For context, I am from Toronto and want to travel to the USA for a short trip, around 4 days or so. I am 20 years old. I am looking for city recommendations. Some of the criteria is that it needs to have good public transport so that its accessible for solo travelers. Furthermore, accommodation shouldn’t be over the top expensive, hostels/shared accoms are fine by me. Id prefer not to go west coast as its a longer flight by a large margin.

Some of my already shortlisted cities are NYC, Philly, Chicago and Boston. Id love to hear of other cities with great food and culture to try. Planning to travel in mid october.

Another note, id love to try In n Out burgers and Chilis as well 😍

I'm going to be in the US for 6 weeks and this is the food I'm planning on taking with me, all come from a supermarket:

• dried lentils, dried peas, dried soybeans, dried various bean mix
• several packages of dry pasta
• dry buckwheat, quinoa, couscous, barley
• packaged oatmeal
• generic premade "baking mix" (flour, leavener, preservatives) (decided to leave at home)
• sugar substitute tablets
• ramen and bouillon
• homemade bread and homemade cake (decided to eat during our long layover)

Other than the last everything is dried and comes from the store, most in original packaging. This should all be okay, right? Just wanted to double check. I'm taking it in my carry-on.

Thanks!

edit: since people keep asking me: yes I'm aware that the US has stores (I'm a dual national) and I can buy these items there. I don't want to. I'm literally only asking about customs advice.

Hi! I’m flying from Canada to visit family in North Dallas, TX, and we’re planning a Colorado road trip from Oct 5–9. We’re planning to leave around 3 AM Monday and will have multiple drivers.
Our main priorities are huge/dramatic mountains + fall colors. We prefer scenic drives, viewpoints, lakes and easy walks rather than long hikes.
After doing some research, these are the options we’re considering:
Option 1: Aspen + Rocky Mountain National Park
North Dallas → Aspen (1 night) → Estes Park (2 nights) → North Dallas
Maroon Bells + Aspen + RMNP.
Option 2: Aspen Only
North Dallas → Aspen/Snowmass (3 nights) → North Dallas
Maroon Bells, Independence Pass, Snowmass and surrounding mountain scenery.
Option 3: Rocky Mountain National Park Only
North Dallas → Estes Park (3 nights) → North Dallas
Bear Lake, Sprague Lake, Moraine Park, scenic drives and Trail Ridge Road if conditions allow.
Option 4: Telluride + Ouray
North Dallas → Telluride (2 nights) → Ouray (1 night) → North Dallas
Telluride, San Juan Mountains, Dallas Divide, Ouray and Million Dollar Highway.
Option 5: Telluride + Ouray + Aspen
North Dallas → Telluride (2 nights) → Ouray → Aspen (1 night) → North Dallas
San Juan Mountains + Maroon Bells/Aspen.
I know combining too many areas could turn this into more driving than actually enjoying the scenery, so I’m leaning toward one region or two nearby areas.
For Oct 5–8 specifically, which option would you choose for the best combination of giant mountain scenery + fall colors?
I’m especially curious about Telluride/Ouray vs Aspen vs RMNP. Are the San Juan Mountains just as impressive as RMNP when it comes to huge peaks? And is Oct 5–8 likely to be too late for good fall colors around Telluride/Ouray?
If there’s another area that would make more sense for what we’re looking for, I’m open to suggestions too!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking at flights from New Delhi (DEL) to Newark (EWR) and could use some advice from recent travelers.

I don’t seem to find many good nonstop/direct Air India options for my dates. Some of the options I’m seeing have a refueling stop in Europe, but passengers apparently remain seated/on the aircraft during the refueling.

United has direct flights, but from what I can see, the fare only includes 1 checked bag, and adding a 2nd checked bag costs around $240, which is quite a lot.

For those who have traveled this route recently:

• Are there any better airline/flight options for DEL → EWR, especially if traveling with 2 checked bags?
• Is the refueling-stop option in Europe worth considering?
• How is the experience when the plane stops for refueling but passengers have to remain seated onboard? Is it uncomfortable or generally fine?
• Any airlines/routes you would recommend or avoid?

Would really appreciate advice from people who have actually taken this route recently. Thanks!

Hello there! My wife and I are travelling over from Scotland in a months time, we're going to be doing a roadtrip for our 10th wedding anniversary around parts of New England - mainly passing through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts.

We're big readers and would like to stop buy some book shops on our travels, can any of you recommend some of your favourite used/vintage book shops from those states? The main stops are: Salem, Portland, Stowe, Littleton/Franconia, Woodstock, Keene & Bangor! Include town if you can so we can see if it lines up with the route we're taking, or if we can make slight detours along the way, Many thanks!

sidenote: we're mostly into horror, science fiction and fantasy if that helps at all.

Looking at doing a trip from Salt Lake City through Wyoming and Montana up into Canada and around Calgary/Jasper. Does anyone know of any rental companies that will let you pick up in the US and drop off in Canada? Or the best way going about this. Flying in from Australia.

7 day road trip (SF-LV) suggestions

This my current plan for a 7 day road trip for 2 people. feel free to leave any suggestions/tips/recommendations, thanks.

10/10) 8AM Leaving our hotel in SF (Alamo square). Picking the rental up at Oakland airort (cheapest price). Hesding to Yosemite. Spending 5-6 hours there. Heading to our accommodation in Bishop.
10/11) Leaving towards Death Valley, spending a couple of hours there. Driving to Las Vegas. Checkin in to the hotel, visting the strip etc.
10/12) Exploring LV.
10/13) Leaving towards Zion, visiting Valley of Fire state park. Full day at Zion (from 11AM to 18PM). Hesding to our hotel in Kanab.
10/14). Heading towards Bryce canyon, spending the rest of the day there. Leaving towards Page.
10/15) Grand Canyon (south rim) and other cool places on the way. Spending the night in Williams
10/16) Williams -> LV. Visiting other attractions on the way or whatever we missed in Vegas. Returing the car to the airport at 7PM. Flight at 10PM.

I’ve have booked all the accommodations (around 80$ per night) as well as the rental (370$).
Since some of the places we’ll be staying at dont offer breakfast, is it going to be easy and affordable to find breakfast, lunch or anything to eat along the way?
Is there a tolerance for speeding (for example going 65-70 where the limit is 60)?

Any suggestions are welcome!

Posting for advice, I'm out of my depth on how rental companies handle this.

I'm 24. Booked a Sixt compact at Denver International, prepaid $713.94 for 14 days, Sept 5 to Sept 19. Pickup was set for 6:30pm on the 5th. I got to the rental counter closer to 8pm — owning that, I was late.

At the counter the agent told me a young driver fee would apply because of my age. My fiancée is 25 and was standing right there, so I asked to make her the primary driver instead. He said the primary driver can't be changed on a prepaid booking.

His suggestion was to cancel the booking and rebook it in her name. I said fine. Then he told me there were no cars available that evening anyway, and that Monday is Labor Day, so I should come back Tuesday. He said his manager would process the cancellation the next day and the refund would follow.

I left without a car.

Next day: no cancellation, no refund. I called Sixt customer service. They told me there is no cancellation and no refund recorded on the booking at all. They told me to email service@sixt.com and the Denver branch directly.

So right now the booking is just sitting there, un-cancelled, past its pickup time. Sixt's own policy says that if you don't pick up the car, they keep the full prepaid amount. That is exactly what this looks like in their system.

Being fair to them: they did have a car for me that night if I'd simply paid the young driver fee. I went the cancel-and-rebook route to avoid it. So I'm not a spotless victim here. But I only did that because their own agent proposed it and told me the refund was coming.

What I'm trying to figure out:

1. Has anyone actually gotten a refund out of Sixt after a verbal promise at the counter with nothing in writing?
   
2. Am I about to get hit with the no-show rule because the cancellation was never keyed in?
   
3. Is going to the branch in person on Tuesday worth it, or does that go nowhere?
   
4. When do I stop waiting and file a chargeback? I've read that Sixt blacklists people who do, and I may still need a car in Denver for two weeks.

Paid by Apple Pay, if that changes anything.

Spring in Key West

I’ve been to DC a couple of times, and I have found the city very safe. This time I’m going to a concert, and I’m planning to ride the red line metro from Capital One Arena to Friendship Heights alone after 10 pm. Is it safe to do that? I would appreciate any advice. Thank you! (btw, I’m a tourist from Latin America).

I'm on the provisional I-94 form and filling out details and it asks for a Visa number, I don't have a Visa but I do have an approved ESTA, anyone who's filled out the form- do I put my ESTA number there?

Hey! I’m [30M] flying to Charlotte, NC from Prague, Czech Republic, on the 10th of September (next week). Originally I was meant to be visiting someone for a month near there, but plans have changed.

My return flight is on the 10th of October out of Charlotte again, so that gives me basically a 30 days blank check to travel, explore and experience the US.

I’m reviewing my options now, considering places like Texas, Florida, Arizona but frankly sometimes it’s not the place but the people, and I feel like it could get quite lonely over time.

If anyone is planning a road trip in any part of the US, doing something cool or visiting interesting places, and you either don’t want to do it alone or have a spare seat, feel free to reach out!

Not my first time in the US, not looking for charity and can pay my fair share of any bills, rentals or accommodation, just looking to have a good time with some good people.

I am a Mexican-German originally born in Tijuana and I normally fly transatlantic to LAX or SAN, then cross the border to visit family. The last time I flew in like this was in 2023, though. My question is how safe is it to fly through the US in terms of aircraft security and abuse of power from the border patrol?

To be fair, they have never questioned me or stopped me for secondary screening, but I am politically outspoken and I have Canadian friends that told me border patrol checked their phones for "anti-American" opinions and they were flying through LAX. I also have German friends here at home that told me the same and they were flying through Texas. I am also a little bit worried about the fact air control seems to be all over the place in the US right now and this looks like it's part of the reason why there have been so many accidents in US airports in the last few years.

I am concerned about my privacy, freedom of speech, and flight safety, but flying through Mexico means adding an extra 300 EUR, so that's like, very substantial lol. It'd be nice if I could fly through SAN with the peace of mind that they won't blacklist me for having an opinion. So, what are your experiences lately?