Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
39
What Things Cost in Los Angeles
US$
Taxi from the airport to Downtown
42.00
SuperShuttle from LAX to West Hollywood area
25.00
Fine for expired parking meter
35.00-60.00
Double room at the Beverly Hills Hotel (absurdly expensive)
500.00
Double room at the Beach House at Hermosa Beach (expensive)
349.00
Double room at the Standard (moderate)
175.00
Double room at the Sea Shore Motel (inexpensive)
90.00
Lunch for one at Cafe P inot (moderate)
22.00
Bacon Chili Cheese Dog at Pink's
4.30
Dinner for one, without wine, at K oi (expensive)
45.00
Dinner for one, without wine, at Bor der Grill (moderate)
25.00
Dinner for one, without wine, at G ood Stuff (inexpensive)
12.00
Cup of coffee at Philippe The Original
.09
Cup of coffee at the Peninsula Hotel
3.25
2-hour StarLine Movie Star's Home Tour
37.00
Admission to the Hollywood Wax Museum
16.00
Admission to the Getty Museum
Free
Full-price movie ticket
11.50
3
advances from your credit cards at banks
or ATMs, but high fees make cr edit card
cash advances a pricey way to get cash.
It's highly r ecommended that y ou travel
with at least one major cr edit car d. You
must hav e a cr edit card to r ent a car , and
hotels and airlines usually r equire a cr edit
card imprint as a deposit against expenses.
ATM car ds with major cr edit car d
backing, known as
“debit cards,”
are now
a commonly acceptable form of payment
in most stores and restaurants. Debit cards
draw money dir ectly from your checking
account. Some stores enable you to receive
cash back on y our debit-card purchases as
well. The same is tr ue at most U.S. post
offices.
Traveler's checks used to be the only sound
alternative to trav eling with danger ously
large amounts of cash. They were as r eli-
able as currency, but, unlike cash, could be
replaced if lost or stolen.
These days, trav eler's checks ar e less
necessary because most cities have 24-hour
ATMs that allo w y ou to withdraw small
amounts of cash as needed. However, keep
in mind that you will likely be charged an
ATM withdrawal fee if the bank is not
your own, so if you're withdrawing money
every day, y ou might be better off with
traveler's checks—provided that you don't
mind sho wing identification ev ery time
you want to cash one. Visitors should
make sure that traveler's checks are denom-
inated in U.S. dollars; for eign-currency
checks are often difficult to exchange.
You can buy trav eler's checks at most
banks. Most are offered in denominations
of $20, $50, $100, $500, and sometimes
TRAVELER'S CHECKS
Traveler's checks ar e something of an
anachronism fr om the days befor e the
ATM made cash accessible at any time.
