ESSENTIALS - Canadian Rockies: Including Banff and Jasper National Parks - page 567

HEADING FARTHER AFIELD
If your travels take you beyond the Canadian Rockies, you may find the following
resources helpful for pretrip planning:
• Travel Alberta: 780/427-4321 or 800/252-3782, www.travelalberta.com
• Tourism British Columbia: 250/387-1642 or 800/435-5622, www.hellobc.com
• Yukon Department of Tourism and Culture: 867/667-5036 or 800/661-0494,
www.travelyukon.com
• Alaska Travel Industry Association: www.travelalaska.com
• NWT Tourism: 867/873-7200 or 800/661-0788, www.spectacularnwt.com
• Tourism Saskatchewan: 306/787-9600 or 877/237-2273, www.sasktourism.com
• Travel Manitoba: 204/945-3777 or 800/665-0040, www.travelmanitoba.com
Public phones accept 5-, 10-, and 25-cent coins. Local calls cost $0.35, and most long-
distance calls from public phones cost at least $2 for the first minute. Phone cards, avail-
able from drug and grocery stores, provide considerable savings for those using public
phones.
Internet Access
Most Internet providers allow you to access your email away from your home computer,
or open an email account with Hotmail ( www.hotmail.com ) or Yahoo ( www.yahoo.com ).
Although there are restrictions to the size and number of emails you can store, these ser-
vices are handy and, best of all, free.
Public Internet access is available throughout the Canadian Rockies. Most lodgings
have Wi-Fi or high-speed access from guest rooms (the exception are lodges in remote
locations). Except for wilderness hostels, backpacker lodges provide inexpensive Internet
access. You'll also find Internet cafés in Banff, Canmore, and Jasper, as well as booths in
some regular cafés, and in public areas, such as Cascade Plaza (Banff), where a credit card
will allow you to spend as much time as you need online. Aside from a lack of privacy, the
downside to these public access points is the lack of a mouse at most terminals—instead
you must move around the screen using a touch pad.