after having arranged your passport and visa， the first thing you need to do when going to america for study， research or other purposes is to book a ticket and a seat on the plane. in general， chinese students choose to take air china because one can book a ticket using renminbi. as well， tickets for students going abroad to study are specially priced. you may book your ticket according to your departure date and confirm your ticket in person or by telephone.
on your departure day， you should arrive at the airport at least one hour earlier so as to go through the procedures at the check-in counter of the particular airline you are flying. first， hand in your ticket and passport to the man or woman behind the counter， and the same time， put your luggage on the scale to be weighted. if your baggage is overweight， you must pay an overweight fee. you will get a boarding pass and baggage claim tag at the check-in counter.
having heard the announcement， you should enter the appointed gate. at this time ， you have to pass through the metal-detector before reaching the gate. at the gate， the stewardess will guide you on to the plane.
after arriving in america， your documents will be checked by the customs officer. you must fill in a customs declaration form and show your inoculation certificate and passport. having received your baggage， you should hand in your customs declaration form and luggage check.
according to american customs hints for visitors （non-residents）， foreigners coming to america can bring the following articles free of charge：
1. personal belongings——goods used by oneself， not to be sold. this includes clothing， jewelry， electrical equipment and sports equipment；
2. household utensils——furniture， carpets， and equipment for work. but they are supposed to be for personal use only and are not to be sold.
3. gifts——entering the u.s.， you can bring $ 100 worth of presents， but you have to stay in the united states for at least 72 hours. moreover， in the past six months， you shouldn't bring any of the same gifts into the country.
4. cigarettes and alcohol——adults may bring 0.95 kl of wine， 300 cigarettes， and 1.35 kg of tobacco.
after arriving in america， if you need to make a transfer， you can choose to take a domestic american airline. american aviation is highly developed. it is divided into two parts——trunk airlines and regional airlines. trunk airlines are managed by nine big companies， american airlines， u.s. airlines， united airlines， eastern airlines， continental airlines， western airlines， delta airlines， northwest orient airlines and trans world airline. regional routes are managed by seven airlines serving 600 cities. these include air new england， frontier airlines， ozark airlines， piedmont aviation， republic airlines， texas international airlines and u.s. air.
having arrived at your destination， you should make your way to the city. normally， an airport is very far from a city， so you may take a shuttle bus that runs every half hour. the transportation is very convenient， but the shuttle bus will not send you to the exact place where you want to go.
you can also take a taxi. there are two kinds of taxis in america： the yellow cab and the checker cab. the former has four seats， while the latter has five. a taxi charges according to the distance. however in washington d.c.， it charges by the zone system. in addition to the distance fee， you have to pay for toll， and 15 percent tip.