I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

Do you want to visit the US?

Here's what you need to know.

Have you already visited the US?

Would you like to visit the US someday?

Going to an English-speaking country is a great way to get motivated or stay motivated

to learn English.

I asked you all in the community tab here on YouTube where you would like to visit in

the US, and a lot of you said LA, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Florida, Texas, Boston,

a lot of places.

I hope your dreams come true and you get to come visit the US.

To help you prepare, today I'd like to give you 10 important facts that you need to know

before you come to visit the US.

Of course, these are all my opinion and just from my experience, but sometimes it's important

to know the cultural differences or what to expect before you go somewhere.

All right, let's start with the first category, which is airports.

Number one, Airports are not the best representation of the US.

Every time that I've landed in the US coming from a foreign country, I've always had an

unpleasant experience.

Unfortunately, this is kind of a negative way to start our list today.

But, often I've heard people just say, "Get in this line.

Go over there.

Hurry up.

Let's go," or maybe that was just the Atlanta airport.

But no, I experienced that in Chicago, New York, DC, a lot of places.

So if you have a kind of negative experience in an airport when you first land in the US,

take a deep breath.

This isn't a good representation of American people.

I remember arriving back in the US from Korea, and in front of us in line at the customs

office, or something like that, was this kind Korean grandpa.

I imagine he hardly spoke any English.

At least when he tried to communicate with other people, it seemed a little bit difficult.

And when the customs officer was talking with him, he kept just speaking louder and louder

and not really trying to understand or help him.

I felt really bad that this was this man's first exposure to the US, and I hoped that

he would have other pleasant experiences with other people on his visit.

I hope that's the same for you.

If you have a negative experience, this is just an airport thing.

I hope that you meet other people who are friendly.

Tips number two and three are about restaurants.

Do you use TripAdvisor when you want to look for new restaurants?

Do you think that Americans use TripAdvisor when they want to find a new restaurant or

a good restaurant in their city?

Nope.

Every American I know uses Yelp.

If you want to find local places that local people have recommended, download the Yelp

app.

This video is not sponsored by Yelp.

It's just a common thing that we use here in the US.

Download the Yelp app and search for restaurants in your area or if you need to get a haircut

maybe hairdressers in your area.

TripAdvisor might be good for sightseeing, maybe some landmarks or things like that.

But for restaurants or bars, for food, these types of things, we always use Yelp, so make

sure that you use what local people are using, which is Yelp.

Tip number three, if you go to a restaurant or bar, you need to tip 20% if your service

was adequate or good.

If it was terrible, absolutely awful service, you don't have to tip it all.

You could give them 10%.

That's up to you.

But if the service was at least normal, you need to give them 20%.

In the US, the tip constitutes an essential part of the server's wage.

In fact, the server's only money that they're getting are tips, so you need to give 20%.

An easy way to calculate this is if your bill was $32, take that first number, three, multiply

it by two, which is six.

And there you have 20%.

$6 is 20% of 32.

So you can add that together, and your total bill is $38.

You need to do this also when you get a drink at a bar.

Typically, 20% is acceptable.

But if 20% is like 30 cents, the best thing to do is still to give a dollar.

A dollar is the minimum tip that is polite.

I've been a server a lot, especially when I was in high school, when I was in college

as part-time jobs, and if somebody left change on the table, which are coins, you felt like

they were just trying to be rude to you.

Because in American culture, if you leave coins, just coins ... Of course, if it's a

big pile of coins, who cares?

It's a lot of money still.

But just a couple coins, it feels a little bit rude, so make sure that you give them

at least a dollar.

When you take a taxi, tip 20%.

For Uber, I don't use Uber that much.

But from what I've heard, it's not required to tip with Uber.

Uber drivers are paid a regular hourly salary or per ride that they get, so you don't need

to tip, but you can always tip.

It has always accepted.

Tip number four is about transportation.

I recommend renting a car when you visit the US, unless you're only going to stay in the

middle of the city center, like in New York or San Francisco, really close, because the

US is spread out.

Even in LA, which is a huge city, it's hard to get from one side to the other.

Or if you want to visit Yosemite National Park, that's going to be a four-hour drive

from San Francisco, so you're going to need a car because Uber's not going to take you

that far.

So, just think about your trip and realize that the US is really big, really spread out,

so you'll probably want a budget for renting a car when you come to visit.

Tip number five has four different parts because alcohol in the US is a little complicated.

If you buy alcohol in the US, don't be surprised if the person who's selling you the alcohol

asks to see your ID.

In the US, it is very strict that you must be 21 years old to buy alcohol.

And if someone looks under the age of 40, the person selling you alcohol will say, "Can

I see your ID?"

Even if you're 50 years old, maybe even 60, they might ask to see your ID.

So, don't be shocked about this.

In fact, sometimes Americans get a little bit offended if the other person doesn't ask

to see their ID.

So for me, I'm 31.

Yes, I'm 31.

I'm 31.

One time I went to the store and the cashier didn't ask to see my ID, and I thought, "Do

I look like I'm 40 years old?

Oh, no.

Maybe I look older than I am."

But really, the cashier said, "Oh, you come in here a lot.

I know you," so it wasn't really a negative situation.

But, sometimes people feel a little bit offended in this situation.

Quite interesting.

So, make sure you have your ID ready.

Tip 5.1 about alcohol is that the person buying alcohol needs an ID, but sometimes in some

stores in some states the cashier will ask to see everyone's ID who is present.

So if you're with your husband buying alcohol ... This happened to me.

We were at the grocery store, and we were buying a bottle of wine.

He was paying for it.

It's our money, but it was him who was making the transaction.

The cashier asked to see my ID, too.

This happened to me only two times.

One time I had my ID.

No problem.

The second time I didn't have my ID, and she just said, "It's okay.

Don't worry about it."

So, I guess this isn't too strict.

But maybe if I had looked 16 years old or 15 years old, maybe they wouldn't have sold

it because they don't want someone who is above 21 to be buying alcohol for someone

who's a minor.

We say a minor for someone who is under 21 years old because they're not allowed to drink

alcohol.

Do you think that people who are under 21 drink alcohol in the US?

If you've ever seen a movie about colleges, the answer is definitely yes.

But, stores have to kind of follow these types of rules.

Tip 5.2 about alcohol is that in some states you cannot buy alcohol at the grocery store.

It's kind of a state law that you have to go to a specific alcohol store to buy alcohol.

This is called an ABC store.

So if you're driving and you see an ABC store, and you're visiting somewhere like Pennsylvania,

if you go to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, I'm sure other states are like this too, you cannot

buy alcohol at the grocery store.

Sometimes there's specific grocery stores that have a little section where you can buy

beer and you have to pay for it in that section.

You can't pay for it with all your groceries.

Just check out this.

Check about this in advance to make sure that if you're going to the store you can actually

get what you want to get.

Tip 5.3 about alcohol is that in some states you cannot buy alcohol on Sunday before a

certain time.

So in my state, in North Carolina, you cannot buy alcohol before noon on Sunday.

One time, I went to the store to prepare and get a bunch of stuff for a big dinner that

I was having on Sunday night at my house.

I was getting lots of food.

I was getting some wine, some beer.

And when I went to buy everything, the cashier said, "Oh, I'm sorry.

It's 11:45.

I can't sell you alcohol until noon," so I just waited in the grocery store for 15 minutes

until noon and then I could buy it.

I think that this rule kind of goes back to the idea that you should go to church instead

of drinking.

I'm not sure exactly.

But I'll let you know something, it doesn't work.

It doesn't stop people from drinking whenever they want.

But you might encounter this, so just make sure you think about it in advance.

Tip 5.4 about alcohol is that you cannot drink in public places like the park or on the street.

The beach is a little bit different sometimes depending on the state.

And of course, some beaches might be more isolated or a lot of people drink there, so

they're a little bit more relaxed about the rules, so just look this up before you go.

Because if you're going to a really popular beach in Miami or a popular beach in California,

the rules are probably going to be different.

And if you want to drink a beer on the beach, you want to be able to do that without worrying

that someone's going to stop you from doing that.

So, just look up the rules in advance or ask your friends if they live in those areas.

After hearing about all of those alcohol rules, is it any wonder that America gets called

puritanical?

I don't really think so.

Let's go on to the next category.

The sixth tip is about people.

Unlike the airport, I've heard from a lot of visitors to the US that American people

are generally friendlier and smilier than they imagined.

I've heard American's often described as a peach that on the outside we're soft and easy

to get to know.

Maybe the first time we meet you we'll invite you to our house for dinner.

That's not uncommon.

But maybe after we have dinner, if we have a great time, I might not call you for another

month to get together again.

It doesn't mean that I don't like you.

It just means that maybe it's not a priority to get together right away, so there's some

kind of hard center.

Maybe that's just a generality, of course.

But, I think that when you walk down the street, especially in medium-sized cities ... If you

smile at everybody in New York, it's going to be a little bit weird.

But if you're in a smaller or medium-sized city like where I live, if I walk past someone

on the sidewalk, I'll make eye contact.

I might say hey.

Maybe.

Depends.

But, it's not unusual.

If you did that in a really big city, people might think it's a little bit weird.

But, don't be surprised if people are pretty friendly, pretty smiley.

That's kind of the typical stereotype of the US.

Personally, I think it's kind of true.

Tip number seven is about health.

The US gets a pretty bad reputation for having expensive health care, and it's 100% true,

unfortunately.

So if you're in the US and you have some kind of minor health problem, like you need an

antibiotic or you need a couple stitches, I recommend go into a place like a MedExpress.