Informing the international traveler since 1976.
Apr 2005 issue.
Boarding Pass
Dear Globetrotter: Welcome to the 350th (!) issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine. “This is just what I need. Where have you been all my life?!” That’s what Shifra Rosoff of Framingham, Massachusetts, said when she called ITN’s toll-free number to subscribe (800/486-4968) a month ago. Don’t assume all of your traveling friends know about ITN. Ask [...]Report Cards
From Rome, ITALY, Feb. 5, ’05 • Daphne Inn (Via di San Basilio, 55 00187 Roma; phone 39 06 47823529, fax 1 702 995 4383 or visit www.daphne-rome.com) — very near Barberini Metro. Clean, comfortable and quiet bed-and-breakfast. Very helpful English-speaking staff. We paid €120 (near $156) for three adults in one room, and that included a [...]Economical oases and luxurious resorts in Thailand
by Bill Kizorek, Lisle, IL On my thirtieth trip to Thailand, I spent 30 days roving the country via taxis, tuk-tuks, buses, planes, boats and elephants. Here is the recap for not only budget travelers but also those who want to savor the pinnacle of Thai luxury. Half of the trip was an independent (and expensive) [...]Seeing Hungary by car
My husband, Norman, and I were lured into visiting Hungary by the idea that it was one of the bargains left in European travel. As we found on our trip in September ’04, this proved to be correct. It has joined the E.U. but, for now, is still using the old currency (forint). Nearby Austrian [...]London, Liverpool & Isle of Man
I took a trip to the U.K. in September ’04 that included a visit to the Isle of Man. Ariving at London Heathrow Airport, I chose to take the underground to the center of the city for £5.40. This took approximately 45 minutes, but it was certainly the least expensive way into central London. Prior to [...]Booking hotels in Asia
Www.hotelclub.net is the best online hotel reservation service I have found. I have reserved hotels in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Macau through them and have gotten the best prices I could find plus total reliability. I last used the service for a 2-week trip in November ’04, staying at the Marco Polo in Hong Kong [...]Bangkok observations
In Bangkok, the SkyTrain continues to be a godsend for getting passengers up and out of the awful fume-ridden traffic. The SkyTrain is quite crowded during rush hours, but it’s air-conditioned, so being packed in isn’t bad. I think there are plans to expand the lines even further. For now, they go just about everywhere a [...]Touring the English countryside plus a bird’s-eye view of London
by June L. Griffin, Lewiston, ME August 2004 was the ideal time for my week’s visit to the beautiful English countryside, includings the Cotswolds, which offer some of the loveliest scenery in the country. Making arrangements There are several ways to reach this region. One way is to take a train from London to Oxford and then a [...]To wrong terminal and missed flight
On Nov. 7, I was scheduled to take Northwest Airlines flight No. 49 to Detroit, Michigan, out of Paris’ Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport. My e-ticket did not indicate which terminal I would be leaving from. When I told the Gare Montparnasse Navette bus driver “KLM,” he dropped me at Terminal Two. The signage there [...]Vouchers and car dropoff rules differ
ITN was mailed a copy of the following letter sent by a reader to U.S. and U.K. offices of the Hertz Corporation. I rented a car at the Manchester, U.K., airport on Aug 25, 2004. I had called the previous day with rental inquiries and then called again the day of the rental to be sure [...]India through Worldview Tours
My wife, Georgene, and I returned Dec. 13, ’04, from a one-month adventure trip to India. We based our jaunt on the tour “Crossroads of India/Nepal” offered by Worldview Tours (Newport Beach, CA; phone 800/373-0388 or visit www.worldview tours.com), with a catalog price of $6,990 per person. Working very closely with Nino Mohan, company owner, [...]Rothschild Safaris
I read with great interest Nili Olay’s article on her South Africa trip (Jan. ’05, pg. 36) arranged by Leora Rothschild of Rothschild Safaris USA (1685 S. Colorado Blvd. #197, Denver, CO 80222; phone 800/405-9463 or visit www.rothschildsafaris. com). I was not at all surprised at her delight in Leora’s excellent suggestions and arrangements. My husband [...]Ethiopia recommendation
I was in northern and southern Ethiopia, Jan. 9-27, ’05, and I can heartily recommend our travel guide and agent. We have traveled overseas from one to four times a year since 1981, and all three of us on the Ethiopia tour agreed that this was the best guide we’d ever had on any such [...]Romania with car and driver
We spent 18 days traveling in Romania in September ‘04 — a truly great trip. Our itinerary included UNESCO world treasures like the painted monasteries in Bucovina plus picturesque villages and dramatic mountain scenery. We flew on LOT Polish Airlines from Newark to Bucharest (changing planes in Warsaw), where we were met at the airport by [...]Freighter adventures
I found the freighter travel articles in the October ’04 issue most interesting. I would like to add some comments in order that individuals contemplating going this route will have another viewpoint to consider. Starting in 1998, my wife and I have been on four freighter trips, not counting another in February ’05 to the Southwest [...]Colorful memories of Viet-Nam
It was with a sense of great anticipation and adventure that we started our 3-week tour of Viet-Nam in December ’03. We experienced a country where the people are a delight, the scenery is exceptional and history and religion resulted in other wonderful sightseeing opportunities. Here are a few of the highlights of our trip. After [...]Egyptian Museum
The single most important, not-to-miss place in Cairo is the Egyptian Museum. We wish we’d had more than one day there on our visit in March ’97, but the one we had was wonderful. The Tutankhamon exhibit, part of which we had seen when it was on exhibit in Los Angeles in the 1980s, had far [...]Awed in Dublin
Dublin, Ireland, is a city of much charm and history. On our visit in July ’97 we walked past the impressive Custom House building and the 18th-century Bank of Ireland, which once housed the Irish Parliament. Heading up Grafton Street, we passed many excellent shops and galleries. We entered the handsome main entrance of Trinity College, [...]From the city to the bush — a stop in modern Dubai plus a Kenyan wildlife safari
by John Chatfield, Contributing Editor, ITN From the gleaming modern city of Dubai to a safari in the bush in Kenya — there couldn’t be a larger contrast. In November ’04 I was on a familiarization trip to Kenya sponsored by African Travel, Inc. This was a joint effort of the Kenya Tourist Board and several American [...]Choosing and reserving a room
We wanted to know the questions you ask when deciding at which hotel to stay and even which room within a hotel. What are your minimum requirements? What’s on your “I hope they have it” list? How do you go about locating, researching and booking a hotel room? Responses from a couple of readers appear [...]Accomodations Worldwide
Great Britain My husband and I spent six weeks driving through Great Britain and Ireland in August and September ’04. Here are some great places to stay that we can recommend. (Also see Nov. ’04, pgs. 4, 116.) • In London, ENGLAND, the Ridgemont Hotel (65 Gower St.; tel. 44-20-7636-1141), a B&B, is located in the Bloomsbury [...]Exploring prehistoric caves and medieval towns in southwest France
We stood in rapt attention as our guide pointed out the figure of a bison on the cave wall. The artist had used the natural contours of the rock to give a 3-dimensional quality to the body of the animal. As the guide used his flashlight to outline the figure, we could almost imagine it [...]I saw three ships. . .
Most travel agents and ship reviewers agree that there are four lines that head the top of their lists for luxury or high-quality cruise lines, namely Crystal, Radisson Seven Seas, Seabourn and Silversea. Through a seemingly chance juxtaposition of forces, my wife and I had the opportunity to sample three of these lines within a [...]Star Princess megaship
Having cruised on the Star Princess twice, for a month each time, I found the review of the ship in Philip Wagenaar’s August ’04 “Discerning Traveler” column a bit too glowing and one-sided. Our first journey was on her inaugural voyage in 2002 from Singapore to Los Angeles, and our second cruise was in March [...]Grande Mariner to Belize & Guatemala
We took a cruise from Belize to the Barrier Reef and Guatemala and back, March 12-23, ’04, with American Canadian Caribbean Line (461 Water St., Warren, RI 02885; phone 800/556-7450 or visit www.accl-smallships.com). The cost ranged from only $2,455 to $2,985. It was for 11 nights, with the option of arriving one day early and [...]Old buddies, beer and Bavaria — second round
by Theodore Lewis, Severna Park, MD A little over two years ago, my longtime German friend, Walter, invited me to visit him in Germany and we took a wonderful tour along the Romantic Road (see Jan. ’03, pg. 52). For 2004 he suggested we visit the quaint and colorful towns and cities in another part of [...]Noboribetsu, the Orient’s largest spa
During my annual vacation to the world’s best-kept secret, Sapporo, Japan, I always make sure I allocate one day for a trip to the most relaxing place on Earth, Noboribetsu Hot Spring Onsen (Spa). My last trip there was in April ’04. After getting the current train station schedule and buying an “S” ticket (about ¥4,040, [...]Introduction to Bhutan
I spent 15 days in a very remarkable country, the kingdom of Bhutan, which is located in the eastern Himalayas and is one of the last bastions of the Tibetan Buddhist culture and religion. It is often referred to as the Land of the Peaceful Dragon and is regarded as one of the last “Shangri-las” [...]Poverty in Bhutan
I visited Bhutan Nov. 4-15, ’01, fly-fishing with a guide and driver. I saw beautiful streams, few fish, beautiful country and a unique, most interesting culture and delightful people, but Shangri-la it ain’t! Poverty exists countrywide, you cannot drink the tap water and there is no road or rail travel to the outside. The only potential [...]Travails of winter travel
In the article “Rewards of Winter Travel” (Sept. ’04, pg. 46), the author begged to differ with those who shun winter travel. Well, I beg to differ with her. Yes, one can travel prepared with layering, proper footwear and raingear, but rain, even prepared for, can put a damper on any trip. We had rain eight [...]LHSDGT, anyone?
Randy Keck’s article on long-haul, single-destination group tours, or “LHSDGT” (Sept. ’04, pg. 106), really hit home with me. For 25 years, when working in the corporate world, I was lucky to be able to go away for a whole week. Now that I am retired, I want to travel for long periods (at least [...]Speaking of ‘hub and spoke’
I enjoyed the article on LHSDGT (Sept. ’04, pg. 106). My idea of a great time is one location for two to three weeks with day trips out from a single location. Commonly known as the “hub and spoke” concept, it is much easier on an older population and allows for choices. One age group [...]Lockstep
I used the special Transportation Security Administration locks on my luggage for flights from Seattle to Dulles to Vilnius, Lithuania, and then home from St. Petersburg, Russia, through Dulles to Seattle in June ’04. The locks were not cut, but the red symbol came off. The store would not exchange them. I used them again in [...]Luggage locks cut
I obtained through the TravelSmith catalog (800/950-1600 or www.travelsmith.com) two TSA-approved luggage locks with the red TSA-approved logo plainly visible on them. On Nov. 20, ’04, at the end of a trip, I boarded LanChile flight No. 500 from Santiago to Miami. Since I had been forewarned that many foreign countries were not familiar with [...]Speeding up security checks
In response to the request for suggestions on how to make airport security lines move along quicker (Nov. ’04, pg. 4), here are some that I have found useful: Think about what you will need to do in advance. Arriving at the checkpoint and then acting surprised at the security requests is unnecessary unless you are [...]Former leadfoot
I found out that many brands of shoes have a steel plate in them which sets off the alarm at airport security stations. I now wear shoes with no plates. At the end of 2004 I went through three airports in one month with no problems! JEAN CATER Dover, NJCost of medications
Did you know that prescription drugs are sometimes less expensive than over-the-counter versions? As I searched in the pharmacy for Imodium® 2mg, an over-the-counter antidiarrheal agent that every traveler carries, I was flabbergasted by its cost. Not only would I have to pay its inflated price, I also would have to fork over the 8.8% sales [...]Guide in Rome
A friend and I were in Rome for a few days during October ’04, and we want to add our recommendation for a guide to that of Dorothy Smith (Sept. ’04, pg. 94). Katie Parla (e-mail katieparla@yahoo.com) did an excellent job of guiding us through the sights we wanted to see in Rome. We avoided long [...]Cruising World » The best food afloat?
I often get asked which is the best ship afloat, in terms of its food. I would love to be able to give a simple answer and award a prize. However, after reviewing my experiences afloat, communicating with ITN readers and interviewing seagoing chefs, I don’t think the answer is that easy. There are so many [...]New on the bookshelf
by Chris Springer, Contributing Editor “The Rivers of the Mandala: Journey into the Heart of Buddhism” by Simon Allix and Benoit de Vilmorin (2004, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500284954 — 112 pp., $21.95 paperback). Two young explorers, their faces weathered by the elements, gaze agog at Tibet’s Mount Kailash. This book-cover image suits a work that [...]Travel & Health » Disaster in the Indian Ocean
The earthquake off the island of Sumatra in December 2004 left its mark on 2005. The earthquake did its own damage, but the tsunami it generated did far worse, devastating lives and land for a thousand miles around. The wave continues to ripple in other ways, in terms of damaged health and lost tourism. For those [...]Obtaining a second passport
“Boy, did they go through fast.” We looked with envy as the European Union passport holders whisked through Immigration, while our line inched forward in tandem with the beetle on the floor. “Maybe we should get a Dutch passport,” I said to Flory. A letter to ITN from George Nastas of Haslett, Michigan, requesting an article about [...]Focus on Archaeology » Into Iceland’s past
by Julie Skurdenis I first made the acquaintance of Erik the Red in the fourth grade. I was intrigued by this 10th-century Viking who left the country of his birth (Norway), settled in another (Iceland), then was exiled and resettled in yet a third country (Greenland). Of course, as nine-year-olds in a far gentler time — or [...]Adventure Travel » Exploring and reliving ancient Israel
Adventure Travel for the Mildly Adventuresome is written by Wayne Wirtanen (First of two parts) In February ’04 I spent 10 days in Israel, and five things made unexpected impressions on me. • First, I spent a couple of days each in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem completely on my own, visiting historical sites and marketplaces without seeing any [...]
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