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Traveling from Abroad?
Entry requirements for foreign visitors
Under the Visa Waiver Scheme, designed to speed up immigration procedures, citizens of Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and most European countries in possession of full passports do not require visas for trips to the United States of less than ninety days. Visa waiver forms are handed out on incoming planes, and are processed during immigration control at your initial point of arrival on US soil. The form requires details of where you are staying on your first night, and the date you intend to leave the US. You should be able to prove that you have enough money to support yourself while in the US. You may experience difficulties if you admit to being HIV-positive or having AIDS or TB. Part of the form will be attached to your passport, where it must stay until you leave. The same form also covers entry across the land borders with Canada and Mexico.
Citizens of all other countries should contact their local US embassy or consulate for details of current entry requirements. Even those eligible for the visa waiver scheme must apply for a free tourist visa if they intend to stay in the US for more than ninety days. Whatever your nationality, visas are not issued to convicted felons or to anybody who owns up to being a communist, fascist or drug dealer.
Money: a note for foreign travelers
US currency comes in $1 bills and coins, bills of $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100, plus various larger (and rarer) denominations. Confusingly, all are the same size and same green color, making it necessary to check each bill carefully. The dollar is made up of 100 cents in coins of 1 cent (usually called a penny), 5 cents (a nickel), 10 cents (a dime) and 25 cents (a quarter). Fifty-cent and $1 coins are less frequently seen. Change - especially quarters - is needed for buses, vending machines and telephones, so always carry plenty.
Costs
Traveling in the States can seem quite the deal or very expensive - depending in part on prices you're used to and where you're headed. New York prices, for example, are well above those in rural America. New England, Hawaii, Alaska and other areas can also be quite pricey.
Accommodation is likely to be your biggest single expense. Typical motel rooms in rural areas cost a few dollars either side of $40 per night, while hotel and motel rates in cities tend to start around $60. Hostels offering dorm beds - usually for $10 to $20 - are reasonably common, but don't save all that much money for two or more people traveling together. Camping, of course, is cheap, ranging from free to perhaps $20 per night, but is rarely practical in or around the big cities.
As for food, $20 a day is enough to get an adequate life-support diet, consisting of perhaps one full-scale meal in a local diner supplemented by a stash of groceries, while for a daily total of around $30 you can dine pretty well. Beyond this, everything hinges on how much sightseeing, taxi-taking, drinking and socializing you do. Much of any of these - especially in a major city - and you're likely to be getting through upwards of $50 a day. If you're visiting a significant number of national parks and monuments, buy a National Parks or Golden Eagle pass; the $50 or $65 fee covers all passengers in your vehicle.
Renting a car, at around $150 per week, is a far more efficient way to explore the country than public transportation and, for a group of two or more, it's no more expensive either. Having your own vehicle also enables you to stay in budget motels along the interstates instead of expensive city-center hotels.
In almost every state, sales tax, at rates varying up to ten percent, is added to virtually everything you buy in shops, but it isn't part of the marked price. The most economical possible vacation, therefore, with two people sharing a rental car, camping in state and federal parks most nights, and eating one restaurant meal per day, will work out at something over $200 per person per week.
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