Safety in United States

It depends on the street: Personal safety varies block by block rather than city by city. Tourist areas are patrolled, but a couple of wrong turns changes the picture fast. Look at a map of which neighbourhoods to avoid before you set off walking.

Your car: Never leave bags, shopping or electronics visible inside a hire car. In San Francisco and Los Angeles a window goes in within seconds for any backpack. Put valuables in the boot before you arrive at the car park, not after.

Police stops: If you are pulled over, stay in the car with both hands visible on the wheel. Answer politely, do not try to be funny and do not reach for documents suddenly. Failing to follow an officer's instructions is treated as a serious threat here.

Health costs: Care is astronomically expensive for anyone uninsured; without cover of at least 100,000 dollars even a walk-in clinic can run into thousands. Make sure your policy includes hiking and adventure activities if you are heading to the mountains.

Guns: Concealed carry is legal in many states and is part of the everyday reality. Do not escalate a road-rage incident or provoke a drunk in a bar; walk away from any argument that is heating up.

Rough sleeping: West Coast cities have large tent encampments on the pavements. People are usually harmless but can behave unpredictably. Walk around such areas and do not make an issue of it, and check your own government's travel advisory before you go.

In the United States safety depends on the block more than on the state, and deception more often happens legally, through small print.

Resort fees and hidden charges. The hotel shows a nightly rate and the front desk adds a daily "resort fee" for a pool and Wi-Fi you will not use. In Las Vegas it reaches 50 dollars a night. It is lawful, but better discovered at booking.

Tipping. In the US this is part of a server's wage: 18 to 20 percent in a restaurant, a dollar or two for a bartender, a dollar a bag for a porter. Bills for groups often already include gratuity — check so you do not pay twice. Terminals now prompt for a tip even at a takeaway coffee counter, and declining there is fine.

Airport "helpers" and taxis. Someone at the door offers a ride. Use official ranks and apps.

Tickets and "tours". Around Times Square and on Hollywood Boulevard, tours and tickets are sold at a heavy mark-up, and costumed characters demand money for photographs.

Car hire. The insurance pushed at the counter often duplicates your card's cover. Sort it out beforehand: the difference over a week runs to hundreds of dollars.

The laws differ in every state. This is the main thing to grasp. The drinking age is 21 everywhere, and identification is asked for even from people in their forties. Cannabis is legal in some states and a crime in others — and carrying it across a state line is illegal regardless, as is taking it on a plane, domestic flights included.

Alcohol in public. Most cities prohibit drinking in public places, and an open container in a car is a separate offence. Exceptions such as New Orleans are exactly that.

Firearms. The country holds more guns than people. The practical conclusion for a visitor: do not get into confrontations on the road or in bars. A roadside argument in the US can end differently than in Europe.

Police and traffic stops. The rules locals learn as children: pull over, put on your hazards, keep your hands on the wheel, do not get out, do not reach for the glovebox without permission, and announce every movement aloud. A sudden movement is read here as a threat.

Jaywalking. Punishable in a number of cities, though California has relaxed the rule.

Immigration control. A CBP officer may search your phone and laptop at the border without a warrant, and refusing can cost you entry. ESTA and a visa do not guarantee admission — the officer decides.

Healthcare is the main financial risk of a US trip, and that is not an exaggeration. An ambulance costs from a thousand dollars, an emergency room visit from two thousand, and appendicitis with surgery easily passes thirty thousand. A hospital will treat an emergency regardless of your ability to pay, but the bill will come and it will go to collections. Insurance with cover from 100,000 dollars is the necessary minimum, not over-caution.

Where to go. For anything not serious, use urgent care rather than the emergency room — a network of walk-in clinics where a visit costs a fraction as much. Knowing this saves thousands of dollars.

Vaccinations. None mandatory.

Water. Tap water is drinkable almost everywhere.

Nature. National parks are not theme parks. Heat in Death Valley and the Grand Canyon kills tourists every summer: descending into the canyon in summer without several litres of water is life-threatening. The mountains bring sudden weather changes, Alaska and Yellowstone have bears, and the south has snakes and alligators.

Ticks. The north-east is Lyme disease country.

Emergency number is 911.

The United States sits in the upper half of the Corruption Perceptions Index. Roadside bribes are not taken, and offering money to an officer is a crime that will make things considerably worse.

Police are always armed, and that shapes how you deal with them. Stay calm, keep your hands visible, and do not argue on the spot: objections are heard in court, not at the roadside.

Geography matters more than national statistics. Crime rates differ several-fold between districts of the same city. Downtown St Louis, parts of Baltimore, the South Side of Chicago and Skid Row in Los Angeles are one reality. The suburbs of those same cities are quite another. Judge the specific neighbourhood, not the national figure.

Night and transport. In most American cities people do not walk at night simply because the cities were not built for it. Taxis and apps are the norm.

Reporting theft. Your insurer needs a police report. Many cities accept online filings through the police department's website.

Homelessness. Tent encampments are visible in central San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle. There is usually no direct threat, but the areas are worth avoiding.

Emergency number is 911, nationwide.