Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

GETTING THERE 51
Two good wireless rental companies
are InTouch USA (& 800/872-7626;
www.intouchglobal.com) and Road-
Post (www.roadpost.com; & 888-290-
1606 or 905/272-5665). Give them
your itinerary, and they’ll tell you what
wireless products you need. InTouch
will also, for free, advise you on whether
your existing phone will work overseas;
simply call & 703/222-7161 between
9am and 4pm ET, or go to http://
intouchglobal.com/travel.htm.
For trips of more than a few weeks
spent in one country, buying a phone
becomes economically attractive, as
13 Getting There
BY PLANE
Australia is a long, long haul from
anywhere except New Zealand. Sydney
is a nearly 15-hour non-stop
flight from Los Angeles, longer if you
come via Honolulu. From the east
coast, add 5 1 ⁄2 hours. If you’re coming
from the States via Auckland, add
transit time in New Zealand plus
another 3 hours for the Auckland–
Sydney leg. If you are coming from
the United Kingdom, brace yourself
for a flight of 12 hours from London
to Asia; then possibly a long day in
transit, because flights to Australia
have a habit of arriving in Asia early
in the morning and departing around
midnight; and finally the 8- to 9-hour
flight to Australia.
Sydney, Cairns, Melbourne, Brisbane,
Adelaide, Darwin, and Perth are
all international gateways, but most
airlines fly only into Sydney, and a few
fly to Melbourne and Brisbane.
THE MAJOR CARRIERS
Here are toll-free reservations numbers
and websites for the major international
airlines serving Australia. The
“13” prefix in Australia means the
number is charged at the cost of a local
call from anywhere in the country.
many nations have cheap, no-questionsasked
prepaid phone systems. Stop by
a local cellphone shop and get the
cheapest package; you’ll probably pay
less than $100 for a phone and a
starter calling card. Local calls may be
as low as 10¢ per minute, and in many
countries incoming calls are free.
Per-minute call charges can be even
cheaper than roaming charges with a
regular cellphone, but the phone itself
is more expensive (up to $150 a week),
and depending on the service you
choose, people calling you may incur
high long-distance charges.
Carriers Flying from North
America
• Air Canada (& 888/247-2262
in the U.S. and Canada, 02/
92868900 in Sydney, or 1300/655
757 from elsewhere in Australia;
www.aircanada.ca)
• Air New Zealand (& 800/262-
1234 in the U.S., 310/615-1111
in the Los Angeles area, or 13 24
76 in Australia. In Canada: 800/
663-5494 for English, 800/799-
5494 for French, or 604/606-
0150 in Vancouver; www.airnew
zealand.com)
• Qantas (& 800/227-4500 in the
U.S. and Canada, or 13 13 13 in
Australia; www.qantas.com.au)
• United Airlines (& 800/538-
2929 in the U.S. and Canada, or
13 17 77 in Australia; www.ual.
com or www.united.ca)
Carriers Flying from the United
Kingdom
• British Airways (& 0845/773-
3377 in the U.K., 1800/626-747
in Ireland, 1300/767 177 in Australia;
www.britishairways.com)
• Cathay Pacific (& 020/8834-
8888 in the U.K., or 131 747
in Australia; www.cathaypacific.
com/uk)