Visitor Information

For a full information package on London, write to Visit London, Glen House, Victoria, Stag Place, London SW1E 5LT (tel. 020/7234-5800; www.visitlondon.co.uk).

Wales, like England, has a number of regional tourist offices, but the Visit Wales Centre is at The Old Library, The Hayes, Cardiff CF10 1NE (tel. 08701/211-258; www.visitwales.com). Detailed information is also available in London from the Wales Desk at the Britain Visitors Centre, 1 Regent St., London SW1Y 4XT (tel. 0800/192-192).

What's on the Web? -- The most useful site was created by a very knowledgeable source, the British Tourist Authority itself, with U.S. visitors targeted. A wealth of information can be tapped at www.visitbritain.com, which lets you order brochures online, provides trip-planning hints, and even allows e-mail questions for prompt answers. All of Great Britain is covered.

Go to www.baa.com for a guide and terminal maps for Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, and several other airports in the U.K., including flight arrival times, duty-free shops, airport restaurants, and info on getting from the London airports to downtown London. Getting around London can be confusing, so you may want to visit www.tfl.gov.uk for up-to-the-minute info. For the latest on London's theater scene, consult www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk. At www.multimap.com, you can access detailed street maps for the whole United Kingdom -- just key in the location or even just its postal code, and a map of the area with the location circled appears. For directions to specific places in London, consult www.streetmap.co.uk.

You may also wish to check out one of the following websites. AOL members can type in the keyword "Britain" and find a vibrant guide to the U.K. that gives you the skinny on arts, dining, nightlife, and more. To access the AOL London guide, type in the keyword "London."

A2B Travel (www.a2btravel.com) focuses on helping travelers plan and book their trips. It has lots of nifty tools such as bus, rail, and ferry guides; a point-to-point mileage calculator; and a guide to more than two dozen U.K. airports. At www.britannia.com, you'll find much more than a travel guide -- it's chock-full of lively features, history, and regional profiles, including sections on Wales and King Arthur.

English Heritage (www.english-heritage.org.uk) has trip planning information, accommodations, and an attractions finder that allows you to search by region. The National Trust (www.nationaltrust.org.uk) provides a similar service with a searchable online attractions finder featuring castles, museums, natural wonders, and more. Many hotels and sites that don't have their own web pages can be found in one of these two directories.

Online Traveler's Toolbox -- Veteran travelers usually carry some essential items to make their trips easier. Following is a selection of handy online tools to bookmark and use.

Telephones

To call England from North America, dial 011 (international code), 44 (Britain's country code), the local area codes (usually 3 or 4 digits and found in every phone number we've given in this guide), and the local phone number. The local area codes found throughout this book all begin with "0"; you drop the "0" if you're calling from outside Britain, but you need to dial it along with the area code if you're calling from another city or town within Britain. For calls within the same city or town, the local number is all you need.

For directory assistance in London, dial tel. 142; for the rest of Britain, tel. 192.

There are three types of public pay phones: those taking only coins, those accepting only phone cards (called Cardphones), and those taking both phone cards and credit cards. At coin-operated phones, insert your coins before dialing. The minimum charge is 10p (20¢).

Phone cards are available in four values -- £2 ($3.80), £4 ($7.60), £10 ($19), and £20 ($38) -- and are reusable until the total value has expired. Cards can be purchased from newsstands and post offices. Finally, the credit card pay phone -- Access (MasterCard), Visa, American Express, and Diners Club -- is most common at airports and large railway stations.

To make an international call from Britain, dial the international access code (00), then the country code, then the area code, and finally the local number. Or call through one of the following long-distance access codes: AT&T USA Direct (tel. 1800/CALL-ATT), Canada Direct (tel. 0800/890016), Australia (tel. 0800/890061), and New Zealand (tel. 0800/890064). Common country codes are: USA and Canada, 1; Australia, 61; New Zealand, 64; and South Africa, 27.

For calling collect or if you need an international operator, dial tel. 155.

Caller beware: Some hotels routinely add outrageous surcharges onto phone calls made from your room. Inquire before you call! It may be a lot cheaper to use your own calling-card number or to find a pay phone.

Internet Access Away from Home

Without you own Computer -- To find cybercafes check www.cybercaptive.com and www.cybercafe.com. Cybercafes are found in all large U.K. cities, especially London. But they do not tend to cluster in any particular neighborhoods because of competition. They are spread out, but can be found on almost every business street in London. easyInternet cafes (tel. 020/7241-9000; www.easyeverything.com) has 18 Great Britain locations.

Aside from formal cybercafes, most youth hostels and public libraries have Internet access. Avoid hotel business centers unless you're willing to pay exorbitant rates.

Most major airports now have Internet kiosks scattered throughout their gates. These give you basic Web access for a per-minute fee that's usually higher than cybercafe prices.

With your own Computer -- More and more hotels, cafes, and retailers are signing on as Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) "hot spots." Mac owners have their own networking technology: Apple AirPort. T-Mobile Hotspot (www.t-mobile.com/hotspot) serves up wireless connections at more than 1,000 Starbucks coffee shops nationwide. Boingo (www.boingo.com) and Wayport (www.wayport.com) have set up networks in airports and high-class hotel lobbies. IPass providers also give you access to a few hundred wireless hotel lobby setups. To locate other hot spots that provide free wireless networks in cities around the world, go to www.personaltelco.net.

For dial-up access, most business-class hotels throughout the world offer dataports for laptop modems, and a few thousand hotels in the U.S. and Europe now offer free high-speed Internet access. In addition, major Internet service providers (ISPs) have local access numbers around the world, allowing you to go online by placing a local call. The iPass network also has dial-up numbers around the world. You'll have to sign up with an iPass provider, who will then tell you how to set up your computer for your destination(s). For a list of iPass providers, go to www.ipass.com and click on "Individuals Buy Now." One solid provider is i2roam (tel. 866/811-6209 or 920/233-5863; www.i2roam.com).

Wherever you go, bring a connection kit of the right power and phone adapters, a spare phone cord, and a spare Ethernet network cable -- or find out whether your hotel supplies them to guests.

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Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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				Frommer's England 2008 Author: Darwin Porter Pub Date: October 01, 2007 Price: $23.99				Related Titles: England For Dummies, 4th Edition Frommer's Best Day Trips from London: 25 Great Escapes by Train, Bus or Car, 3rd Edition Frommer's Britain's Best-Loved Driving Tours, 8th Edition

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