United States

About the United States

• Language: English
• Currency: U.S. Dollar ($)
• Exchange Rate: $1USD~ €0.91 / £0.79
• Time Zone: EST (GMT-5), CST (GMT-6), MST (GMT-7), PST, (GMT-8),
• High Season: Varies, generally June to August
• Visa Requirements: Most (except Canada) need either an ESTA or a Visa to enter the U.S.
• Electricity: 120v AC with 2-prong plug 
• Emergency: 911 for police, ambulance and fire
• Transportation: Cars are the most convenient way to get around. Major cities like New York or Chicago also have convenient public transportation. For longer journies, flying is best.
• Accommodations: International hotels and AirBNBs are popular.

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Suggested Reading

On the Road– Jack Kerouac

Inspired by Jack Kerouac’s adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story of two friends whose cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. Written with a mixture of sad-eyed naiveté and wild ambition and imbued with Kerouac’s love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz, On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope, a book that changed American literature and changed anyone who has ever picked it up.

The Great Gatsby– F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, the novel depicts narrator Nick Carraway’s interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby’s obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterpiece and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel. Contemporary scholars emphasize the novel’s treatment of social class, inherited wealth compared to those who are self-made, race, environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American dream.

The House on Mango Street– Sandra Cisneros

The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Told in a series of vignettes-sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous-Sandra Cisneros’ masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.

Lonely Planet USA

Lonely Planet’s USA is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Catch a Broadway show in New York, marvel at the Grand Canyon, and drive the Pacific Coast Highway; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of the USA and begin your journey now!

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas– Hunter S. Thompson

This cult classic of gonzo journalism is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page.  It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.