Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ENGLAND & WALES
Area Codes
The country code for Great Britain is
44.
Cities and towns within the
country have their own area codes, all of which begin with
0.
The area code for London is
020;
Manchester is
0161.
A full local telephone number is then usually between 6 and 8
digits long.
Business Hours
With many exceptions, business hours are Monday to Friday 9am to
5pm. In general, retail stores are open Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm, Sunday 11am to
5pm (sometimes noon-6pm). Thursday is usually late-night opening for central London's
shops; until 8pm or later isn't unusual.
Car Rental
The main rental companies can be found at almost any airport, but you'll
find it cheaper to book a car before you arrive.
Insider tip:
Don't go for a big car unless
you need it. Gas/petrol at press time cost around £1.35 a liter (with 1 U.S. gallon equal to
3.785 liters, that makes it around $8 a gallon!). Do note, though, that any gallon prices
mentioned in the U.K. are imperial gallons (4.546 liters). There are a number of price
comparison websites such as
CarRentals.co.uk
and
travelsupermarket.com
, which can
help you find a good deal if you are here and are planning a short trip. There are often
good weekend offers, especially away from high season.
Cellphones
See “Mobile Phones,” below.
Crime
See “Safety,” below.
Customs
Non-E.U. nationals aged 17 and over
can bring in, duty-free, 200 cigarettes,
or 100 cigarillos, or 50 cigars, or 250 grams of smoking tobacco. You can also bring in 4
liters of wine and 16 liters of beer plus either 1 liter of alcohol more than 22% (“spirits”) or
2 liters of “fortified” wine at less than 22%. Visitors may also bring in other goods, includ-
ing perfume, gifts, and souvenirs, totaling £390 in value. (Customs officials tend to be
lenient about these general merchandise regulations, realizing the limits are unrealistically
low.) For
arrivals from within the E.U.,
there are no limits as long as goods are for your
own personal use, or are gifts.
For specifics on what you can take home and the corresponding fees, U.S. citizens
should download the free pamphlet
Know Before You Go
at
www.cbp.gov
. Alternatively,
contact the
U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP),
1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Wash-
ington, DC 20229 (
&
877/CBP-5511
), and request the pamphlet. For a clear summary of
their own rules, Canadians should consult the booklet
Travelling Outside Canada,
issued
by the
Canada Border Services Agency
(
&
800/461-9999
in Canada, or 204/983-3500;
www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca). Australians need to read
Know Before You Go.
For more informa-
tion, call the
Australian Customs Service
at
&
1300/363263,
or download the PDF from
www.customs.gov.au
. For New Zealanders, most questions are answered under “Arriving
in New Zealand” at
www.customs.govt.nz
.
For more information, contact the
New Zea-
land Customs Service
(
&
0800/428786
or 09/300-5399).
Disabled Travelers
The best group to consult for trip-planning advice is
Tourism for
All UK,
Shap Road Industrial Estate, Shap Road, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 6NZ (
&
0845/
124-9971,
+ 44/1539/814683 from overseas; www.tourismforall.org.uk). The website also
has an invaluable list of relevant organizations to contact for advice relating to specific
chronic complaints. The
Royal Association for Disability Rights (RADAR),
12 City Forum,
250 City Rd., London EC1V 8AF (
&
020/7250-3222;
www.radar.org.uk), campaigns on
behalf of the disabled. RADAR also publishes a number of handy written resources and,
for a small fee, sells a key that opens over 8,000 locked public disabled toilets country-
wide (£3.50 includes U.K. P&P; £5.40 to anywhere in the world).
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