America on Foot — Preliminaries

It has been over a decade since I set foot in the United States, the country that I also consider to be home.

There was urgency in returning this time because my driver’s license has expired, and every ten years, the renewal requires an in-person application. Therefore I put together a short trip.

Without a valid driver’s license, that means I would not be able to rent a car. And in a place like California, and Los Angeles in particular, not having a car was going to present some problems.

I chose to stay close to the San Pedro area because I would really like to visit the USS Iowa at the Battleship Iowa Museum there. It was in downtown Long Beach that I would stay, and both the driver’s license renewal and the touring of the warship would be in San Pedro.

To top it up, I also arranged to visit Portland for two and a half days.

VISA

I did not need a VISA to visit the United States, but perhaps it is no news that any Hong Kong passport holders would have to apply for a visitor’s VISA for entry. At the immigration in LAX, as a United States citizen I simply presented myself at the face scanners. Apparently, the system recognized me and let me pass. No manned booth, no questions asked, and in fact, I did not even have to present my passport for entry. It literally took less than one minute to pass through the immigration checkpoint for a United States citizen.

Airport Transfer

There is free WIFI at the LAX and I managed to contact my airport shuttle driver. I made a booking for the driver early, and the website is here.

Staying Connected

As to phone usage, the best option is to acquire an esim. Consider the options here.

Uber

Perhaps it is also no news that Uber would be necessary for those who do not plan to drive in the United States. I did install the Uber app and I thought I would rely on it a lot. As it turned out, I took public transportation most of the times, and I only had to call Uber once in Portland. In any event, having the app ready with your credit cards set up is important.

I guess the general advice to people who do not plan to rent a car in the United States is that you should stay in any downtown you can, because in those areas, the chances of having intra-city public transportation are much higher. I stayed in downtown Long Beach and downtown Portland, and that made it possible for me to rely on public transportation throughout the trip.

Arrival in Long Beach

I booked my accommodation at Hotel Royal in downtown Long Beach. It is a small, quaint and older hotel, but clean and cute. I rested soon, looking forward to visiting the Lions Lighthouse at Long Beach’s shoreline marina the next day.

Brief Itineraries

In Los Angeles, I visited the Long Beach Shoreline Marina twice. I also spent a half a day in San Pedro visiting the Battleship Iowa Museum.

In Portland, I visited the Multnomah Falls, the Pittock Mansion and the Old Town in downtown Portland.

As you can see, I wanted to take it easy in this trip, and I did. Stay tuned for more.