Traveling from Europe to the US for the first time - any tips on what to expect?
So, in less than two weeks I will be moving to the US to do a Masters at Stanford University. I have a J1 visa. I will be traveling to San Francisco and my parents are coming with me as before I start school we will be doing a one-week vacation, so they are going to get their ESTAs.
I have never been to the US before and neither have my parents, so bear with me if this seems ignorant or annoying. I am just unsure of what to expect as we have never left Europe before.
Info on my travel: There are no direct flights from where I live now to SF so I'm traveling from my city (in Europe) to Philadelphia, and then from Philadelphia to San Francisco. When I bought these tickets I was unaware that 1) as a European citizen, it's always better to have a lay over within Europe (from now on all the tickets I buy going to and from home will take this into consideration) and 2) I did not know that we had to go through Customs & Immigration the moment we arrived at the US, I only thought it was the moment we actually left the airport at our final destination.
The actual questions:
1) Exactly how does the whole "going through customs and security" process go? Having only traveled within Europe and with the whole "no borders" situation, I have never had to go through anything of this kind. Also, I have obviously heard some "horror stories" about the TSA - how they can be very rude and "pokerface", . So, if anyone could tell me just what I should expect and any tips on how to face that, that would be cool.
2) How different is the process of entering the US with an ESTA and with a visa? Can I go through the Customs process together with my parents, or will we have to go separate? My only concern is that neither of them speaks English very well, so I'm afraid they could use my help translating and I won't be available to help them.
3) My lay over at Philadelphia will be of about 2h45 minutes, and I'm wondering whether this gives me enough time to get through Customs & Immigration and to get to my flight safely on time. I assume that in case my first flight gets delayed or whether I take longer in Customs the company (British Airways) will provide me with a new flight, but I would very much not like to have this disturbance happen. So, assuming that a short delay in the arrival of my flight to Philadelphia and that we need to enter the airplane for my second flight some time before will take up about 1 hour, is 1h45 minutes enough for getting through controls?
Thanks everyone! :)
Submitted August 28, 2017 at 05:10PM by agnesschmagnes http://ift.tt/2vlHuux
0 Response to "Traveling from Europe to the US for the first time - any tips on what to expect?"
Post a Comment