The Pacific Northwest
Currency and Time Zones

Currency Conversion

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:

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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.

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.

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