Mistakes Not To Make When Visiting The USA For The First Time

Your no-nonsense guide to avoiding the classic first-timer blunders and having the trip of a lifetime.

So you're heading to the USA. Amazing. Iconic road trips, incredible food, bucket-list cities, and experiences you'll be talking about for years. We're genuinely excited for you.

But here's the thing: the USA is not like other destinations. It's vast, wildly varied, and full of little surprises that catch first-time visitors completely off guard. The good news? Every single one of them is avoidable if you know what to expect.

Consider this your USA travel cheat sheet.

This one catches almost everyone. You look at a map, see New York and Los Angeles sitting on opposite coasts, and think "yeah, I'll do both in a week."

You won't.

The USA covers over 3.8 million square miles. To put that into perspective, you could fit the entire United Kingdom into the state of Texas and still have room left over. Driving from Los Angeles to New York? That's roughly 40+ hours behind the wheel. Even flying coast to coast takes around five to six hours.

And it's not just the big cross-country trips that surprise people. Even within a single state, distances can be seriously deceptive. Texas alone is wider than the entire width of France, Spain, and Portugal combined. Driving across Florida, California, or Montana can easily take a full day.

The fix: Be honest with yourself when planning your itinerary. Pick fewer destinations and explore them properly, rather than racing between them and seeing everything through a car window. Build in travel days. They're not wasted time, they're part of the adventure.

💡 Pro tip: Internal flights in the US are often surprisingly affordable, especially if you book ahead. Sometimes flying between cities is faster and cheaper than you'd think.

Coming from Europe, Asia, or anywhere with a solid public transport network? This one is going to require a mindset shift.

The USA's public transport is... inconsistent, to put it kindly. A handful of cities have genuinely great systems. New York's subway runs 24 hours a day. Washington D.C.'s Metro is clean and efficient. Chicago's L train is iconic. San Francisco has BART. If you're sticking to these cities, you'll be absolutely fine without a car.

But step outside those urban hubs and the picture changes fast. In cities like Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, and Houston, places that are actually massive tourist destinations, public transport is limited, confusing, or simply not fit for getting around comfortably as a visitor. Many areas have no metro at all. Buses can be infrequent. And some of the most spectacular parts of the USA (national parks, mountain ranges, coastal routes) are only truly accessible by car.

The fix: Research your specific destinations before you arrive. If you're visiting cities with strong transit, you might be fine without a car. If you're heading anywhere rural, coastal, or road-trippy, book a rental car in advance. They're often cheaper when booked early, and having your own wheels opens up a completely different America.

💡 Ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft work well in most US cities and are often cheaper and faster than taxis.

The USA doesn't have one climate. It has dozens.

While you're baking in Florida's 90°F / 32°C heat, someone in Minnesota might be dealing with -20°F / -29°C and a blizzard. While LA enjoys year-round sunshine, Seattle is drizzly and grey for much of the year. New York in January is a completely different beast to New York in July. And if your trip takes you from one region to another, say Las Vegas to San Francisco, or Miami to New York, you could genuinely experience multiple seasons in a single trip.

The USA is also home to some of the most extreme weather on the planet. Tornado season across the Midwest, hurricane season along the Gulf Coast and Atlantic seaboard, and wildfire risks in the West are all very real. Knowing when and where these occur can genuinely affect your trip.

The fix: Research the weather for every specific destination on your itinerary, not just the country generally. Layer up, and don't pack only for sunshine unless your entire trip is in a warm climate. Check the seasonal weather risks for wherever you're heading, especially if you're visiting between May and October.

💡 Even in "warm" states like California, evenings can get surprisingly cold, especially near the coast or at higher elevations. Always bring a layer.

This one doesn't cost you anything if you get it right. But it can make things very awkward if you don't.

Tipping in the USA is not optional. It's not a nice gesture for exceptional service. It's an expected, built-in part of how service workers are compensated, because in many US states, the base wage for tipped staff is extremely low. When you don't tip, or tip too little, you're genuinely affecting someone's income.

The standard tip at a sit-down restaurant is 18 to 20 per cent of the bill, and 20 per cent is increasingly considered the baseline. Bartenders typically expect $1 to $2 per drink. Hotel housekeeping, taxi and ride-share drivers, hair stylists, tour guides, and food delivery drivers all expect a tip too. Many card payment terminals will now prompt you with suggested tip amounts before you can even pay, which can feel a bit full-on if you're not used to it. That's just how it works.

The tricky part? Sales tax in the USA is added at the till rather than included in the displayed price, so the total on your receipt will already be higher than the menu price. Add a tip on top, and your $15 burger and chips can quickly become $22. It's not a scam. It's just the system.

The fix: Budget for tips as part of every meal, drink, and service experience. A good rule of thumb is to add roughly 20 per cent on top of your restaurant and bar bills. It will feel unfamiliar at first, but you'll quickly get used to it and it's genuinely appreciated.

💡 Some restaurants now include a service charge automatically, especially for larger groups. Always check your bill before adding an extra tip on top.

We've all been conditioned to assume free WiFi is everywhere. And while the US does have it in many coffee shops, hotels, and airports, it's far from guaranteed, especially when you actually need it.

Heading out to a national park? No WiFi. Road-tripping through rural Nevada, Utah, or Montana? You might go hours without any signal at all, let alone a hotspot. Even in suburban areas, patchy or non-existent WiFi is surprisingly common compared to other countries.

And even where public WiFi does exist, it's not something you want to rely on for anything important. Public hotspots in busy tourist areas can be slow, unreliable, or more worryingly, unsecured. Connecting to random networks when you're booking accommodation, accessing banking apps, or navigating your trip is a risk that's simply not worth taking.

Think about what you actually need mobile data for when you travel: Google Maps when you're lost. Looking up opening hours at the last minute. Translating a menu. Booking a last-minute tour. Sharing your incredible photos in real time. Calling ahead to a restaurant. All of those moments require data, and they're not things you want to be hunting for a WiFi connection to do.

The fix: Don't leave your connection to chance. Have your own reliable data plan sorted before you land, which brings us nicely to the biggest mistake of them all.

This is the one that stings the most. Because it's so easy to avoid, and yet so many first-time visitors to the USA learn the hard way.

International roaming charges are brutal. Depending on your home country and carrier, using your regular SIM in the USA can cost you anywhere from a few dollars per day to genuinely shocking per-MB rates if you're not on a specific roaming plan. You can land, spend a week navigating maps, streaming music, messaging friends, and checking emails, and come home to a phone bill that ruins the memory of an otherwise brilliant trip.

Some home carriers offer "travel add-ons," but even these are often expensive, capped at low data amounts, or frustratingly slow. And here's the thing: the USA is enormous. You need your data working properly, not trickling through on a plan that caps you at 500MB for a 10-day trip.

The fix for this one is simple, affordable, and genuinely brilliant.

A USA eSIM from Sim Local is the smartest travel accessory you'll ever buy, and it costs a fraction of what you'd pay in roaming fees.

Here's how it works. Instead of swapping out your physical SIM or paying your home carrier's extortionate roaming rates, you download a digital SIM onto your phone before you travel. It sits alongside your existing SIM, activates when you land, and connects you to fast local US networks from the moment you step off the plane. No queuing at airport kiosks. No hunting for a phone shop. No fiddling with tiny SIM pins. Just data, working exactly like it does at home. Here are some of our best USA eSIM plans:

18 GB eSIM

United States

+Roaming

Registration required

Lycamobile US

Duration

30 Days

Plan

Data/​Calls/​SMS

Speed

4G / 5G

Price

US$33.00

More Info

Buy Now

16 Million Global Customers

18 GB eSIM

United States

+Roaming

Three UK

Duration

30 Days

Plan

Data

Speed

4G

Price

US$26.75

More Info

Buy Now

UK's Fastest 5G Network

Top Seller

Unlimited eSIM

United States

+Roaming

Registration required

Lycamobile US

Duration

30 Days

Plan

Data/​Calls/​SMS

Speed

4G / 5G

Price

US$59.00

More Info

Buy Now

16 Million Global Customers

Because not all eSIM providers are created equal, and this is genuinely where Sim Local stands out.

We connect you to the real networks. Sim Local works with trusted, big-name US carriers, so you're on the same fast 4G and 5G networks that locals use, not some third-rate roaming product dressed up as a deal. In a country this size, with so much to explore, having reliable coverage across cities, suburbs, and even rural areas isn't a luxury. It's essential.

There's a plan for every kind of trip. Heading to New York and LA for two weeks? We've got you. Road-tripping through multiple states for a month? Also covered. Whether you need data-only to handle navigation and messaging, or a plan with calls and texts, Sim Local gives you more options than most, so you only pay for what you actually need.

Not sure which plan is right for you? Use our Find My Plan tool to get sorted in seconds, or message a real human (not a bot) on WhatsApp 24/7. We're always on hand to help.

Support that actually helps. Landed and something's not working? Don't panic. Sim Local's support team is reachable on WhatsApp around the clock. Real people, quick answers, problems actually solved, not a slow-moving ticketing system that gets back to you three days later when you're already home.

Money-back guarantee, no questions asked. Plans change. Phones have compatibility issues. Life happens. Sim Local's no-quibble refund means that if anything doesn't go to plan, you'll get your money back. Cash refund, not credits.

Trusted by millions of travellers. Sim Local has been connecting travellers for over a decade. With millions of happy customers and reviews on Trustpilot, Google, and Tripadvisor, you know exactly what you're getting.

Oh, and you can even try it for free. New to Sim Local? We offer a free 1-day eSIM trial in 80+ countries including the USA. No credit card required. No commitment. Just a chance to experience Sim Local for yourself before you commit to a plan.

Ready to explore America without the stress?

The USA is an incredible destination. The Grand Canyon at sunrise. The buzz of Times Square. A Pacific Coast Highway road trip with the windows down. Nashville live music. New Orleans food. National Parks so vast and beautiful they'll genuinely take your breath away.

Don't let the avoidable stuff get in the way of any of it. Plan your distances properly, respect the weather, sort your transport, and get a USA eSIM from Sim Local before you fly.

You'll wonder how you ever travelled without it.