Airlines Toll-free phone
numbers of foreign airlines
include: Air India tel
1-800/223-7776; Air New Zealand
tel 1-800/262-1234; British
Airways tel 1-800/247-9297; El
Al tel 1-800/223-6700; Japan Air
Lines tel 1-800/525-3663; Korean
Airlines tel 1-800/438-5000;
Kuwait Airwaystel
1-800/458-9248; Qantas Airways
tel 1-800/227-4500; Virgin
Atlantic Airways tel
1-800/862-8621.
Consulates Australia,
150 E 42nd St (tel
212/351-6500); Canada, 1251 6th
Ave at 50th St (tel
212/596-1628); Denmark, 1 Dag
Hammarskjöld Plaza (tel
212/223-4545); France, 934 5th
Ave (tel 212/606-3600); Germany,
871 UN Plaza (tel 212/610-9700);
Ireland, 345 Park Ave at 51st St
(tel 212/319-2555); Italy, 690
Park Ave (tel 212/737-9100);
Netherlands, 1 Rockefeller Plaza
(entrance at 14 W 49th St
between 5th and 6th aves) (tel
212/246-1429); New Zealand, 780
3rd Ave (tel 212/832-4038);
Spain, 150 E 58th St (tel
212/355-4080); Sweden, 1 Dag
Hammarskjöld Plaza (tel
212/583-2550); UK, 845 3rd Ave
between 51st and 52nd sts (tel
212/745-0200).
Electric Current 110V
AC with two-pronged plugs.
Unless they're dual voltage, all
British appliances will need a
voltage converter as well as a
plug adapter. Be warned, some
converters may not be able to
handle certain high-wattage
items, especially those with
heated elements.
Emergencies For
Police, Fire or Ambulance dial
911.
ID Carry some at all
times, as there are any number
of occasions on which you may be
asked to show it. Two pieces of
ID are preferable and one should
have a photo - passport and
credit card are the best bets.
Laundry Hotels do it
but charge a lot. You're much
better off going to an ordinary
laundromat or dry cleaner, both
of which you'll find plenty of
in the Yellow Pages .
Left Luggage The most
likely place to dump your stuff
is Grand Central Station (42nd
St and Park Ave tel
212/340-2555), where the
luggage/lost and found
department is by Track 100, on
the lower level, open Mon-Fri
7am-11pm, Sat & Sun
10am-11pm, and charges $2 per
item per calendar day. Photo ID
required.
Lost Property Things
lost on buses or on the subway:
NYC Transit Authority, at the
34th St/8th Ave Station at the
north end on the lower level
subway mezzanine (Mon-Wed &
Fri 8am-noon, Thurs 11am-6.30pm
tel 212/712-4500). Things lost
on Amtrak: Penn Station (Mon-Fri
7.30am-4pm tel 212/630-7389).
Things lost in a cab: Taxi &
Limousine Commission Lost
Property Information Dept, 40
Rector St between Washington St
and the West Side Highway
(Mon-Fri 9am-5pm except national
holidays tel 212/302-8294).
Noticeboards For
contacts, casual work, articles
for sale, etc, it's hard to beat
the noticeboard just inside the
doorway of the Village Voice
office at 36 Cooper Square (just
south of the Astor Place subway
stop). Otherwise there are
numerous noticeboards up at
Columbia University, in the Loeb
Student Center of NYU on
Washington Square, and in the
groovier coffee shops, health
food stores and restaurants in
the East Village.
Public Holidays You'll
find all banks, most offices,
some stores and certain museums
closed on the following days:
January 1; Martin Luther King's
Birthday (third Mon in Jan);
Presidents' Day (third Mon in
Feb); Memorial Day (last Mon in
May); Independence Day (July 4
or, if it falls on a weekend,
the following Mon); Labor Day
(first Mon in Sept); Columbus
Day (second Mon in Oct);
Veterans Day (Nov 11);
Thanksgiving (the third or last
Thurs in Nov); Christmas Day
(Dec 25). Also, New York's
numerous parades mean that on
certain days - St Patrick's Day,
Gay Pride Day, Easter Sunday and
Columbus Day, to name a few -
much of 5th Ave is closed to
traffic altogether.
Tax Within New York
City you'll pay an 8.25 percent
sales tax on top of marked
prices on just about everything
but the very barest of
essentials, a measure brought in
to help alleviate the city's
1975 economic crisis, and one
that stuck.
Terminals and Transit
Information Grand Central
Terminal, 42nd St and Park Ave
(Metro-North commuter trains tel
212/532-4900); Pennsylvania
Station, 33rd St and 8th Ave
(Amtrak tel 1-800/USA-RAIL or
212/582-6875); New Jersey
Transit (tel 973/762-5100); Long
Island Railroad (LIRR tel
718/217-5477); PATH trains (tel
1-800/234-7284); Port Authority
Bus Terminal, 41st St and 8th
Ave, and George Washington
Bridge Bus Terminal, W 178th St
(between Broadway and Fort
Washington) both tel
212/564-8484; Greyhound (tel
1-800/231-2222); Peter Pan
Trailways (tel 1-800/343-9999);
Bonanza (tel 1-800/556-3815).
Time Three hours ahead
of West Coast North America,
five hours behind Britain and
Ireland, fourteen to sixteen
hours behind East Coast
Australia (variations for
Daylight Savings Time), sixteen
to eighteen hours behind New
Zealand (variations for Daylight
Savings Time).
Tipping Expected
everywhere a service is
performed; in restaurants,
easiest just to double the tax.
