Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
391
medicines. Hotels add another 3% to 6%
in resort taxes to your bill, so the total tax on
accommodations can run you up to 13.5%.
TELEPHONES
Many convenience gro-
ceries and packaging services sell
prepaid
calling cards
in denominations up to $50;
for international visitors these can be the
least expensive way to call home. Many
public pay phones at airports now accept
American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
credit cards.
Local calls
made from pay
phones in most locales cost either 25¢ or
35¢ (no pennies, please). Most long-dis-
tance and international calls can be dialed
directly from any phone.
For calls within
the United States and to Canada,
dial 1
followed by the area code and the seven-
digit number.
For other international calls,
dial 011 followed by the country code, city
code, and the number you are calling.
Calls to area codes
800, 888, 877,
and
866
are toll-free. However, calls to area
codes
700
and
900
(chat lines, bulletin
boards, “dating” services, 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 more.
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. If your
operator-assisted call is international, ask
for the overseas operator.
For
local directory assistance
(“infor-
mation”), dial
411;
for long-distance
information, dial 1, then the appropriate
area code, and 555-1212.
TIME
Orlando is in the
Eastern Stan-
dard Time (EST)
zone, which is 1 hour
later than Chicago, 3 hours later than Los
Angeles, 5 hours earlier than London, and
12 hours earlier than Sydney. The conti-
nental United States is divided into
four
time zones:
Eastern Standard Time (EST),
Central Standard Time (CST), Mountain
Standard Time (MST), and Pacific Stan-
dard Time (PST). Alaska and Hawaii have
their own zones. For example, when it's
9am in Los Angeles (PST), it's 7am in
Honolulu (HST), 10am in Denver (MST),
11am in Chicago (CST), noon in New
York City (EST), 5pm in London (GMT),
and 2am the next day in Sydney.
Daylight saving time
is in effect from
1am on the second Sunday in March to
1am on the first Sunday in November,
except in Arizona, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin
Islands, and Puerto Rico. Daylight saving
time moves the clock 1 hour ahead of
standard time.
TIPPING
Tips are a very important part
of certain workers' income, and gratuities
are the standard way of showing apprecia-
tion for services provided. (Tipping is
certainly not compulsory if the service is
poor!) In hotels, tip
bellhops
at least $1
per bag ($2-$3 if you have a lot of lug-
gage) and tip the
chamber staff
$1 to $2
per day (more if you've left a disaster area
for him or her to clean up). Tip the
door-
man
or
concierge
only if he or she has
provided you with some specific service
(for example, calling a cab for you or
obtaining difficult-to-get theater tickets).
Tip the
valet-parking attendant
$1 every
time you get your car.
In restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, tip
service staff
and
bartenders
15% to 20%
of the check, tip
checkroom attendants
$1 per garment, and tip
valet-parking
attendants
$1 per vehicle.
As for other service personnel, tip
cab
drivers
15% of the fare; tip
skycaps
at
airports at least $1 per bag ($2-$3 if you
have a lot of luggage); and tip
hairdressers
and
barbers
15% to 20%.
TOILETS
You won't find public toilets
or “restrooms” on the streets in most U.S.
cities, but they can be found in hotel
lobbies, bars, restaurants, museums,
department stores, railway and bus sta-
tions, and service stations. Large hotels
and fast-food restaurants are often the best
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