Preparing for Our Three Week USA Trip

With only six weeks until my big America trip, I’ve been going full steam ahead with all the planning and making sure that we are both fully prepared. If you don’t know already, next month Stefan & I going to America for three weeks to visit New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and a lot of destinations in between. I’m a pretty organised person when it comes to travelling, I always like having itineraries and being super prepared. This trip is no different with lots of research online so I thought I would keep you updated with my planning for this trip from applying for our ESTA to how we’re changing currency.

Renewing Passports

One of probably the most important things to check before travelling abroad is if your passport is in date. My passport was thankfully fine but Stefan’s ran out in June. We found a lot of conflicting information about how long you need on a passport to travel to certain places. Whilst some places require 6 months, it seems that the UK is an exception to this rule when travelling to the USA. When asking around we still found that it would be taking a risk so decided to be on the safe side and re-new it. Thankfully, it only took a couple of weeks to process. I would suggest if you are looking to renew a passport; use the online service as it’s cheaper!

ESTA USA Visa

Once we both had our valid passports, it was then time to apply for our ESTA USA Visa. You might be wondering what is an ESTA? This is the visa you need to apply for in order to gain access into the USA. It’s always better to apply for an ESTA sooner rather than later so avoid any problems. The process of applying for an ESTA is all online and costs $14 USD, you need to fill out details from your passport, employment, onward travel in America and a few other questions. But for a slightly higher fee, you can also call in the help of a visa bureau, who will take most of the work out of your hands and guarantee that the ESTA application is approved.

In my experience, it’s really quick and easy if you read the questions carefully and my ESTA application acceptance is usually no more than an hour after submitting. One thing to be aware that might affect your ESTA application is having a criminal record or previously travelling to certain countries.

Travel Insurance & Currency

Another very practical thing to think about is getting Travel Insurance and Currency. First up with the Travel Insurance, I think it’s super important to get this as early as possible too in case anything happens regarding flights or whatever accommodation I’ve booked so far. It’s always better to be covered. I do use Compare the Market for gathering Travel Insurance quotes, mainly because I use the Meerkat Meals offer and the prices are always pretty competitive. The two key things I look for when purchasing Travel Insurance is whether it’s got decent gadget cover (as I usually travel with a few expensive pieces of tech) and good medical cover.

In terms of Travel Money, I swear by using the Post Office Travel Card. I’ve had one for nearly three years and I’ve used in countries such as America, Canada, Switzerland and Slovakia. To sign up, you need to put £50 of your chosen currency on but you can control your money via their app and top it up from your current account. There is no exchange fees or hidden charges and you can just use it as a standard debit card when you are abroad.

Booking Hotels

In total, we should be staying at 11 different hotels in the 22 days in America. So there will be a lot of moving about and unpacking and repacking. So far, we have booked 7 of the hotels but we still need to find three nights in LA and three nights in San Francisco. Any hotel recommendations would be welcome. I’ve been using mainly Expedia and Booking.com to book hotels. I think they’ve always got the cheapest prices and I really like the Expedia rewards scheme. I also try and use cashback websites as much as possible. If you fancy joining Quidco where you can make money off your shopping, click here.

Planning an Itinerary

I love a good itinerary, I’m not very good at winging things. I always like to be organised and have a plan of action to make the most of my day. So far I’ve come up with a reasonable itinerary including visiting different attractions and food. For food, I always look on Instagram for suggestions. The list for food has gone slightly out of control. There are too many delicious places in the US for food! We have also planned for excursions to places like Disneyland California, the Grand Canyon and Yosemite! The itinerary is still working progress but I’m really happy with what we’ve got planned so far!

I’d love to hear if you have any recommendations for our US trip!