After a career of around 12 years I got a chance to travel out of India to United States of America. I have been interacting with client for a long time and it was never an issue for tackling client/ technology challenges. The main challenge i was worried about was the social life and getting used to their day-to-day customs. I will be putting some of them in the post below.
Packing Bags:
First thing check the luggage allowed by your airline. Make sure the same baggage is allowed till your final destination. Sometimes it may happen that the flight after port of entry may have less allowed baggage and you may have to pay extra. Check specifically for
Vehicle Driving style:
Unlike in India, they have drive on the right side of the road. A good information on this topic can be found "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic". This was very confusing while I was on road, on the walk or even sitting in the vehicle. As I was not having International driving license, I couldn't have rent a car there. You should check if the state (in which you are travelling) has any specific rule. Some of the states do allow you to drive on your Indian license, it must be in English so that officer can read it. So most of the time I was walking on the pathways (side-walk)or sitting next to friends who were driving. It is confusing where to look when you are crossing the road. The simple rule I made for myself is to wait for at least 15 seconds on the side-walk (Foot path) before I start crossing the road and judge the traffic by looking on both the sides, front, back, basically everywhere where I can see the road. Only then I could figure out in which direction I should see first half and then on opposite side in second half. On most of the cross roads they have a push button for walkers so that the signal will be made available for them. I was expecting that the vehicle drivers will obey/ respect this signal. But it was not a case for all the time. So one must be careful before crossing the road. They say, in US vehicles will never run over you, but I faced some incidents, like while taking right turn drivers are not much concern about the signal. If you are crossing the road and driver could not see you, he may proceed. But definitely will not run over you.
Drinking Water
Nothing is free in US. You have to pay even for water. Unlike India, the cost is as much as soft drinks like Coke or Pepsi. Trust me nothing can replace water. For having a water during your travel, you should keep bottle that gives you in the plane. in transit, before security check make sure that you empty that completely. After security check, you will see water fountain for drinking water. Get that bottle filled. For having a water in you US stay, you should pack empty water bottle in your check in baggage. If you are on business (staying in Hotel) then your hotel will have water fountains near gym area and Ice machine. Get the ice and melt it to fill your empty bottle. If your hotel do not have any of them then probably you should grab drinking water bottles from grocery store in bulk. It will cost you ~4$ for 10 liter. You may also see water dispensers in malls. which will be another cheaper option. The last one, if you do not belong to "Hand Sanitizer" generation then you can have a tap water. Many a times it is much cleaner compared to India.
Packing Bags:
First thing check the luggage allowed by your airline. Make sure the same baggage is allowed till your final destination. Sometimes it may happen that the flight after port of entry may have less allowed baggage and you may have to pay extra. Check specifically for
- Number of bags allowed, check-in and hand bag
- Weight limit per bag, for check-in and hand bag
- Dimensions for bag, for check-in and hand bag.
Vehicle Driving style:
Unlike in India, they have drive on the right side of the road. A good information on this topic can be found "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic". This was very confusing while I was on road, on the walk or even sitting in the vehicle. As I was not having International driving license, I couldn't have rent a car there. You should check if the state (in which you are travelling) has any specific rule. Some of the states do allow you to drive on your Indian license, it must be in English so that officer can read it. So most of the time I was walking on the pathways (side-walk)or sitting next to friends who were driving. It is confusing where to look when you are crossing the road. The simple rule I made for myself is to wait for at least 15 seconds on the side-walk (Foot path) before I start crossing the road and judge the traffic by looking on both the sides, front, back, basically everywhere where I can see the road. Only then I could figure out in which direction I should see first half and then on opposite side in second half. On most of the cross roads they have a push button for walkers so that the signal will be made available for them. I was expecting that the vehicle drivers will obey/ respect this signal. But it was not a case for all the time. So one must be careful before crossing the road. They say, in US vehicles will never run over you, but I faced some incidents, like while taking right turn drivers are not much concern about the signal. If you are crossing the road and driver could not see you, he may proceed. But definitely will not run over you.
Drinking Water
Nothing is free in US. You have to pay even for water. Unlike India, the cost is as much as soft drinks like Coke or Pepsi. Trust me nothing can replace water. For having a water during your travel, you should keep bottle that gives you in the plane. in transit, before security check make sure that you empty that completely. After security check, you will see water fountain for drinking water. Get that bottle filled. For having a water in you US stay, you should pack empty water bottle in your check in baggage. If you are on business (staying in Hotel) then your hotel will have water fountains near gym area and Ice machine. Get the ice and melt it to fill your empty bottle. If your hotel do not have any of them then probably you should grab drinking water bottles from grocery store in bulk. It will cost you ~4$ for 10 liter. You may also see water dispensers in malls. which will be another cheaper option. The last one, if you do not belong to "Hand Sanitizer" generation then you can have a tap water. Many a times it is much cleaner compared to India.
