Vacation USA – Organise to Optimise!
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The secret to a great holiday of a lifetime is great organisation. This is especially true when you are thinking about a destination as large as the United States of America. This article suggests an overview of some of the main things to keep in mind when planning your holiday to the US. Getting around the US couldn’t be easier. Planes fly into almost every major city and many smaller ones. The Amtrack rail system offers a more comfortable mode of transport if you don’t mind taking a little longer to get there, and if money is tight, why not check out the Greyhound bus? It might take a few days to arrive at your destination, but you’ll see some great sites, and meet some interesting people along the way – plus they do a great value travel pass if you intend to travel a lot during your vacation! Accommodation varies from place to place. Whether you want to gamble with the cheaper options such as hostelling, or ensure a clean place to lay your head by booking into one of the well-known hotel chains, you’ll find something to fit your budget. Bed and breakfast establishments are also becoming increasingly popular in some parts of the US, and these can provide an interesting as well as economical place to stay. Wherever you choose to stay, make sure you read through the information carefully before making your reservation. Many types of accommodation offer discounts for various types of guest and lengths of stay. Perhaps you could qualify for a free night if you stay seven, or maybe you qualify for discount as a member of the military services. Also find out whether breakfast is included with your room price – again this varies from place to place with some establishments offering nothing at one end of the scale to full American buffet style breakfast at the other – and a cup of coffee with a muffin somewhere in the middle! There are even establishments that will provide accommodation for your pet as well as yourself. Food isn’t just big in the US. It’s HUGE! If you are on your first visit to America from overseas, be prepared. Think European portions and at least double it for what you will receive in the US! Usually restaurants operate a policy of automatic refills on coffee so that you only pay once but can drink as much as you need – or want. Half portions of main courses are sometimes available and if you find that the normal US portion is too big, this is a great option – if this isn’t available in the restaurant you go to, ask for a “doggy bag” and you can save some of the excess for later. Tip: If you do this, ask for the bag before you start your meal so that you can remove some of the food before you start eating – it’ll look less like leftovers that way! Another thing to keep in mind is that most hotels/motels in big tourist areas are used to guests having food brought in, so if the eating establishments in or near your accommodation are a little pricey, check out the local telephone directory and see what you can have delivered instead! Ok, so you’ve got there, you’ve somewhere to stay and know where your meals are coming from. Now what are you going to do? Well, before you leave home you should have gathered as much information as you possibly could about the place you’re going to visit and the activities available there. You also should check out whether or not the major attractions in the area offer discounts if you book your tickets in advance. Information can be obtained from the Internet, from local tourism offices in the US, or from the American Embassy in most countries. Some States have their own travel and tourism offices in major cities around the world, for example in London. Be prepared for a long wait if you decide to phone for information however. The American tourism board has devised the most high-tech way of dealing with callers – it has such a well organised system of automatically routing calls by the caller pressing buttons on their phone to correspond with the kind of information required from a automatic menu. It feels like it takes forever to speak to a human! Once you get through though the staff are usually well informed and friendly, and the information you can get sent out is comprehensive and often includes interesting places (and money saving coupons!) not usually covered in the mainstream tourist books. So, you have all the bits in place for a great holiday. Don’t forget to pack the right kind of clothes for the part of the country you’re visiting (you did check the weather conditions before booking didn’t you?) and the time of year you’re going, plus sunscreen and mozzie repellent (For example, I have it on good authority that the unofficial state bird of Louisiana is the mosquito!). Overseas travellers make sure your papers are all in order before leaving home and that you have the required passport and visa, because the Customs and Immigration are not people to mess with in the US – they don’t care that you’ve taken 12 hours to fly halfway around the world to meet Mickey Mouse, they only care that you are only staying temporarily and will go home again! The USA? It’s a big place! Whether you already live there, or whether you live thousands of miles away on another continent, there is always some part of it that seems to call to you as a vacation destination. Perhaps you yearn to visit a place that starred in a movie, such as the top of the Empire State Building in New York City, or maybe you have a dream to join a white water rafting team through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. It could be that you live in a small town and hanker after some wild party nights Californian style, or maybe the big city is just too much for you year around and a holiday in a cabin in a remote part of the Rocky Mountains is calling to your soul. Whatever kind of holiday you could wish for, America has it all – and then some! About the Author
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