CCVS - Villen & Ferienhäuser in Cape Coral, Florida!

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Preparations

Immigration Rules:
Guests from a foreign country need a valid pass-port which is still valid for at least 6 months after the end of their journey. German residents do not need visa anymore.

When entering the United States all visitors have to pass by customs. Specified dutiable goods have to be stated on the form that you get in the aircraft. Money can be brought into the country, any amount is possible. Sums above $ 5000,-, however, have to be stated. The state of Florida recognizes the drivers' licences of 120 countries for a period of max. one year.

Actual Info under: www.usembassy.de

Clothes / What to wear:
In Florida everyone prefers casual clothing. Just in and around Palm Beach one likes it more formal. Easy and relaxed clothes of na-tural materials are exactly what you need: Shorts, T-Shirts, sandals or sport-shoes. At daytime you may wear beach clothing nearby the beach, however not in the evenings. For men jackets are appropriate in the evening, ladies may wear trousers or a dress. Formal clothing is adequate in luxurous restaurants and hotels.

Against intense sunshine one should wear a hat or a cap. If you travel in winter you shouldn't forget a warm sweater.

Don't walk barefoot unless you are on the beach. Most streets have a surface of ce-ment or asphalt which means that they can be extremely hot during summer time.

Climate:
Florida's climate is some-thing you can absolutely rely on! And you won't really notice the seasons. In summer, daily rain is nor-mal, and luckily it often cools down because of these showers. The other seasons are not that rainy but the more southwards you come, the more humid it gets.

The deepest average temperature in winter is around 5 degrees in the northern pan handle and about 18 degrees at the southern most Florida Keys. The highest temperatures are about 10 degrees more, respectively. The highest average temperature in summer is around 30 to 35 degrees in the whole state. At night times it's about 5 degrees cooler.

The following table shows the deepest and highest average temperatures (in Celsius) for Cape Coral. We also state the quantity of the monthly rain. Figures are given from the local Cham-ber of Commerce.

Month	Temperature night/day	monthly rain
jan. - march	17° / 25°	4 cm
april - june	22° / 29°	8 cm
july - sept.	25° / 31°	13 cm
oct. - dec.	20° / 26°	8 cm

Additionally to the rain and the temperatures, Florida's visitors will notice the relatively high humidity. Because of that it often seems to be hotter than the weather forecast says.

Currency / Money Change:
Foreign currencies can easily be changed at the airport of arrival or in any bigger bank. Most hotels do also change money, the exchange rates, however, can be more unfavourable than with banks.

Usually, banks are open Mondays to Fridays, 9 am to 3 pm. Some banks do have extended hours of business, a few are even open on Saturdays from 9 am til noon. Although bigger shops and depart-ment stores also change foreign money besides banks and hotels, we re-commend to take travellers' cheques.

The worldwide known credit cards like American Express, Diners, Eurocard, Mastercard and VISA are welcomed at most re-staurants, shops, hotels, petrol stations and so on.

Traffic:
In Florida every foreigner may drive a car as long as he has got a valid driver's licence in his home country. Residents of a few countries will have to present an international driver's licence.

Before entering a car you should, however, be familiar with the following traffic regulations:

Traffic lights:
Red: Stop. Yellow: Attention, lights will change from green to red. Green: Go on. Green arrow: Go on in the direction told. Red flashing light: Stop, then go on slowly. Yellow flashing light: Slow down, then go on slowly.

Traffic regulations:
In Florida they drive on the right. If you want to overtake on the highway, use the left lane. Turning right with red lights: After having stopped you may turn off to the right with red lights, unless it is prohibited by other signs.

Speed: The maxium speed on highways is 70 mph (112 km/h), in residential areas between 20 and 40 mph (32 - 64 km/h).

Signs on the road tell you the required speed and we advise you to strictly follow them!

Accidents:
All accidents have to be reported to the local police station, the County Sheriff's Office or the Florida Highway Patrol.

School busses:
While passengers get on or off the school bus all cars on both sides of the street must stop. They won't have to do this if the highway is divided into two different lanes.

Rescue service cars:
All cars have to get out of the way of police cars, ambulances or fire brigades as well as all others with sirens and/or red lights.

Toll motorway / Turnpikes:
Airport Expressway: City of Miami to Miami International Airport, 14 km. Bee Line Expressway: Orlando to Cape Canaveral, 85 km. Dolphin Expressway: City of Miami to Palmetto Expressway, 14 km. Everglades Expressway: Business area of South Orlando, 22 km. Florida Turnpike: Wildwood to Homestead, 510 km. J. Turner Butler Expressway: S. R. 115 to Jacksonville Beach, 16 km. Sawgrass Parkway: northwest of Fort Lauderdale, 35 km. South Crosstown Expressway: Tampa, 28 km. There are constantly new roads that make new links possible.

In order to be up to date on this you should get yourself a Florida Official Transportation Map, available at the Florida Department of Commerce, Collins Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2000.

Maps are also obtainable at petrol stations. They were formerly given out to travellers for free, nowadays they will charge you one to two dollars for a map. In tourist offices you will, however, get maps and more information for free. The prices for petrol do, of course, also change in Florida. Among other reasons they depend on whether it is a self-service station or whether you will be served.

Electricity:
The USA do have 110 V, AC. Do bring your own adapters or transformers, if necessary.

Festivals / Public Holidays:
In Florida there are so many festivals or special events over the year that it would just be too much to list them all! It is easier to mention that all towns and villages with tourism organise lots of festivals like music or film festivals, art events and those with culinary highlights as well as all kind of cultural festivals. A detailed list of all happenings is available at the Department of Commerce, Division of Tourism, 126 W. Van Buren Street, Tallahassee, FL 33299-2000, Tel. 904/487-1462.

Municipal, state and county offices as well as most banks and shops are closed on the following public holidays:

New Year	January, 1st
M. Luther King's Birthd	January, 15th
President's Day	3rd Monday in Feb.
Memorial Day	last Monday in May
Independence Day	July, 4th
Labor Day	first Monday in Sept.
Columbus Day	Nov., 11th
Veteran's Day	11. November
Thanksgiving Day	4th Thursday in Nov.
Christmas	December, 25th

Additionally to these holidays that are valid for the whole state, communities or towns might still have their own holidays plus various religious days.

Shopping:
There's nothing you cannot buy in Florida's shops! You can just get everything.
In general, shops are open Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 9 pm, and from 9 am to 6 pm on Sundays.

Bed sizes:

In the U.S., one finds the following standard bed sizes:
Twin size (99 x 190.5 cm) is designed for one person and is therefore also called single.
Twin X-Long Size (99 x 203 cm) isa single bed for a large person. This bed size is found mainly in dormitories.
Full size (137 x 190.5 cm) is the smallest double bed size and also called Double Bed.
Queen size (152 x 203 cm) is wider and longer than a Full.
King size (193 x 203 cm), this bed is much wider as Queen. Is in some places referred to as the Eastern King.
Cal-King size (183 x 213 cm), also called Western King is slightly narrower, but longer than a Eastern King is and mainly found in California.

Mail / Post Offices:
Most post offices are open Monday to Friday at usual business times, additionally on Saturdays until noon. Stamps are sometimes also available in supermarkets, hotels and drugstores as well as most air and sea ports and bus stations. Mail boxes are in any post office, in the streets and in hotels. If you have an express, next-day-delivery or par-cels, it will be delivered by the US Post Office, UPS, Federal Express or other courier services whose addresses you will find in the Yellow Pages.

Telecommunication:
Florida is divided into 18 sections with different area codes: 239, 305, 321, 352, 386, 407, 561, 689, 727, 754, 772, 786, 813, 850, 863, 904, 941 and 954. A number starting with 800 is toll-free. For a long-distance call into one of these sections you have to dial a "1" before the actual number of the person you want to call. For calls out of one of these sections dial "1" + area code + number you want to call. Should you need any kind of information dial "Zero" for the operator. With "0" you can also ask for so-called collect calls which are paid by the receiver of the call, or ask for international calls that are put through by the operator.

It is, however, cheaper to make a direct call abroad. If you want to do so dial "011" + country code + area code + number you want to call. Most favorable are calls between 5 pm and 11 pm, even more favorable between 11 pm and 8 am and on Saturdays and Sundays until 5 pm.

Tips:
Most of all staff working in the service section do expect a tip, including porters and page boys.
Appropriate is: $ 0,50 to 1,00 per piece of luggage. Taxi drivers expect 15 to 20 % of the fare, room maids $1 to 2 per day, waiters and hair-dressers 15 to 20 % of the total sum.

This information is valid with the drawing up of these pages and are subject to change at any time.
We therefore cannot guarantee for them being complete and/or valid.

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