Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TELEPHONES
Many convenience gro-
ceries and packaging ser vices sell
prepaid
calling cards
in denominations up to $50;
for international visitors these can be the
least expensiv e way to call home. M any
public pay phones at airpor ts now accept
American E xpress, M asterCard, and Visa
credit car ds.
Local calls
made fr om pay
phones in most locales cost either 25¢ or
35¢. Most long-distance and international
calls can be dialed dir ectly fr om any
phone.
For calls within the United States
and to Canada,
dial 1 followed by the area
code and the sev en-digit number .
For
other inter national calls,
dial 011 fol-
lowed by the country code, city code, and
the number you are calling.
Calls to area codes
800, 888, 877,
and
866
are toll-fr ee. H owever, calls to ar ea
codes
700
and
900
(chat lines, bulletin
boards, “dating” ser vices, and so on) can
be very expensive—usually a charge of 95¢
to $3 or more per minute, and they some-
times have minimum charges that can run
as high as $15 or mor e.
For
reversed-charge or collect calls,
and for person-to-person calls, dial the
number 0 then the area code and number;
an operator will come on the line, and you
should specify whether you are calling col-
lect, person-to-person, or both. I f y our
operator-assisted call is international, ask
for the overseas operator.
For
local directory assistance
(“infor-
mation”), dial
319
Street, Dublin 2 (
&
01/671-1633;
www.
irlgov.ie/iveagh).
For Residents of New Zealand
Contact
the
Passports Office
at
&
0800/225-050
in N ew Z ealand or 04/474-8100, or log
on to www.passports.govt.nz.
For R esidents of the U nited K ing-
dom
Visit y our near est passpor t office,
major post office, or trav el agency or con-
tact the
United K ingdom Passport S er-
vice
at
&
0870/521-0410.
For Residents of the U nited States
To
find y our r egional passpor t office, either
check the U.S. S tate Department website
(www.state.gov) or call the
National Pass-
port I nformation Center
toll-fr ee num-
ber (
&
877/487-2778
) for automated
information.
POLICE
In an emergency, dial
&
911.
For nonemergency police matters, call
&
213/485-2121;
in B everly H ills, dial
&
310/550-4951.
SMOKING
Heavy smokers ar e in for a
tough time in Los Angeles. S moking is
banned in public buildings, spor ts arenas,
elevators, theaters, banks, lobbies, r estau-
rants, offices, stor es, bed-and-br eakfasts,
most small hotels, and bars. That's right—
as of J anuary 1, 1998, y ou can 't ev en
smoke in a bar in California. The only
exception is a bar wher e drinks are served
solely b y the o wner. You will find, ho w-
ever, that many neighborhood bars turn a
blind eye and pass you an ashtray.
TAXES
The United States has no v alue-
added tax ( VAT) or other indir ect tax at
the national level. Every state, county, and
city may levy its o wn local tax on all pur-
chases, including hotel and r estaurant
checks and airline tickets. These taxes will
not appear on price tags. S ales tax in Los
Angeles is 9.75%. Hotel tax is charged on
the room tariff only (which is not subject
to sales tax) and is set b y the city, ranging
from 12% to 17% ar
12
411;
for long-distance
information, dial 1, then the appr opriate
area code and
555-1212.
TIME
Los Angeles is in the Pacific Stan-
dard Time zone, which is 8 hours behind
Greenwich Mean Time and 3 hours behind
Eastern Standard Time.
The continental United States is divided
into
four time z ones:
Eastern S tandard
Time (EST ), Central S tandard Time
(CST), Mountain Standard Time (MST),
and Pacific Standard Time (PST ). Alaska
and H awaii hav e their o wn z ones. F or
example, when it 's 9am in Los Angeles
ound S outhern
California.
