近来公司很兴让人在没有充足的准备下就飞到美国公干几个月，甚至是一年。文宏只有三天的时间准备，佳盈和先涵则在拿到工作准证的两个星期内就要起程了。
上次我第一次到加州前花了半天的时间聆听我老大详细的解说，所以到达后事事能够得心应手。现在看见小辈们慌张的样子，决定整理出一些必须知道的常识让他们参考参考，希望能够多少帮到他们。由于先涵的中文阅读能力有限，所以这次决定破例用英文来完成接下来的篇幅——
"Common Sense" for National's First-timer to USA
Traveler's Cheque
1. Count and make sure that you receive the correct amount of cheque from the Finance department. Request to have a combination of USD50 & USD100 cheques as this will be handy when you are making payment of different amounts.
2. Sign the first signature on top line of the cheque immediately after receiving them. You will need to write down the payee's name ( e.g. WalMart or Starbucks Cafe ) on the second line and sign again in front of the receipant to verify that you are the genuine holder of the cheque and counter-sign above the third line. Both signatures must be the same as the receipant reserves the right to refuse the cheque if the signature doesn't look the same.
3. Keep the cheque summary page separately from your cheques. It contains the cheques' serial number that you are holding to. You will need them when making a lost report to the bank if you lost the cheques before manage to use them. Touch wood !
4. Traveler's cheque is commonly recognized in The States. You can use it as cash to make payment at gas station, mart, hotel or restaurant. worse come to worst, you can always walk into any bank around and cash them directly from the counter. The bank might charge you a minimum of processing fee for doing so. Some of the merchant will note down your name & passport number on the cheque as their reference. I had a bad experience with WalMart where the staff took my passport and cheque away for 20 mins just to call up American Express for verifying that I'm the genuine holder of the cheque.
5. Contact the Finance department 1 week in advance when your cash on hand is running low so that they can make arrangement for you to collect more cheques from the travel desk or the visiting site's finance department. my practice is to use them for hotel advance payment during check-in and thus as for more advance on the first week after arrival.
6. When you are running low on cash or traveler's cheque, Swipe your credit card when making payment for your car, hotel or food that are claimable under the travel expenses. The company will pay back the exact amount in RM as per listed in your credit card statement as long as you can show the statement as proof.
Car Rental
1. You can decide where to rent your car upon arrival, either at the airport or the nearest Avis center from your hotel.
2. Try to get a car model that you are familiar with for first time driving in The States. You can always go back to Avis to change a new car if you feel not comfortable with current car.
3. Avis will swipe your credit card to lock the rental fee from your card's balance. Ensure that your card has sufficient balance amount to do so. You can request to pay the advance rental but not all the time this will be entertained. Try asking for this so that you can free up your credit balance and reduce the risk to carry a lot of traveler's cheque with you all the time.
4. Our company's car rental package with Avis doesn't include installing a GPS device in the car. You will need to bare the cost of renting a GPS if you really need one.
5. Our company is having a blanket accident policy with Avis to take care of any accident situation. If you are so unlucky and met with an accident, make sure you get a police report for the accident and copy down all the information of the parties involved. You should be able to find an accident report format in the car where will guide you on the information needed. These information should at least include the car owner & driver's name, phone number & home address, driver's driving license number, car's model, color, license plate number, insurance's company name, address & policy number, injured person's name, address, phone number, nature of injury and age, accident witness' name, address & contact number before reporting the accident back to Avis. Contact the nearest Avis center to get the car towed to them. You will need to submit the accident report to Avis together with the damaged car.
6. Ask Avis for maps around the area that you are visiting when renting the car. They normally have maps for major roads but not too detailed.
7. You can pick up and return your car at different Avis center. E.g., you are suppose to pick up the car at airport but you took a cab to hotel from airport after a tiring flight. You can just drop by any Avis center around the hotel on the same day to collect your car. You still can return the car at airport before flying out although you are not renting it from the airport.
8. Normally the rental car will come with full tank of gas. You are required to pump a full tank of gas when returning the car too. If you fail to do so, Avis will calculate the amount of gas needed for full tank and charge you at a price that is much higher than market.
9. If your trip is longer than 1 month, go to any Avis every 4 weeks to clear your rental so that they will not lock your credit card for a large credit amount.
Driving Around
1. Bring a small notepad that contains information such as your hotel's name, address & contact number, your host's name, address & contact number ( office, home & cell ) during your travel. This will come in handy when you are lost and need to call for help or ask for direction.
2. Always search and print out the travel route recommendation from Yahoo! map or Google map before you start your trip. The driving directions are pretty accurate if you are driving in The States. Driving distance & Exit number will be listed clearly in the map to guide you all the way to your destination. Besides, don't forget to print a 2 way route map directions so that you can find the way back to hotel. ;)
3. If you are not sure about where you can visit around the hotel, try talking to the hotel reception. They will provide you some interesting locations or festival events that are not listed in the tourist guide book.
4. Gas price is not standardized in The States. Price are displayed in front of the gas station and updated daily. Try to survey around to look for the best offer so that you can pump all the gas out of the cash you pay.
Traffic Rules
1. Be alert when making turns as the driving direction is opposite of our current road system. In case you really gets into the wrong side of the road, pull over and wait for the traffic to clear up before you U-turn to get back into the right direction.
2. Drive safely and drive slow if you do not have confident with the traffic condition. Always keep yourself on the right lane when driving at low speed.
3. Make sure you stop the car completely at every junction with a "STOP" sign. Ensure no other traffic before continue your journey. One of our colleague gets a USD300 ticket for not doing so !
4. Drink and drive is a serious offense in The States. Do not do so. Besides, do not carry an unfinished beer can or wine bottle in the car. Many states' law do not allow an opened alcohol bottle in the car when it is on the road.
5. At a four-stop-junction ( basically a cross road junction with stop sign at junction of every direction ), make a complete stop before proceed. The sequence of car exiting the junction will based on "first in first out" basis, where the first car that stops at the junction will get the chance to exit first from the junction when traffic is clear. If you are not confident to exit the junction first, just wave to drivers at other junctions signaling that you give way for them to exit before you.
6. When there is Right Turn on Red sign on a traffic light junction, then you can make a right turn even if traffic light at that junction is still red. Make a complete stop at the most right lane in front of the junction when there is a red light, turn on the right turn signal light, ensure that there is no vehicle entering the junction before you make the turn.
7. You can only make a U-turn at a junction if there is a U-turn sign displayed or the traffic light displays a U-turn sign. Do not attempt to make a turn at junctions that do not display the sign as you might bump into cars coming from the opposite direction.
8. When the traffic light shows a green arrow sign, this means that you can only turn to that direction but not others. If you see a round green sign, then you can either go straight or make a turn. But, make sure that there is no vehicle from opposite direction before making the left turn as vehicles from opposite directions will be able to go straight and make turns too at the same time ! Vehicles that go straight at both directions will get the priority compared to vehicle that with to make a turn.
9. You can still make a turn if you stop half way in middle of the road to give way to pedestrian. Do not just stop at middle of a junction if the traffic light turn red when you are waiting for the pedestrian to cross.
10. Pedestrian is KING ! Always give way to pedestrian regardless of any condition. Bumping in to a pedestrian is a big big offense.
11. Along the highways or freeways, there will be special reserved fast lanes for car-pool vehicles only. Any vehicle that carries 3 passengers ( 4-seaters vehicle, 2 passengers for a 2-seaters vehicle ) or more entitle to take this lane during peak hours. The lanes are labeled with Car-Pool Lane signs on the road abd a blue color sign on the road side stating which hours around the clock this limitation applies to.
12. Speed limits are displayed at the side of all roads as reference. You will need to comply to the speed at all time unless you are driving along the freeway. If you are driving along the fast lane, you can drive at a faster speed, as long as the vehicles around you are driving at the similar speed. There will be signs that inform you on how the enforcement monitor the road condition, either by a speed radar or by air ( normally a plane at rural area ). Do not drive more than 30 mph above the speed limit as you will end up overnight in the lockup once the enforcements get hold of you. No mercy !
13. Maintain your car speed below 35 mph if you are around a school area. One of my friend received a USD90 ticket for driving at 38mph speed near a school.
14. When you are tailed by the enforcements, pull over to the road side at the next/nearest exit ( if you are on the highway or freeway ). Stay in the car and keep your hands on the wheel visible to others. Wind down the car window and show your identity documents upon request. follow the instruction given and provide full cooperation to the authority. Do not try to act stupid as they will pull the trigger and shoot once feel threaten by your action.
15. Buckle-up even if you are sitting at the back. The States' law required all passengers in the vehicle to buckle-up when you hit the road. Any child under age 12 or below will required to sit in a child's chairs.
At the Hotel
1. The hotel will swipe your credit card to lock a certain amount of deposit for your stay. Normally it will be an amount not more than USD500. Ensure that your credit card do have this balance available after renting the car from Avis.
2. Internet is normally provided in the hotel room. If you need to pay for using the internet service, make sure that the charges are printed in the receipt in order to make the expenses claim. There is no claim limit for this but try to get the best package from your hotel.
3. Tipping the room service is a common practice in The States. You can leave a one dollar note on the writing table with a "Thank You" note if you wish to do so. My personal experience is that they will clean up the room more properly if you tip them. But, from my past experience you can choose not to do so if the hotel placed a service charge on your room charges.
4. Do not leave your coins or small notes on the table sofa as the room service might misunderstand that it is for them.
5. Most of the hotels in The States will equipped a coin operated washing machine and coin operated cloth dryer. You can choose to make your own laundry with these facilities or just get the hotel to do it for you and bill into the final bill. The cost of doing your own laundry with the coin operated machines will be much cheaper than getting the hotel to do it for you. The laundry expenses with coin operated machines are claimable although no receipt will be provided. You will just need to make a note on this when submitting your expenses claim.
6. Some of the hotels just provide a simple breakfast. If you are not happy with the breakfast provided, approach the receptionist and tell them that you wish to get a room that exclude breakfast. This is because if the hotel provides breakfast, you are not allowed to claim for any breakfast expenses any more.
Phone
1. You need a tri-band phone in The States. A normal dual-band phone that works for us here will not work there.
2. If you are on roaming, receiving SMS is free. Making a call, receiving a call or sending SMS is costly.
3. You can always find a trunk line calling card from bookshops or marts around the foreigner community. You can call the toll free number from the hotel room and follow the guided instruction to make a call. You will need to check with the hotel receptionist to ensure that calling a toll free number from the room is free of charge.
4. If you bring a notebook, the most recommended way is to make your call using Skype ;)
5. You can get a prepaid phone at USD10 from electronics stores like Fry's Electronics or Circuit City ( Not sure if you still can find them there ). This kind of prepaid phone come with the phone directly and no SIM card is required. The calling period only valid for 1 month and another USD10 top-up will extend the validity of another month. But, one thing to note is that you will need to pay no matter you are answering a call or making a call. The calling fee will be much expensive compare to the normal postpaid charges over there. This kind of prepaid phone is very handy if you just need a phone for emergency calls during the traveling period.
Shopping Around
1. All states in USA place a Government Sales Tax on every trade transaction. Ensure that this GST tax are considered into your total purchase cost before making a purchase.
2. Bulk buy at giant mart like Costco will save you a lot of money. E.g., I always buy drinking water in 1 Gallon bottle instead of multiples of 500ml bottle as the price between both differs a lot. Personally, I prefer Target or Albertsons more than Costco or WalMart.
3. The shops are divided into small lots that come with their own common car park. the parking management reserves a right to tow your car away if you park you car at their parking lot but do not visit any of the shops in that particular lot.
Eating Around
1. Always wait at the restaurant's entrance for being seated.
2. Iced water ( Chinese tea at some of the Chinese restaurants ) are normally provided at no cost. If you feel like not going to get any drink, just tell them :"I'm good with water" or "Water is good for me".
3. Normally you will be served by a dedicated waitress/waiter. They will take your order, serve the food and follow up with additional request from your table. Other waitress/waiter will not border to serve you even if you signal at them.
4. If you can't finish the food, you can ask for a "To-Go Box" to take the food with you. "To-Go" means take away in The States.
5. You will need to tip the waitress/waiter at least 10% - 20% of the total meal spending, depending on how satisfy you are with their service. Normally 10% is good in California, 15% is the typical tip for Central area while 20% at the East Coast.
6. No tip is required if you are ordering a To-Go or you are dining in the fast food restaurant.
7. If the restaurant is currently full house, you can leave your name to queue up for your seat. The seat allocation is based on number of customer versus the empty table's available seat. Someone that come later than you might get seated first if meeting the seating requirement.
8. Normally, you will be provided with a buzzer during queue up. When the buzzer vibrates and LEDs flash, it is time for you to go back for your seat. Hand the buzzer to the front desk to identify yourself and wait to get seated.
