America and clothes

Teahfc

Dont forget that you are liable to pay Duty /Vat when you arrive back in the UK !!!! SO dont be bringing new cases through Customs and remove all labels and beat the clothes up a bit before you come back home ......

K9cuddles

Teahfc wrote:

Dont forget that you are liable to pay Duty /Vat when you arrive back in the UK !!!! SO dont be bringing new cases through Customs and remove all labels and beat the clothes up a bit before you come back home ......

And post your receipts if you need them!

Craig_A

Absolutely right! A friend of mine tried to be a wise guy once and wore a ridiculously expensive watch through customs. They took one look at it and asked him to accompany them to a place they could search his luggage. He wasn't fussed when they found the box it came in, 'you don't expect me to take an expensive watch away without having somewhere to store it, do you?', he asked. Fair enough answer, of course, until they looked inside the box and found the receipt from Macys! He ended up paying a fortune in tax amd was lucky not to end up on a charge!

budgetflyer

Michael Ballack got nabbed at German Customs for coming back from Dubai with a Rolex, thru the nothing to declare channel. In Germany the fine is earnings related. They were talking £40K fine for a 20K Rolex.I think it was eventually settled out of court

odowdchr

We found Premium Outlets in Orlando great in November, not so good in summer when it's all aimed at holidaying Brits. This year it was just disappointing, lots of tacky stuff, outsizes and not much quality.

Sawgrass Mills is fabulous if you're staying further South (Lauderdale way). Much much bigger with far more variety and better prices.
If you really want to shop, it's worth a drive down and an overnight stop....and you'll need a new pair of trainers just to get round the place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawgrass_Mills

richardw

Sawgrass Mills is enormous, and by late afternoon the queues in the shops are long, get there early.

Christa1

Can anyone tell me if hotels in the US have hairdryers or should I take my own? We are going to NY

iltisman

The current limit is still £145 for purchases outside the EEC when is this going to increase ?

eryn_kathleen

Most hotels in the US do have hairdryers, and if there isn't one in your room you can ask at reception for one. Failing that, I would actually suggest buying a hair dryer in the US and leaving it behind (give it to reception, so they'll have one next time!) rather than carrying your own hair dryer plus a plug adapter and electricity converter. It will be the cheaper option, too (unless you already have the adaptor and converter).

eryn_kathleen

As for outlet malls, this link might help to find ones close to where you're travelling:
http://www.outletbound.com/usa50.html

The quality at Outlet malls can vary quite a bit, so doing a bit of investigation before you go will pay off.

I heartily recommend Old Navy. Old Navy and Banana Republic are both owned by the Gap, and they have very similar things on offer (Old Navy is cheapest, followed by the Gap, with BR being most expensive). You should be able to find sales at the Gap and BR, and the dollar conversion helps too!

Target and WalMart are great, but look for known brands (like Levis) as their own brands can be a bit of a mixed bag.

TJ Maxx is great if you can find one - much better than TK Maxx here, although you have to check the quality very carefully. They're also really good at bedding and towels.

One that's usually overlooked: department stores in the US hold perpetual sales. If you go to any mall, there will be one or two large department stores (their names change from region to region, but they're all basically the same). They'll have Ralph Lauren and DKNY clothes, and you'll think you can't afford to shop there, but search out a sale section in the back of the store where everything's a bit grotty. If a top comes out in spring and doesn't sell, it'll be roughly 25% off in summer, 50% off in autumn, and 75% off in winter. You can get some great bargains this way, but it is time-consuming, so you might want to try it when your family are doing something else! I bought a Ralph Lauren tweed jacket for $15 and several designer jumpers for $5 this way.