Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Online Traveler's Toolbox
Veteran travelers usually carry some essential items to make their trips
easier. Following is a selection of online tools to bookmark and use.
•
Visa ATM Locator
(www.visa.com), for locations of Plus ATMs
worldwide, or
MasterCard ATM Locator
(www.mastercard.com), for
locations of Cirrus ATMs worldwide.
•
Intellicast
(www.intellicast.com) and
Weather.com
(www.weather.
com). Gives weather forecasts for all 50 states and for cities around
the world.
•
Mapquest
(www.mapquest.com). This best of the mapping sites lets
you choose a specific address or destination, and in seconds, it will
return a map and detailed directions.
•
Universal Currency Converter
(www.xe.com/ucc). See what your dol-
lar or pound is worth in more than 100 other countries.
•
Travel Warnings
(http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html, www.
fco.gov.uk/travel, www.voyage.gc.ca, www.dfat.gov.au/consular/
advice). These sites report on places where health concerns or unrest
might threaten American, British, Canadian, and Australian travel-
ers. Generally, U.S. warnings are the most paranoid; Australian
warnings are the most relaxed.
phone-rental agencies bill in local cur-
rency and may not let you take the
phone to another country.
In Australia, mobile phone com-
pany
Vodafone
(www.vodarent.com.
au) has outlets at Brisbane, Cairns,
Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne inter-
national airports as well as stores in
Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast
and at 50 Park St. in Sydney. They
cost between A$8 and A$10
(US$5-US$6.50) a day, plus call
charges and insurance, depending on
the kind of phone and coverage you
want.
Two good wireless rental companies
are
InTouch USA
(
&
800/872-7626;
www.intouchglobal.com) and
Road-
Post
(
&
888/290-1606
or 905/272-
5665; www.roadpost.com). Give them
your itinerary, and they'll tell you
what wireless products you need.
InTouch will also, for free, advise you
on whether your existing phone will
work overseas; simply call
&
703/
222-7161
between 9am and 4pm
Eastern Standard Time, or go to
http://intouchglobal.com/travel.htm.
For trips of more than a few weeks
spent in one country,
buying a phone
becomes economically attractive, as
many nations have cheap, no-ques-
tions-asked prepaid phone systems.
Stop by a local cellphone shop and get
the cheapest package; you'll probably
pay less than US$100 for a phone and
a starter calling card. Local calls may
be as low as US10¢ per minute, and in
many countries incoming calls are
free.
True wilderness adventurers, or
those heading to less-developed coun-
tries, should consider renting a
satel-
lite phone
(see above). Per-minute
call charges can be even cheaper than
roaming charges with a regular cell-
phone, but the phone itself is more
expensive (up to US$150 a week), and
depending on the service you choose,
people calling you may incur high
long-distance charges.
