US are
notoriously expensive and it could ruin you if you don't do it the right way so
please if you're one of those people that just like to
skirt and what's the worst that can happen don't risk it in the United
States you just could financially cripple yourself now if you're a
frequent traveler like us Matt and I actually take out an annual insurance
policy and it just saves us a lot of money if you don't travel a lot maybe
that's not for you but just make sure you take out a policy that covers you
for your trip and all the activities you're going to do while you're there
now what I mean by that is that when you look on the menu the sales tax isn't
included and you also have to mentally factor in your tip on top of that we had
an amazing time in San Diego and there was never a point where we felt unsafe
that said as with anywhere that you travel to it's a common sense approach
Matt always likes to just research before we go it's all a bit of a Google
search what areas should you avoid in that destination now if you're looking
for some more specific tips on the very best things to see do a neat and where
to stay in San Diego then you guys you have to go and watch our San Diego
Travel Guide we will have that link below for you will also have link below
our Joshua Tree video we had the best time out there and if you do have the
time and the resources you should absolutely go and visit it was such a
fun road trip we got to see Salvation Mountain it was just a dream come true
for us we had a really great time you also have some great written resources
on the little gray box website too and we'll have those linked below as well
thank you so much for watching I hope you've enjoyed this video now if you
don't already be sure to subscribe and say hello in the comments below have a
great weekend and I will see you next week
love ya