Travelling to New York from the UK: payments, phone and internet tips

[Carpedimum]

I’m in the U.K. I’ve not been to the U.S. for over 20 years and soon to travel to NYC. I am clueless about what I need to do for money/payments/ my payment devices like Apple Pay etc. I’ve watched some SM about travelling from the airport to the city and people say ‘just tap in, tap out’ but will my phone automatically work as soon as I arrive? Will my payment methods set up in my phone wallet work? Do I need to organise something beforehand? Feeling old and stupid! I’ll want to have internet access throughout my trip for payments plus Google Maps etc. Any tips?

Bank cards - do you have an account with no overseas fees. I use Chase - was v quick to set up. The contactless in New York is over visa, Mastercard or Amex. (chase uses Mastercard, most British cards appear to use Visa). Using your normal card to tap or having your card set up in Apple Pay also works. Ensure that your preferred (ie no/low overseas charges) card is set as the default in Apple wallet.
Ensure you still have some cash money for tipping too!

You don’t need internet on your phone for wallet to work and the payment will go through if you’re in airplane mode. (You may prefer to use your plastic card still). You can download the area for Google maps on WiFi before you travel if your mobile contract is expensive re roaming.

That said you could get an esim for your trip.

enjoy! 🍎

DH and DD have worldwide phone contracts so no issue, I bought an add-one for 6 weeks (we were away just under 3) to use mobile data as I didn't want to be restricted to free wifi while there.

I use my physical card but DD only does ApplePay and had no issues at all. We have Visa cards from Nationwide which are fee free but there are others like Revolut for example to give you fee free cards.

NatWest (and I assume other banks) have a travel account you can set up easily which you transfer amounts into and is held in dollars. This stops any exchange fees and I found the rate preferential. So it’s attached to your debit card and automatically will use the dollar account. You need to keep an eye on it though; if the transaction is more than what you hold in the account they’ll take it from your regular account in full.
My phone contract has automatic overseas use with a charge cap.

I use airlo for esims. Very good, but fiddly to set up but get unlimited data and you’ll be all set!

I also recommend Airlo - Google for discount codes to make it even cheaper. You can set it up beforehand so you just need to turn it on when you land. I'm not tech savvy but I managed to buy and set it up easily. We used physical Monzo and Chase cards to tap and go for two of us, the other two used the same accounts but on phones (more cost effective than using 4 separate cards because of the subway price cap) which worked fine. I'd recommend booking a transfer or getting a yellow cab from the rank initially as I found it quite overwhelming at first getting off the plane. After that though we used public transport everywhere and it was easy and cheap. I was very worried before going (about everything!) but it was fabulous. Enjoy.

Ps you just tap in not out on the subway - just push the turnstile where you get off and go. Confused us no end trying to find where to tap out!

Practically - check your social media. Anything even remotely negative towards the Trump regime (even from others!) will be checked and can be used to refuse entry.

Remove any work emails from your phone. My BIL travelled to America (to Disney) recently and was warned that if he had been found to have sent any emails while away, he would be detained for breaching of visa requirements. They checked his phone on the way back.

Ensure that you have all visa documentation on you at all times. Tourists in the US have been detained for weeks by ICE, despite having valid visas.

Ensure that you have your wits about you at all times, their law enforcement is very trigger happy.

Your BIL was unbelievably unlucky. Very few people have their devices checked on entry. Even fewer are checked on exit.

Most tourists from the UK don’t travel on a visa either - they use an ESTA, which isn’t a piece of paper.

He wasn’t, it’s a standard check now.

Have a copy printed off. You can’t be too careful.

This is not true.

It is.

Travelling to the USA at the moment is akin to travelling to Nazi germany.

No, it is not. There is absolutely no routine examination of anyone’s phone at immigration or at exit.

No, it is not. Don't be so ridiculous, and don't try and needlessly scare people.

E-sims are great in theory but if you have anything that needs validation by text message to log in then it’s no use…..

There is. You also need to be prepared to hand over 5 years worth of social media history.

No. Absolutely no. This is lies and scaremongering. The new proposed law mandating the sharing of SM details has not been enacted yet, and doesn’t seem imminent.

You’d do well to check your facts https://www.cbp.gov/travel/cbp-search-authority/border-search-electronic-devices

And if this was actually happening, do you not think there would be countless sadface stories in the news and warning articles from travel writers?

Get your ESTA sorted and on your phone well in advance. I found a Revolut account very useful for paying for everything including the subway.

Are you actually typing this shit? Between you scaremongering and your BIL making up lies, I’d hate to have to suffer family events with the pair of you 😂

I’m just back from the US. Get an e sim from Airalo and install before you go away. Last year i did not install it and you need internet to install…. Had to wait into the hotel as no WIFI in the immigration control area ) it will then start automatically when you connect the US cellular network. You need to switch your UK line off. The are video showing you how to do it.

ESims offer data only so no voice call and sms. We just used what’s app to call each other.

For money - I use starling which has no overseas fees and an Amex as a back up. I used it contactless with my phone and left my cards in the safe!

At customs and immigration. My emails weren’t checked. I was asked about where I was staying and how I getting home. But we had all our documents ready. So be prepared with the name and address of your hotel and the dates and so on.