Currency in Vancouver
Notes in Canada
Paper currency comes in denominations of five (blue), 10 (purple), 20 (green) and 50 (red). The brown 100.00 CAD bill and larger bills are less common and can be difficult to change.
Coins in Canada
Canadian coins come in denominations of one (penny), five (nickel), 10 (dime) and 25 (quarter) cent pieces. There are also the gold 1.00 CAD (loonie) and 2.00 CAD (toonie) pieces. The gold-coloured loonie features the loon, a common Canadian water bird, while the two-toned toonie is jauntily decorated with a polar bear.
Preferred Form of Payment in Vancouver
You can easily get by with a credit/debit card in all but the smallest towns. Keep an extra card and a couple of travellers cheques if you're the precautious type.
Changing Your Money in Vancouver
It's best to change money at companies such as American Express or Thomas Cook/Travelex, which specialise in international transactions. If you can't find a money exchange office or booth, try a bank. American Express and Thomas Cook are the best travellers cheques to have, and you should make sure they are either in US or Canadian dollar denominations. Credit cards are widely accepted, especially Visa, MasterCard and American Express. ABMs (ATMs) are common throughout Canada.
Money Tips
You will find ATMs in many grocery stores, malls, airports and so on, and most are linked to the international networks, the most common being Cirrus, Plus, Star and Maestro. You can also grab cash from an ATM if you use a major credit card although this method tends to be more expensive because, in addition to a service fee, you'll be charged interest immediately.
Be aware that shops and businesses rarely accept personal cheques, but credit cards are widely accepted (except perhaps in remote, rural communities where cash is king). Still, you'll find it hard or impossible to rent a car, book a room or order tickets over the phone without having a piece of plastic.
Using a Telephone in Vancouver
Local calls cost 0.25 CAD from public pay phones which are either coin or card operated; a few accept credit cards or have data ports for laptop Internet connections. Most downtown and Greater Vancouver phone numbers, as well as Whistler and the Sunshine Coast, take the 604 area code, although 778 is being used for new numbers. Dial all 10 digits of a given phone number, including the three-digit area code and seven digit number, even for local calls. In some instances (ie between Vancouver and Whistler), numbers will have the same area code but be long distance; at such times, you need to dial '1' before the area code, and an operator will
come on the line to inform you of this. Always dial '1' before other domestic long distance and toll-free (800, 888, 877, etc) numbers. Some numbers are toll-free anywhere in North America, others are free within Canada only. International rates apply for calls to the USA, even though the dialing code (1) is the same as for Canadian long-distance calls. Dial 011 followed by the country code for all other overseas direct-dial calls.
Using a Mobile Phone in Vancouver
The only foreign phones that will work in North America are tri-band models, operating on
GSM 1900 and other frequencies. If you don't have such a phone, your best bet may be to buy a prepaid one there. North America uses a variety of mobile phone systems, most of which are incompatible with the GSM 900/1800 standard used throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Check with your own service provider about using your phone
while in Canada as calls may be routed internationally. US travellers should beware of roaming surcharges which can make a 'local' call very expensive. The GSM/GPRS network is sparse, so reception may be poor outside urban areas.
Doing Business in Vancouver
Vancouver is a bit of a hotspot for conventions
and trade shows, with the city's Convention & Exhibition Centre (tel: 604 689 8232; www.vanconex.com; Canada Pl) hosting more than
350 events annually. Tourism Vancouver also assists business travellers and provides a list
of suppliers (copying, printing etc) on its website. Kinko's offers a full range of services,
from on-site computer rental to high-quality
colour printing, and accepts FedEx drop-offs.
Vancouver's Central Business District sits between Burrard Inlet and False Creek and is bordered by Stanley Park, the West End and Cambie Street. Its centre is roughly a ten block section fanning out from the Georgia and Granville intersection. Although it may be somewhat compact at the moment, a program of urban renewal could see the definition of the CBD stretched out further to include some of the inner-city neighbourhoods.
Media in Vancouver
Vancouver is a media hub, with a plethora of small publishers, an abundance
of magazine shops and a thriving TV and film production industry. The city's two daily newspapers - the Vancouver Sun and the Province - are both published
by Pacific Newspaper Group, but what the mainstream media lacks in diversity, the city's myriad alternative weeklies,
monthly magazines, multicultural radio stations and foreign-language newspapers more
than make up for.
