Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE EURO (€)
The euro is the currency of seventeen EU countries (and a couple of others). Coins come as 1c, 2c, 5c,
10c, 20c, 50c, €1 and €2, with one side of the coin stating the denomination while the other side has a
design unique to the issuing country. Euro notes come as €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500. At
thetimeofwriting,£1wasworth€1.17,US$1gotyou€0.76,Can$1was€0.72,Aus$1equalled€0.67,
NZ$1 was €0.59 and ZAR1 was €0.08. Check xe.com for the latest exchange rates.
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Phones
It is nearly always possible, especially in Western Europe, to make international calls from
a public call box. Otherwise, you can go to a post office, or a special phone bureau, where
you can make a call from a private booth and pay afterwards. Avoid using the phone in your
hotel.
To call any country in this topic from Britain, Ireland, South Africa or New Zealand, dial
00, then the country code, then the city/area code (if there is one) without the initial zero -
except for the following: Russia and Lithuania (where there is no initial zero); Italy, where
the initial zero (or 3 for a cellphone) must be dialled; and Denmark, the Czech Republic,
Latvia,Portugal,Spain,AndorraandGibraltar,wheretherearenoareacodes,andthewhole
number must be dialled. From the US and most of Canada, the international access code is
011, from Australia it's 0011; otherwise the procedure is the same.
To call home from almost all European countries, including Morocco and Turkey, dial 00,
then the country code, then the city/area code (without the initial zero if there is one), then
the local number. The exception is Russia, where you dial 8, wait for a continuous dialling
tone and then dial 10, followed by the country code, area code and number.
For collect calls , use the “Home Country Direct” service. In the UK and some other coun-
tries, international calling cards available from newsagents enable you to call North Amer-
ica, Australia and New Zealand very cheaply. Most North American, British, Irish and Aus-
tralasian phone companies either allow you to call home on a credit card, or billed to your
home number (contact your company's customer services before you leave to find out their
toll-free access codes from the countries you'll be visiting), or else will issue an internation-
al calling card which can be used worldwide, and for which you will be billed at home. If
you want a calling card and do not already have one, leave yourself a few weeks to arrange
it before leaving.
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