United States – quick travel guide

The world’s greatest pop culture powerhouse. The land of the infamous “American dream”. Everything you’ve seen in TV and movies.

This is a country of many big cities, big space, big cars, big companies, big celebrities. Many things you’ve always heard of, and heard about this place, they’re all here.

Why come to America?

General tips for traveling in United States:

• Car – except for a few cities (e.g. New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, etc)…you’ll absolutely need a car to get around.
  • Don’t even consider trying to get away with not having a car. Even if you read online that there’s public transportation…it won’t be adequate. America’s public transportation infrastructure is embarrassingly lacking. It easily ranks last among all developed countries.
  • Even more so, I would say you need not only a car but a local friend who knows where to drive and park that car. Because again…America is a car country. It’s designed specifically for cars…not public transpo, not biking, not walking. This is also why I rank it so low on least important places to travel.
• transportation
• rideshare
• weather
• Expensive – America is ridiculously expensive. Not just the prices but the lifestyle.

Miscellaneous tips:

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Safety tips:

• America’s most dangerous parts exist are mostly in the really big cities and perhaps border towns near Mexico. For the most part, America is safe and feels safe. But I have to warn you as an American…it definitely is not totally safe. In many ways, it can be the most dangerous country in the world.
• What makes America dangerous are ghetto areas, alcoholics, road rage, gun fanatics, sex offender, racism, and crazy people. This isn’t the place to debate why or what makes American criminals different from those abroad. But I would say the ones abroad tend to be more about money whereas the criminals in America tend to be much more violent, angry, and crazy. America has a sickness. There are many angry, sad, lonely, crazy people out there.
• America’s crimes are different.
• Instead of
• America can be really dangerous.
• Please do not be walking around alone at night as a woman. Unless it’s a well-lit area with many other people nearby, don’t do it.
• Stay out of poor/ghetto neighborhoods. Also be wary of racial enclaves with low economic status. Pure Asian neighborhoods are fine (if they aren’t gang-infested). But if you’re a white guy walking through a poor black neighborhood…DO NOT. If you’re a black guy walking through a poor hispanic neighborhood, again don’t do it. And if you’re a hispanic guy walking through a poor Asian neighborhood, that may or may not be safe for you.

Foods to try:

Customs & Language:

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American cities (* = recommended, ** = must see):

East Coast

The “east coast” (which refers to the northeast of America) is the original beginning of America, featuring much older cities that look and feel more like Europe, especially England. (Thus city names like “New York”, since the original “York” is in the England.) You’ll immediately recognize the architecture, with buildings built right next to each other and much narrower streets. Everything is more cramped and lots of car traffic, but this also means a very vibrant atmosphere with life everywhere on the streets and great public transportation. Similar to Europe, and therefore Europeans usually find it more likeable.

In terms of personality…New Yorkers are considered very direct, no-bullshit, very busy, very rushed, fast-talking, fast-walking, always punctual, hard to make friends but are very loyal friends once made. East coast universities are also much older, therefore considered of higher prestige and come with the stereotype that their students are more intelligent than the ones elsewhere in America (I don’t believe the stereotype, of course).

Very multicultural, with a key difference that most of the hispanic immigrants are from places like Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic.

• New York** – probably my #1 recommended destination for foreign tourists. Lots to see/do, vibrant life, good public transportation (so you don’t need a car like the rest of the US), and quite affordable considering how popular it is. New York also feels more familiar to a European city and easier to understand and find things.
• Boston* – another fun east coast city with great public transportation and vibrant east coast vibe. However, I don’t rate it higher than New York for tourism. And you should skip it if you’re on limited time.
• Washington, DC – I would definitely consider this a boring place. It seems like a notable one because of all the big national monuments and places and museums and what not. And parts of DC could be “fun” for living…but it ranks so low on my tourism value. I’d say New York and Boston are far more interesting. Unless you really want to see the national monuments and government sites, you should absolutely skip DC.

West Coast

The “west coast” of America technically refers to the entire west coast (both north & south) but usually defaults to just the southern part of the west coast (just California state). For Oregon and Washington states, we refer to those as “Northwest, or Pacific Northwest, PNW”.

The stereotypical image is beaches, palm trees, lots of sun, big houses, big streets, big cars, nouveau rich (“new money”), flashy and fancy in a much more superficial way. But we also have the chill vibe as well…surfers, hippies, yoga, and lots of athletes training in year-round friendly weather.

• San Diego**, Los Angeles*, Santa Barbara – San Diego is AWESOME! Widely considered the best city in America by tons of metrics (look it up). If you were thinking of Los Angeles…please go to San Diego instead, much better for tourists. Everything LA has, San Diego has similar but in a more compact and easier cleaner manner. Los Angeles is the hardest city ever for tourists…I cannot recommend it. You need a car and a local to drive you around or you will NEVER figure out how to experience it properly in just a couple days. TRUST ME! Santa Barbara can be a pitstop if you’re already passing by.
• Orange County –
• San Francisco**, Oakland –
  • The Pacific Coast Highway (1) – this is a fun and popular route to drive between Northern and Southern California. Lots of coastal terrain and beautiful scenery, whale/dolphin watching points, lighthouses, wild beaches, and other cute places along the way.
• Yosemite, Sequoia – Sequoia is a big forest with the biggest sequoia trees. Feels peaceful and tranquil, I recommend visiting and/or camping at “The Trail of 100 Giants”. Way less things to do and therefore way less people. I enjoy it here a lot. Yosemite feels like a mini-city or inner forest Disneyland. People everywhere, shuttles and public transportation, cars, hotels, restaurants, etc. Not only do they have big sequoias like Sequoia National Park but they also got huge rock mountains, big rivers, waterfalls, hikes across massive landscapes, many panoramic viewpoints, animals. Yosemite is so much more epic. Sequoia is however much easier, you can just roll in and find a camp spot. No traffic to drive through. Almost no need to make reservations for camp spots, they don’t get so full. Kings Canyon National Park is a nice pitstop as well if you’re driving between the 2.

• Northwest
  • Portland**, Ashland, Eugene, Bend –
  • Seattle* (Vancouver) –
• South
  • Miami*, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale – I really don’t see the point of Florida for tourists. You can find humid-hot sunny beach in Latin America already. But Latin Americans tend to like it since it feels familiar to them and many people here speak Spanish. I also feel Miami is kinda trashy unless you’re spending tons of money in the fancy areas. Orlando, I see zero tourism value. Fort Lauderdale to me is a nice smaller Florida town. Saint Petersburg is less attractive to me than Fort Lauderdale, although some other people might feel the other way around.
  • Ashville
  • New Orleans
  • Houston, Austin
• Central & Midwest
  • Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins
  • Salt Lake City, Zion National Park – SLC is a cool hip town. Zion National Park is amazing red rock landscapes and breathtakingly unique. The drive up to it is amazing as well. The 2 main attractions here for me are the Angel’s Landing (sky-high hike) and The Narrows (carved stripe canyon water hike).
  • Las Vegas
  • Santa Fe
  • Flagstaff, Sedona, Grand Canyon
  • Chicago
  • Kansas City
  • Louisville

Recommended Itinerary:

• 2 weeks – New York (3 days), San Diego (4 days), San Francisco (4 days), Portland (3 days).
• 4 weeks – same as above, but add national parks and southern locations.
• 2 months – can pretty much do more (adding on nearby recommended cities that I listed), or spend more time in the places you liked most.

So let’s recap. If you’re on limited time and only got a few weeks to get a taste of the US, I would pick…New York, San Diego, Portland, San Francisco. Want more beaches, nature and “different things”? Add on the recommended national parks, Las Vegas, Denver, Miami. Got even more time? Tack more of the midwest and south…like Sante Fe, Ashville, Louisville, etc.

Nearby countries:

• Mexico
• Canada

Unfiltered notes: