Travel Tips for parents (first timers) coming to the US

January 19th, 2005 admin Posted in Information |

If you are inviting your parents/family/friends to come visit you in the US and this is their first trip, you might consider giving them some tips to ease their anxiety. I am presenting here the tips I provided my parents. Feel free to use this for your personal use, but make sure you appropriately modify the non-generic information according to your situation.

Dear Mom and Dad,

If you wish please keep a printout of this during travel so you can refer to it in case of doubt. Otherwise if you think you can remember the points I make, then no need to take a printout.
TRAVEL TO THE US IS PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD. YOU SHOULD HAVE NO TROUBLE. SO START THE TRIP WITH A RELAXED, PLEASANT MOOD.

Here are some tips I could think of now. If I think of more I will append those to this list.

AIRPORTS

Gates and Terminals:

Usually, airports have about 4-5 terminals and each terminal has 20-30 gates. So if the terminals are called A, B, C and D. The gates may be named A1, A2…A37, B1., B2 …B16 ..and so on. Gates are where you board the flight from. The ‘gate’ leads to the airplane door. The terminal is a general area of the airport catering usually to only a particular set of flights (say all international flights or all American Airline flights). A terminal, typically, has its own restarants, bookstores, coffee shops, phones, restrooms (toilets/urinals) etc.

Telephones in US airports:

There are three ways to call. Money, prepaid calling cards, collect calls. The telephones in the airport usually work when you put in 35 cents (a dollar is divided into 100 cents, just like a rupee is divided into 100 paise). This means put in a quarter and a dime or quarter and two nickels or some other combination to get you 35. A quarter is 25 cent coin. A dime is 10 cent coin and a nickel is a 5 cent coin. Another way to call from the phone booth is using what are called prepaid calling cards. These are what I use to call you from here. You have to dial an access number (which is free call on public phones) and then the PIN number. Once you do that you can enter the number you wish to call. So follow this method to call your US contact from the airport.
(The following is an example calling card that I had bought for my parents when they had come to the US. You may provide your guest similar information.)
-call the toll free access number: 1 800 146 3427
- it will say something in spanish, then will say press 2 to continue instructions in English.
- press 2
- enter the PIN number which is : 6347 5450 3783
- it will tell you how many dollars you have on the card and will ask you to then enter the number you wish to reach.
- you can try any of the following numbers at this point
-1 919 xxx xxxx (Anil Mobile - should be your first choice)
-1 919 xxx xxxx (Anil Office Phone)
-1 309 xxx xxxx (Kavita Mobile)
-1 309 xxx xxxx (Kavita Home)
-1 434 xxx xxxx (Anant Home - Anant will be with me, though, when you land in Detroit)
A third way to use the phone is to place a collect call. I suggest you try this if the calling-card method does not work. What you have to do here is - press 1 800 COLLECT on the phone. That is same as 1 800 2655228.
- an operator will pick up and ask you to say where you want to call and what your name is. Just give the number (say “9 1 9 2 6 4 7 4 8 6″ for calling my mobile) and say your name as “Kishore, K-I-S-H-O-R-E”. Spelling it out helps them, but it not necessary. The only reason the operator want to know your name is because he or she will call me and first say “Kishore wants to place a collect call…would you like to take it?” I can say “yes” and she will connect you to me. The charge for the call will go to my bill. It is that simple.

Restrooms:

In the airport, the restrooms will not have any water in the toilet stall. Toilet paper is the norm. There will be water at the wash basins of course. There are two things here. First is if you urgently need to use the toilet, there is no shame or lack of cleanliness in using toilet paper. Secondly, if possible use the restroom in the aeroplane itself because it has easy access to the washbasin (so you can keep a small plastic tumbler with you and use that as needed. Since the wash basin in the aeroplane restroom is in easy reach you can use as much water - indeed warm water - as you need)

Drinking water:

Usually right outside a restroom, you will see a “water fountain”. That is the name given to a device which throws a small parabola of water when a lever is pressed. You can either drink by bending and slurping the water in mid air or you can fill a cup/tumbler with that water first and using that.

Directions:

Airports have information booths where you can get any information you need. For example, if you are in Amsterdam and want to call me for some question, then you can ask some personnel about how to use the phone. If I remember right, Schiphol airport has detailed directions on the phones themselves. There are usually lots of easy to understand signs (English is normally always a language they are in). They will point you to transportation (Train symbol means a the train to take you from one terminal to another within an airport, Suitcase symbol means baggage claim etc.)

AEROPLANES

Temperature:

Usually the temperature is quite cold inside the aeroplane. They should provide you with a small pillow and a blanket to cover yourself. Use them.

Food:

Food service will be announced at the beginning of every leg of the journey. So they may announce that “On this flight there will be a dinner service followed by beverage service”. Simply eat whenever the food is served. Eat however much or little you want from what is served. Keep some light snacks in your carry-on luggage if you want to, in case you do not like what is served. They will normally not wake you up during food and beverage service if you are asleep. I think that is a good thing. You can ask for water, orange, apple or other juices anytime you want. But normally the beverage service is pretty good and regular. Beverage service also includes alcoholic drinks (free), juices, colas, tea and coffee. Coffee and tea come with separate creamer and sugar.

Sleep:

There will be periods of the flight where they show movies/other entertainment on either small screen TVs or large screen projections. You can listen to the audio by connecting the headphones to the socket on your seat. You can also listen to other music on other channels on the headphone. Then there will be a phase where lights will be dimmed and the constant hum of the aeroplane should put you to sleep. So that time try to get enough sleep. Infact I am not a big fan of the movies they show in the flight. I just try to sleep through them. The more you sleep the better for you.

Restrooms:

The restrooms are normally heavily used right after a meal or beverage service. So there are lines of people waiting to get in sometimes. So try to use the restrooms when the food service has not started or long after it is over and there is no rush. You can see the lines just by looking toward the restrooms. The closest restrooms could be to your front or back.

Form:

They will normally hand you a form to be filled in on the flight. This form I think is handed just before you land at the US. The form is for the Immigration and Customs to decide if you have declared something worth an inspection. You can simply say you do not have anything to declare. You need your passport numbers handy for filling out that form. In that case, you might have to stand up to bring down your suitcase from the overhead compartment or you could keep the passport number information written down someplace else so you can get to it easier. Also remember that disembark, deplane and alight all mean the same thing - getting off of the plane and stepping on land. Your port of disembarkation is Detroit.

CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION

At Detroit, you will have to go through Customs first and then Immigration. At Immigration you will be asked for you passport and then they will staple an I94 card - “Departure Record” to the passports. That card will say how long you are allowed to stay. You can tell the officer there that you would appreciate his letting you stay for 6 months and that you already have return tickets and that you also have health insurance for 6 months. Should not be any problem.