US cash is accepted in most retail outlets in Canada,
however you probably wont get a good exchange rate. The stores view this as a service offered
for your convenience.
The Universal
Currency Converter Services
Below is a currency converter provided by Xenon Laboratories. Xenon Laboratories is
not a financial institution. Their rates are derived from a variety of publicly available
sources, including live, real-time rate feeds from foreign exchange markets all around the
world. Although they strive to ensure their figures are correct, they can make no
guarantees as to their accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Currency rates specified
by financial institutions will differ from theirs, sometimes significantly. In addition,
currency rates will vary by geographical market. Use the currency converter to
calculate foreign exchange rate conversions from a selection of currencies:
The Travel
Expenses Calculator
Calculates a recommended claim for a travel expense by calculating the total expenditure
including bank charges. Have any receipts with you to input the required figures.
Another service from Xenon Laboratories.
The Interactive
Currency Table
Generate a list of exchange rates based on your choice of currency and date. Another
service from Xenon Laboratories.
Classic 164
Currency Converter
This service from OANDA offers currency conversion for 164 currencies from around the
world. The converter is updated daily at 08:00 PM EST (Eastern Standard Time) with
data from the previous day. The OANDA "Cheat Sheet for
Travelers" provides a handy table of converted amounts in your choice of
currencies. The various rates are useful as the average traveler is not likely to
get the "official" interbank market rates which generally reflect the exchange
rates for transactions of US $1 million or more! Retail rates which are used by
credit cards (typically 2%) or cash exchanges in banks (typically 4%) or other exchange
services usually vary from a 1 to 10 percent margin on the top of the interbank rates.
Retail rates vary from place to place, so to
find out the best places to change your money, contact your local bank or travel agency.
World Exchange Rates
This converter from Rubicon is visually appealing. Place the amount and type of
currency in the left frame, and in the right frame you will see its equivalents in the the
major currencies from around the world.
Time Zones
There are two time zones in the Pacific Northwest:
Mountain Standard Time (MST) = GMT-0700 (minus 7 hours from
Greenwich Mean Time, the previous day)
Pacific Standard Time (PST) = GMT-0800 (minus 8 hours from Greenwich Mean
Time, the previous day)
Washington, and most of British Columbia, Oregon
and Idaho lie within the Pacific time zone. Montana and small parts of British
Columbia (along the Alberta border), Oregon (along the Idaho border) and Idaho lie within
the evocatively-named Mountain time zone. The divide in north Idaho occurs along the
Salmon River, where it runs pretty much due west through the central Idaho wilderness
(where few people live) before continuing down through Oregon. Northern Idaho, which
relates commercially to the state of Washington, is on Pacific Time, while the rest of the
state, including Boise, is on Mountain Time.
Daylight Savings Time, also known as
"Summer Time" is observed during summer when clocks are set forward one hour at
2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and are set back one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday
of October. (This is slightly different from the European daylight savings
schedule.)
Mountain Daylight Savings Time (MDT) = GMT-0600 (minus 6 hours from
Greenwich Mean Time, the previous day)
Pacific Daylight Savings Time (PDT) = GMT-0700 (minus 7 hours from
Greenwich Mean Time, the previous day)
Official U.S.
Time - clock
Pacific Time Zone, Coordinated
Universal Time -8 hours; Not Daylight Saving Time. This public service
is cooperatively provided by the two time agencies of the United States: a
Department of Commerce agency, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), and its military counterpart, the U. S. Naval
Observatory (USNO). Readings from the clocks of these agencies contribute to
world time, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Time Zone Converter
Find out what the time is compared to the Pacific Northwest. Input your own time
zone location and choose America/Vancouver for Pacific Time, or America/Boise for Mountain
Time. You can do a conversion for current, past and future times. Useful for
figuring out those flight arrival times, or when to phone home.
Time
Zone Page - Results
Current times for cities around the Pacific Northwest. Supplied by
mich.com.
US Naval Observatory Master Clock time
An official, basic, but easy-to-read display of current times for all USA time zones.
Look for Pacific and Mountain Time.
United States of America
Map of the USA showing time zones and current times. Note the division across Idaho.
Supplied by Alexander Krivenyshev at WorldTimeZone. You might need to refresh
the page to get the updated times.
Go Northwest! tips on purchasing air tickets
online.
