Business Contacts
Mobile phone hire International Sound offers daily, weekly and monthly rentals of mobile phones, satellite phones, two-way radios and pagers. Call 800 353 2100 or order at www.internationalsound.com.

Car hire Avis car rentals are available at Sea- Tac Airport (tel: 206 433 5231), in downtown Seattle (tel: 206 448 1700) or at avis.com Office rental The Business Service centre of Seattle is located downtown and has view suites. Call 206 624 9188 or go to www.bsc-seattle.com

Secretarial services Globe Secretariat is also downtown and can handle a range of services, including 24-hour dictation. Book at 206 448 9441.

Excursions
Getting the lay of the land is best accomplished via a Gray Line coach tour. A half-day tour is $29 and can be booked by calling 206 624 5077 or visiting www.graylineofseattle.com.

A unique way to see Seattle and the surrounding Puget Sound is by seaplane. Seattle Seaplanes, www.seattleseaplane.com or 329 9638, has a 20-minute flight that gives you a bird's eye view of, among other things, Bill Gates' estate. Angle for the favoured co-pilot's seat.

Lastly, a ferryboat ride between the many islands of the Puget Sound is very enjoyable and equally memorable. Washington State Ferries operates the largest ferry system in the US and has 10 routes plying the waters of both Washington and nearby British Columbia. Quaint Bainbridge Island is less than an hour away while the San Juan Islands, an ideal weekend retreat, are a half day's ride away. Most of the craft are car ferries and a vehicle will come in handy. Call 206 464 6400 for schedules and reservations or go to wsdot.wa.gov/ferries.

Local Press
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ('the P-I') is one of two morning dailies and covers news, sports and weather. The paper's arts, entertainment and lifestyle sections are worth a read too; the Northwest Outdoors section is popular with the locals and full of good tidbits.

The Seattle Times is the other morning paper and similar in style and tone; its Northwest Weekend section previews the entertainment scene and is published on Thursday.

The Seattle Weekly offers a more pointed look at the city's arts, dining and political scene. Not quite left of centre, but they don't play it safe, either.

Where magazine, tucked into rooms at the city's better hotels, suggests a variety of treats for wealthy visitors. In the same category is Seattle magazine, available in many hotels and at most downtown newsstands.