Hi XR,

You asked what my headaches were when settling down in US.

long distance (ie between US cities) phone calls — u need to figure out how to reduce this high cost
similarly, international phone calls
public phone very expensive — few people ever use them.
We had no handphone initially. AFter i bought one, air time is quite high.
In many parts of US, nowhere to buy fruits and vegetables

taxi very expensive. If your company doesn't reimburse it, and you don't have a car, you must be resourceful or patient. Often you
must wait for some friends to give you a ride

in some places, u need to drive to buy anything

A lot of things are sold online at much lower prices than in stores, so most people would choose to buy them online. However, most
online stores ask you to fill in a US address for your credit card. In that case your non-US credit card won't help. You need to
apply for a US credit card. If you don't buy online, you may have to walk a long distance or pay higher prices.

Applying for anything (including at a bank) would require a social security number, which takes a few weeks.

Buses are punctual but rare and infrequent, often once an hour.