Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
What Things Cost
San Francisco's cost of living never seemed to settle back down into real-
istic proportions after the dot-com bust. People still seem to be living
high on the hog, despite tough times. So if you plan to enjoy the high
life, you'll still have to pay high prices.
Bus or streetcar ride:
$1.50
Cable-car ride (one-way):
$5
Daily parking in a garage:
$20-$35
Meal at a diner-style restaurant, without drink:
$9
Main dish at a fancier restaurant:
$18
Glass of wine at dinner:
$8-$12
Pint of beer:
$5-$6
Evening movie ticket:
$9.50
involve time-consuming paperwork, you may hear exasperated sighs from people
in line behind you. Too bad for them.
Several creditors have come up with
traveler's check cards,
also called
prepaid
cards,
which are essentially debit cards encoded with the amount of money you
elect to put on them. They're not linked to your personal bank accounts, they
work in ATMs, and if you lose one, you can get your cash back in a matter of
hours. If you spend all the money on them, you can call a number or visit a web-
site and reload the card using your bank-account information. American Express
used to offer a prepaid “cheque card,” but it discontinued them. That leaves the
Visa TravelMoney
(www.allaccesstravelmoney.com)
version, sold through AAA
offices (
%
866/339-3378); it costs $10 and keeps a little over 1% of everything
you load onto it, plus all the regular international transaction fees. Basically, if a
place takes Visa, it'll take this, too. It also charges you $4.95 a month if you keep
it longer than 7 months. It's not ideal, but it's a relatively safe way to travel with
money.
MONEY EXCHANGES
Does anyone still use these anymore? Like travelers checks, changing cash is on
the outs, and good riddance, since exchange rates are often usurious. Because
ATM withdrawals give much better exchange rates, old-fashioned exchange desks
are few and far between these days, although you'll still find a few willing to do
the deed upon landing at the airport or at the front desk of the larger hotels. If
you need to change money, take advantage of the better rates offered by banks
during regular banking hours (9:30am-4pm). There's practically a bank on every
corner in the Financial District, and most of them are quite beautiful buildings
worth a visit on their own merits.
