Practical information for traveling to New York. Fill out the ESTA
Here we give you different useful information for your trip to New York. You will find practical information on documentation to go to the United States, currency, schedules or on the necessary medical insurance.
If you are preparing a trip to New York, do not stop reading this page because everything you read will be very useful both to prepare the trip and once you are there.
This way nothing will catch you by surprise.
Necessary documentation. Fill out the ESTA
If you are from Spain and you are going for tourism for a stay of less than 90 days, you do not need a visa and you will only need a machine-readable passport and fill out the online entry form for the United States that you can find by clicking on the previous link.
This form, called ESTA, must be filled out by all travelers who are going to go at least 72 hours in advance and is valid for 2 years. Immediately after paying the fees they will tell you if you are allowed to fly to the United States.
If they deny you, you will have to go to the embassy. It should be noted that this authorizes you to fly but not to enter and it will be at the airport where they authorize it or not.
If you got your passport in Spain on a date after 2003, the passport is machine readable. If you do not have it like this, you will have to renew it because if not, you will not be able to enter the country. If you have doubts as to whether your passport is machine readable, check that its cover is like the one in the photo above and that the following symbols exist on the page where your data appears:
If you are not from Spain, you can check the requirements to travel to the United States on the pages of the embassies of your countries.
Internet
One of the most worrying issues when traveling outside of Spain in recent years is the possibility of having internet and being able to communicate with our family and friends and stay in touch on social networks.
Having internet in the US is not a problem since there are many sites that offer free WIFI, but if you want to have it safely without having to depend on third parties, we recommend buying a SIM card with unlimited data there.
Idiom
The official language of the United States is English, but in New York you will find many people who speak Spanish, especially because of the number of Latin Americans in the city and because more and more people are studying Spanish. Therefore you will not have problems to communicate.
Climate
New York has very extreme weather. In winter it is very cold, reaching temperatures of several degrees below zero and in summer temperatures can reach 40ºC which, together with the high humidity of the city, makes the environment oppressive.
The best times to travel to New York are late spring and early fall, although if you want a special picture of the city you can do it in winter when it is snowy or better yet, at Christmas, to enjoy all the lights that decorate the city.
Healthcare in the United States
In the United States, healthcare is not universal and if you do not have insurance you will have to pay each time you go to a doctor. In addition, pharmacies only dispense prescription drugs, so if you need any, you must go to a doctor.
Many times we have insurance contracted for having a credit card or other home or car insurance, but normally the coverage is not enough for a country like the United States. Therefore, it is highly recommended to take out medical insurance, for any unforeseen event that may arise.
In other aspects, savings can be sought, but in travel medical insurance, it is best to be sufficiently covered.
Currency and prices
The official currency of the United States is the dollar. The smallest bill in existence is $1 and is more common than the $1 coin, which is the largest in existence. For this reason, many times you will have the feeling of having a lot of money for the amount of bills and it is possible that they are 1 dollar.
One dollar is equivalent to approximately €1.2-1.4 depending on the daily rate.
The best way to avoid commissions is to pay by credit or debit card, accepted in almost all places. There are also many ATMs but there the commissions are usually more expensive.
Regarding prices, it can be said that New York is a fairly cheap city, except for hotels. The shops, as a general rule, are cheaper than in Spain.
It must be said that in restaurants it is usual to tip between 10% and 20% of the value of the account. In many places they already include it in your bill. If it is not included, you can leave the tip on the table and there are even times that if you pay by card, before entering the pin, the dataphone itself asks you how much tip you want to leave. Tips are also often left to taxi drivers and hotel employees.
