My future traveling in America

Congrats Fyodor on getting the visa! Maybe it was because of your nationality (Belorussia) was in a different quota than applicants from the Russian federation.

Great that you are able to get help by Americans and native English speakers here. A well written letter and resume makes a HUGE difference when applying for work. Remember that the power is in the numbers.... The more applications you send out, the more likely you are to find something.

I am in your country now! In Gomel. Very nice city! I am writing a travel blog in the Travel section of the forum with my thoughts and observations.

GOOD LUCK WITH THE TRIP - I hope you'll be treated as well in the US as I have been treated in the CIS countries so far... :-)

thank you, Hanna.
Gomel is my native town:)

But I'm still waiting for the comments about the busiest place, where I'll can find a job.. I'll arrive in the New York on the 27 of May.. And I haven't any plans about further trip.

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Originally Posted by n8m

thank you, Hanna.
Gomel is my native town:)

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Are you there now? Perhaps you'd like to meet up and practice English? I could use some help with buying a SIM card for my mobile, and perhaps practice some Russian...

I'm in Minsk now. How long will you in the Gomel?

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Originally Posted by n8m

But I'm still waiting for the comments about the busiest place, where I'll can find a job.. I'll arrive in the New York on the 27 of May.. And I haven't any plans about further trip.

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n8m:

New York City IS the busiest place all year round, and it’s one of the few American cities where you can get around easily without a car, and people there are generally foreigner-friendly (some say half of its residents were born oversea), so I’d suggest that you start from there.

Do you know an organization called Big Apple Greeter? It’s a non-profit tour guide company in NYC. If you fill out an application online in advance, they can set up a personal tour guide JUST FOR YOU, who will meet you at the place you stay, and give you a one-day tour of the city for FREE. All the guides are volunteers and they know the city VERY well. If you have special interest in certain neighborhood or subject, they will try to find a volunteer who matches your interests. If you wish, they might even match you with someone who speaks Russian! They won’t actually help you looking for jobs, but you can ask your greeter any questions you have about living and working in NYC, and I’m sure they can give you good advices.


Welcome to Big Apple Greeter

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Originally Posted by n8m

I'm in Minsk now. How long will you in the Gomel?

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I will be in Gomel until 10 May.
Fyodor, could you tell me what the best technical shop in Gomel is, and the street?

the best technical shop, i think, is the "Секрет". There's a lot of everything. Its near the central market. It's a popular place.
But, what do you want to buy? Where do you live there?

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Originally Posted by n8m

the best technical shop, i think, is the "Секрет". There's a lot of everything. Its near the central market. It's a popular place.
But, what do you want to buy? Where do you live there?

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Thanks! I need a Sim card and 2 SD micro cards with a lot of memory... Perhaps I'll get a real camera instead of photographing with my mobile phone. I am staying at a hotel called Zamkoviy.

I ended up staying here longer than I had expected because all affordable hotel rooms in Minsk are booked, due to 9 May. If I had known I'd be here for so long, I would have rented a flat!

n8m sorry for off-topic, All of us here try to help Hanna with her trip.

Hanna, since you've mentioned earlier that you've never bought a micro SD card I'd like to note that not all devices support micro SD (or normal SD) of highest memory capacitance. In general, technical data of a device includes information what is the highest memory capacitance which is supported by this device. Though, frequently devices can support cards with higher capacitance than indicated, but there can be some issues (some SD card vendors can be not supported or some files can be damaged.)

Generally, all devices support SD cards up to 2 Gb.
Many of them support cards up to 8 Gb also.
Cards with capacitance of 16 and 32 Gb should be carefully checked if they can be supported by your device.

A few words about vendors:
SanDisk, Toshiba and Panasonic are the three companies which developed the SD standard in mutual agreement. Their cards are mostly supported by any device.
"Transcend" is one of most popular vendors which available all around the world.

Thanks for the tips Coffeecup! I definitely needed that. The memory is for my phone and for my ebook reader. Not sure about the phone, but the ebook reader can take 32 GB. The question is if I can find a shop that sells it - in Ukraine I saw it.


Now back to the topic of n8m's trip to the USA!

Now that you have the visa, you don't need a job offer before you go, do you? If so, it's not a problem. Just go somewhere and get a job once you got there. If you ask for a job in 100 places, then you WILL get one. It's probably almost impossible to get a manual job applying from abroad.

Also; since you are a Maths student at university; perhaps you could give extra lessons in Mathematics to kids in America? As you know, all the ex USSR countries are very highly regarded when it comes to Maths. You could make a professional looking flyer, put it up around town with your mobile number on it.
What do you think Rockzmom, could that work?

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I am staying at a hotel called Zamkoviy

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I dont know where is it... 0_o

I think you will find every flash/SD/MicroSD card in "Секрет". Also I can help you with mobile operator. There are 3 operators in Belarus.. So, if you want, I will tell you about them.

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since you are a Maths student at university; perhaps you could give extra lessons in Mathematics to kids in America?

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I cant do this by a law. I can be a waiter, mover, dishwasher and so on..

And I decided (90%) to go to the LA..

It's a new hotel, on "Gagarina" just opposite the entrance to the big park, the part where all the childrens fairground rides are (carousel, big swings etc).

Thanks for the advice! I went to Секрет and found a 16 GB SD micro card and a little camera, so I can photograph Victory Day.

There is a HUGE market there also - I have never seen a market like that one before. So big... EVERYTHING was being sold. It was very clean and well organised + and the sales people were nice and professional. Nobody trying to cheat tourists, steal your stuff and all the things that "normally" go on in markets. I really enjoyed seeing that!

Things were marked with the prices, really convenient, and good to know that I am paying the real price and not a "tourist" price. The prices for clothes, shoes etc are extremely low for me...

N8m, prepare yourself for a price shock when you get to the USA. I think you will find that it is many times higher than you are used to!

I went into MTC Mobile shop but they told me that I needed to have my passport professionally translated into Russian before they could sell a SIM card.
So I tried Veltelcom and they were fine with my passport and sold me a SIM card. They put 10 000 roubles on it and said it would last for "several weeks".

I am so grateful to you for the tip - the market was really exciting for me.

I think that in America nobody would care and nobody would find out if you did something else outside of your contract. If I was you, I would make some flyers and put up around town. So something like this:

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"High quality Mathematics tutoring offered cheaply by European Masters Degree Student. All levels and needs accommodated - only $10/hour, call Fyodor now on........ I will help make sure you PASS!"

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n8m, do you know about this NY newspaper: Новое русское слово? Новое

Hanna, thanks for the advice
I glad that you enjoy my town:)

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"High quality Mathematics tutoring offered cheaply by European Masters Degree Student. All levels and needs accommodated - only $10/hour, call Fyodor now on........ I will help make sure you PASS!"

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I'll think about it. But I'm afraid of differents between russian and american math school and details with a language. But maybe I'll try it. :)

on the 15th of May I will in Gomel. Will you there?

N8m - I have not been to LA, but I heard that it's impossible to get around LA without a car! Another thing to be aware of, is that a lot of people who would like to be actors and actresses (but haven't yet got a job in a film) are there. While waiting for a job in a film, they work as waiters and similar jobs. They have an advantage over you when looking for a job: They are native English speakers. In LA are also lots of people from Mexico who are working in the USA to make money, doing low-skilled work; the same type of job that you will be needing.

The reason I was giving you advice about doing tutoring on the side is because I know that you want to make as much money as possible. But I am worried that you will find that the salary for waiters and low-skilled jobs in America is actually very low -and living expenses in the US are MUCH higher than what you are used to. I think that in America, it is necessary for waiters to always try to get "tip" (extra payment from the customer - if they like you and the service you provide). If they don't get tips, then the salary is almost not enough to live on.

If I wanted to go to the USA to make money in a low-skilled job, then I'd go to a summer holiday area, where rich people spend their holidays - it's almost certain to be lots of open temporary jobs available, and the customers would give more tip than elsewhere.

Either way, I know it will be a big adventure and I hope it works out really well. If I was in the USA I'd try to help - but as you know, I am in Belarus at the moment!

I just left Gomel now, and went to Minsk. I really liked Gomel though - very glad I stopped there.
The Gomel park is my new favourite park in the world, after Kew Gardens in London.

Hey, Hanna!
It's a n8m.
I'm in Minsk right now. If you are in Minsk too we could meet.
You could call me by this phone
+375 29 156 90 98 (it's Velcom :) )
My name is Fyodor :)

Hi! Thanks for the invitation. Just getting a few things sorted out, I'll give you a buzz tomorrow!

Hi there!
I'm in america! In Atlantic city, NJ. It's not so good city to explore america, but I pretty like it. I'm working on the boardwalk and sailing the ice cream and funnelcakes :)
Thank to everebody, who helped me, advising in this topic.
So, now I'm minding about my traveling in september. I'm planning to go to the West coast. I would like to travel the LA, San francisco, Las Vegas, grand canyon and some national parks. I'm looking for the best way to do it. I choosing the tours on the Tours4Fun - Sightseeing Tours, Vacation Packages, Bus Tours & Guided City Tours, but I'm not completely deciding about it. I want to travel from 8th of September to 15th (on the 16th I have ticket from NewYork to my country). By the way, I'm not alone. One girl will be with me at least. But the group of 5-7 people wants to travel with me, they are deciding now. Give me some advice, please. I would like to do it best way, very interesting, fun and cheap.
Thanks to everybody.

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Originally Posted by n8m

Hi there!
I'm in America! In Atlantic City, NJ. It's not so good of a city to explore in America, but I pretty much like it. I'm working on the boardwalk and sailing selling (note: sailing is what you do with a boat) the ice cream and funnelcakes :)
Thanks to everebody, who helped me, advising in this topic.
So, now I'm minding thinking about my travels[s]ing/s] in September. I'm planning to go to the West Coast. I would like to travel the LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and some national parks. I'm looking for the best way to do it. I choosinge the tours on the Tours4Fun - Sightseeing Tours, Vacation Packages, Bus Tours & Guided City Tours, but I'm not completely decidinged about it. I want to travel from the 8th of September to the 15th (on the 16th I have a ticket from NewYork to my country). By the way, I'm not alone, at least one girl will be with me at least. But the a group of 5-7 people wants to travel with me, they are deciding now. Give me some advice, please. I would like to do it the best way, very interesting, fun and cheap.
Thanks to everybody.

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n8m...

I'm glad you are well and are working... and... I did warn you about Atlantic City not being a great place...

I really have no clue about tours in the US, sorry... but I did do a quick Google search on the company Tours4Fun and while they do have an A rating with the Better Buisness Bureau, they are a number of unhappy people out there... Also, I would be careful about planning to come back from your tour the day before your flight. If for some reason there is a mix up, a problem with the bus, bad weather, and you are stuck in who knows where and can't get back to NY... you don't want to have that kind of problem. Don't risk it. Come back on the 14th the latest!

There are more reviews out there like these.. here are just two for you to read and the links...


Tours4Fun-Worst Tour Ever - Review of Discover Yosemite Sightseeing Tours, Oakhurst, CA - TripAdvisor

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Tours4fun.com will not even be the company to take you on your tour, they out source to Paradise Vacations, an Asian run company that has a New York office, only none of the employees speak English. This explains why Tours4fun.com was unable to provide me with a detailed itinerary before the trip.
The price…it’s too good to be true. Don’t do it. You will need a vacation from your vacation.

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Tours4Fun Reviews and Complaints

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*WORD TO THE WISE & BE WARNED:
DO NOT BOOK WITH TOURS4FUN/SEAGULL TOURS.

SPEND A LITTLE MORE MONEY AND DO YOUR RESEARCH
THERE ARE TRAVEL COMPANIES THAT ARE WORTH THE MONEY, HONEST, FAIR, HAVE EXCELLENT TOUR GUIDES THAT KNOW THE
INFORMATION, AND DECENT FOOD AND LODGING

• Visited June 2011

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I live not too far from Atlantic City. Except for driving out west I have no advice. For New Jersey I'd check out Wildwood

Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, North Wildwood, The Wildwoods, NJ, New Jersey boardwalk, NJ Beach Vacation

Ocean City

OCNJ.US - City Services

Even though the show "Jersey Shore" gives Seaside Heights a bad reputation, I'd check it out.


Go To Seaside Heights

Scott

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Originally Posted by n8m

Hi there!
I'm in america! In Atlantic city, NJ. It's not so good city to explore america, but I pretty like it. I'm working on the boardwalk and sailing the ice cream and funnelcakes :)
Thank to everebody, who helped me, advising in this topic.
So, now I'm minding about my traveling in september. I'm planning to go to the West coast. I would like to travel the LA, San francisco, Las Vegas, grand canyon and some national parks. I'm looking for the best way to do it. I choosing the tours on the Tours4Fun - Sightseeing Tours, Vacation Packages, Bus Tours & Guided City Tours, but I'm not completely deciding about it. I want to travel from 8th of September to 15th (on the 16th I have ticket from NewYork to my country). By the way, I'm not alone. One girl will be with me at least. But the group of 5-7 people wants to travel with me, they are deciding now. Give me some advice, please. I would like to do it best way, very interesting, fun and cheap.
Thanks to everybody.

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