Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Large hotels and fast-food restaurants are probably the best bet for
good, clean facilities.
Safety
See section 1 of this chapter.
Taxes
The United States does not have a value-added tax (VAT) or other
indirect tax at a national level. Every state, and each county and city in it,
is allowed to levy its own local tax on purchases.
In Seattle, the sales tax rate is 8.8%. Also, you'll pay around 30% in
taxes and concession fees when you rent a car at Seattle-Tacoma Airport.
You'll save 10% to 11% by renting somewhere other than the airport.
Hotel room taxes range from around 10% to 16%.
Telephone & Fax
The telephone system in the United States is run by pri-
vate corporations, so rates, especially for long-distance service and operator-
assisted calls, can vary widely. Generally, hotel surcharges on long-distance
and local calls are astronomical, so you're usually better off using a
public
pay telephone.
Grocery stores, convenience stores, and gas stations almost
always have them. Many supermarkets and convenience stores also sell
pre-
paid calling cards;
these cards can be the least expensive way to call home.
Many public phones at airports now accept American Express, MasterCard,
and Visa.
Local calls
made from public pay phones usually cost 35¢ or 50¢.
Pay phones do not accept pennies, and few take anything larger than a
quarter.
Most long-distance and international calls can be dialed directly from
any phone.
For calls within the United States and to Canada,
dial 1 fol-
lowed by the area code and the seven-digit number.
For other interna-
tional calls,
dial 011 followed by the country code, city code, and
telephone number of the person you are calling.
Calls to area codes
800, 888, 877,
and
866
are toll-free. However, calls
to numbers in area codes
700
and
900
(chat lines, bulletin boards, “dat-
ing” services, and so on) can be very expensive—usually 95¢ to $3 or more
per minute.
For
reversed-charge
or
collect calls,
and for
person-to-person calls,
dial
0 (zero, not the letter
O
) followed by the area code and number you
want; an operator will then come on the line, and you should specify that
you are calling collect, or person-to-person, or both. If your operator-
assisted call is international, ask for the overseas operator.
For
local directory assistance
(“information”), dial 411; for long-distance
information, dial 1, then the appropriate area code and 555-1212.
There are two kinds of telephone directories in the United States. The
White Pages
lists private households and business subscribers in alphabeti-
cal order. The inside front cover lists emergency numbers for police, fire,
ambulance, and so on. The first few pages tell you how to make long-dis-
tance and international calls, complete with country codes and area codes.
Government numbers are usually printed on blue paper within the White
Pages. Printed on yellow paper, the
Yellow Pages
lists local services, busi-
nesses, industries, and such according to category. The Yellow Pages
includes maps, postal ZIP codes, and public transportation routes.
Time
The United States is divided into six time zones. From east to west,
they are Eastern Standard Time (EST), Central Standard Time (CST), Moun-
tain Standard Time (MST), Pacific Standard Time (PST), Alaska Standard