Informing the international traveler since 1976.
Nov 2005 issue.
Boarding Pass
Dear Globetrotter: Welcome to the 357th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine. As ITN subscriber Calvin Parker of Upland, California, lamented in the July ’05 issue, page 85, Avis would not rent him a car in Belize because he was over 65. He has sent a follow-up letter explaining that he found an agency in Belize [...]Travel Tidbits
On my tour of the Dalmatian Coast in July ’03, I took a day trip to Pula, Croatia. I think the best bet once there is to take a taxi to the coliseum. It’s too easy to get lost, otherwise. I arrived in the early morning and caught the last of the good light [...]Spain plus Italy and Corsica — cruising with Swan Hellenic
by Beth Habian, Features Editor he architecture spoke the loudest — the hushed whisper of a fourth-century Italian basilica, the resonating refrains of a Gothic Spanish cathedral and the swelling scream of Gaudí’s unfinished masterwork, reaching for the sky. But there were other voices, too: the delicate trickle of fountains, the papery rustle of palm trees [...]Rental car CDW waivers
In his August ’05 “Discerning Traveler” column, Dr. Philip Wagenaar offered some tips for handling collision damage waivers (CDWs) when renting a car, to which I would like to add some notes. The CDW is a good way to save money, but it has to be watched. If you decline the CDW when renting a car, [...]Call for airport-ship/hotel transport
As avid travelers, we have been to over 100 countries. We love to cruise, and there is one thing we have a hard time finding good information about: how to get from the airport to the cruise port in an economical manner. Since we purchase our own airfare, we do not have this transportation included in [...]Malta festival a highlight
We took a 2-week trip to Malta plus an add-on week in Sicily, April 16-May 6, ’05, with Grand Circle Travel (Boston, MA; 800/221-2610 or www.gct.com). For my wife and me, the cost was approximately $6,254 from Los Angeles. The experience became a once-in-a-lifetime highlight. All the credit goes to our Malta program director, Stephen Micallef-Grogan, [...]Drove Greece and Turkey
We enjoyed a driving tour of Greece and Turkey, May 3–26, ’05. We visited all the usual places, so I will limit comments to recommendations. After we spent four days in Athens and again after four days in Istanbul, we rented a car in each country and drove to places of interest. We booked the car [...]Schliemann and Troy
Several years ago on a trip to Greece, we visited Mycenae and became interested in the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and the Trojan Wars. The Numismatic Museum of Athens in the Schliemann mansion was very nice — and not anything close to being all numismatics. Apparently, Schliemann donated his personal collections. (I think, by that time, [...]Spectacular in Suriname
The Central Suriname Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is about an hour’s flight south of the capital, Paramaribo. On our May ’03 trip we flew in a Cessna around Tafelberg, which is a tepui, or flat-topped mountain, and saw its 12 lovely waterfalls cascading over the sharp edge of the top, the largest [...]Guayaquil zoo
On our trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador, we decided to take a half-day tour to the Historical Park. It was a good decision. The first section was a zoo of animals native to South America, most of them endangered. We saw caimans, peccaries, tapirs, sloths, deer, monkeys and more plus many birds, including the harpy and various [...]Funniest Thing for November
Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries [...]China’s Hakka houses
by Dorothy Aksamit, Sausalito, CA My favorite trips always begin with a library book and end in a village. This journey began with “China’s Traditional Rural Architecture” by Ronald Knapp. I was looking for information on the thatch-roofed houses on stilts that I had seen in southern Yunnan Province. Alas, there were no thatched houses in “China’s [...]Would have appreciated a ‘ranked waiting list’
ITN was mailed a copy of the following letter, sent by a reader to Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT), a subsidiary of Grand Circle Travel (GCT). Thank you so much for your recent “form letter” noting that we had not chosen to travel with Grand Circle Travel or Overseas Adventure Travel this year and offering us a [...]Displeased with aspects of ACCL cruise
We took the 11-night “Belize/Barrier Reef/Guatemala” cruise on American Canadian Caribbean Line’s Grande Caribe, Jan. 24-Feb. 4, ’05. We had cabin 44A, and the cost for the two of us was $5,151. We chose this trip for snorkel experiences on various cays along the barrier reef off the coast of Belize. The Caribe remained in port [...]Message for a cruise passenger
My friends, Mike and Molly Gallant of Hallowell, Maine, went on a Caribbean cruise aboard Princess Cruises’ Dawn Princess in March ’05. For a special treat, they took Mike’s elderly aunt with them. This was to be her first-ever cruise, and the lady very much needed a break since her husband had gone into a [...]Biking, boating the Loire
My wife, Nel, and I took a bike and boat trip in the Loire Valley in May ’05. Arranged through Pack & Pedal Europe (Springville, PA; phone 877/956-2064 or visit www.tripsite.com), the tour included airfare to Paris from the East Coast via Icelandair; seven nights on board the Anna Maria IV; three meals a day; [...]Pedal pushers
We always read with interest the letters in ITN about bicycle tours, since we have found it such a refreshing way to travel. In spring 2004 we took our seventh trip with Hindriks European Bicycle Tours (Huntington Beach, CA; phone 800/852-3258 or visit www.hindrikstours.com). We have enjoyed every one of them. (See Feb. ’05, page 38.) Here [...]Mont-St-Michel sans crowds
When we visit Mont-St-Michel, France, we prefer to stay on the island rather than the mainland because of the change in the atmosphere when the last of the day-trippers leave by about 5 p.m. It goes from a noisy, crowded, carnival atmosphere to one of magic, romance and solitude. You can walk the ramparts without [...]Fine eating in Paris
My husband, Ward Hoffman, and I have been to Paris more than 20 times and, we confess, we go there these days primarily to eat and take walks, often covering eight or nine miles a day. Before we leave, we do a lot of research on where we want to eat. Once we arrive in [...]Typical food in Morocco & Tunisia
We experienced similar cuisine in both Morocco and Tunisia during a trip in July ’02. In both countries, we stayed in 2- or 3-star hotels which had adjoining or nearby restaurants. The evening menus uniformly offered two or three dishes, usually including one or two tajines, usually chicken, beef or lamb. Tajines are similar to our [...]Thoughtful gift
In the late ’90s, my wife and I took a Bolivia and Peru tour with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA), as I had always wanted to visit Machu Picchu. The group size was limited to just 16 people plus the tour guide. We saw a part of South America that few tourists see and had [...]Sicily’s historical haunts
by Lois Edwards, Greensboro, NC Sicily. It’s not for sissies. It had long been a destination I looked forward to visiting, primarily due to its historical sites. On a trip at the end of May ’05, it did not disappoint. My husband, Steve, and I planned a 10-day fly/drive that would hit most of the “must sees” [...]Money Matters Overseas
(Second of two parts, jump to part 1) In late August and early September of 2001 (yes, we were over there when it happened), we traveled in Europe for four weeks, visiting Austria, Italy, France and Germany. We went by car and spent two of the weeks in a cottage outside Gordes in Provence, the only [...]Eye on travel insurance »Long-term travel insurance coverage
A letter from Grace Slavsky of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, asked, “Is it possible to buy travel insurance covering trip cancellation/medical evacuation, etc., on an ANNUAL basis for us travelers who take several trips throughout the year? It would save us frequent travelers a lot of hassle. Frequent business travelers are covered. Why can’t the leisure [...]Accomodations Worldwide
Europe Near St. Lo, FRANCE, La Vimonderie (contact Mme S. Hamilton, 50620 Cavigny, Manche, France; phone + 33 2 33 56 0113, fax +33 2 33 56 41 32, e-mail sigihamilto12n@hotmail.com or visit www.frenchconnections.co.uk/accom/3591.html) was our base in October ’04 for visiting the D-Day beaches, Bayeux, Caen, Cherbourg, St. Lo and Mont-St-Michel, all of which are [...]Nicaragua revisited
by Jane B. Hanrahan, Alpharetta, GA Travel in Nicaragua has changed considerably. During a 1993 visit, I found that the country’s lack of tourist infrastructure made it difficult — and at times impossible — to enjoy its historical and natural attractions. In April ’05, however, I found helpful tourist offices, organized tours, improved transportation, varied restaurants and a [...]Australia with AAT Kings
A trip my husband, John, and I made to Australia was different from most tours as we spent most of our time in the western part of the country. Our one-month trip was planned by AAT Kings (Head Office, Level 4, 476 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia; visit www.aatkings.com. . . with a [...]Morocco with Berber Tours
For those ITN readers who might be searching for an experience which is more customized than a standard tour, I recommend the outfit which guided my 21-year-old son, Stephen, and me in Morocco: Berber Tours (Boutique Lac Iriqi, Ave. Mohamed V, 45900 Zagora, Morocco; phone 212-68-51-50-87, e-mail U.S. representative Jeffrey Teachout at admin@berbertours.net or visit [...]Germany city highlights with Elderhostel
“City Highlights Independent Studies” programs from Elderhostel (11 Ave. de Lafayette, Boston, MA 02111; phone 877/426-8056 or visit www.elderhostel.org) are shorter, include fewer meals and fewer group activities and are less expensive than the traditional Elderhostel European programs. I enrolled as a single in one of them, “Berlin: City of Many Faces,” Oct. 29-Nov. 5, [...]West Africa with Far Fung Places
I went to GHANA, BURKINA FASO and MALI with Far Fung Places (1914 Fell St., San Francisco, CA 94117; phone 800/410-9811 or visit www.farfungplaces.com), Nov. 18-Dec. 12, ’04. The land cost was $6,000. The small group was led by the company owner, Kathleen Fung, who is energetic, concerned about her clients and extremely well organized. If [...]Dordogne region with Intimate France
“France’s Most Beautiful Villages,” the tour my husband and I took of the Dordogne region in September-October ’04, visited places where large tour buses cannot go. Our 12-day tour was with Intimate France (Box 92, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956; phone 800/676-1247or visit www.intimatefrance.com). We traveled in a van with eight people, with Intimate France owner [...]Malaysia trip with smarTours
I took an 18-day tour with smarTours (501 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1402, New York, NY 10017; 800/337-7773 or visit www.smartours.net), May 14-30, ’05, in which we spent 10 days in Malaysian Borneo, two days in Kuala Lumpur and three days on the island of Penang. The other days were spent flying. Our group consisted of [...]Bratislava — a visit to Slovakia’s capital city
by Jan Oravetz, Ft. Myers, FL During summer 2004, my wife, Eva, and I visited Slovakia, the land where we both were born many years ago. It is a small country (19,000 square miles) in the heart of Europe, and I think it is fair to say that the average American knows little about it. Many confuse [...]Whittle while you wait
What do you do to pass the time in an airport waiting for a flight? Have any suggestions to make the interval more pleasant? ITN asked readers those questions and printed some of their responses in the May ‘05 issue. More ideas have come in and we are presenting them here. If you have any tips [...]El Salvador in depth
El Salvador is the smallest, most densely populated country in Central America, but it is bypassed by most group tour companies. In April ’05, I was lucky enough to find the “golden ticket” that got me not just into the country but entry into homes, social programs and even the American Embassy. Global Awareness Through Experience, [...]Eye on flora of South America
During a 17-day February-March ’04 South America cruise aboard the Amsterdam of Holland America Line (Seattle, WA; 800/426-0327) and on land tours that we booked separately, I was interested in observing the different types of flowers, plants and trees in each country visited. We flew into Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Feb. 19, and the agent [...]Visited Amsterdam
My wife, Judy, and I were in Amsterdam in April ’05 after a tulip cruise (good value) aboard the Viking Pride of Viking River Cruises (Woodland Hills, CA; 877/668-4546 or www.viking rivercruises.com). We usually arrive a day early in Europe to get over our jet lag, and this time we spent the night before we boarded [...]Acropolis in the a.m.
On our trip to Athens, Greece, we could see the Acropolis from the street in front of where we stayed, Hotel Attalos (29 Athinas St.; phone +30 210 3212 801 — 2005 price, from €62 [$75]), in the Monastiraki area. From the rooftop of our hotel, we watched the sun set over the Acropolis and then [...]More elbow room
I read the article on Venice and Florence by Paula Prindle in the August ’05 issue with great interest. I noted in part one of the article that she chose September for the weather. We were in Florence in February 2000. It was chilly (50s) but sunny and extremely pleasant. We especially liked the lack of [...]About roundabouts
I have to quibble with the advice on roundabouts in the letter “Tips for Driving in Britain” (Aug. ’05, pg. 74). First, it is not “ridiculous and. . . extremely dangerous” to stay in a roundabout until you know which exit to take, and I don’t understand how “it causes frustration for other road users.” Second, once [...]Health news
The leg exercises recommended for frequent flyers help prevent deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in the calf of the leg that can break loose and lodge in the lungs as a pulmonary embolus. Frequent flyers Richard Nixon and Dan Quayle had this condition. A recent comment in the Alaska Airlines in-flight magazine mentioned that the [...]Romania and Bulgaria
Six of us toured ROMANIA for 10 days in May ’05 with Cristian Florea of Crif Tours (phone 40 722 606 610, e-mail romtours@digicom.ro or visit www. discoverromania.ro). He was wonderful and we had a great time on our customized tour of the country — over 2,000 kilometers of travel. The cost was €850 (near $1,102) [...]‘Fabulous’ guide in Turkey
Five of us took a personal tour of western Turkey with Mehmet Ozbalci in March ’04. A reader had recommended him in a short letter (May ’99, pg. 117). He truly is a guide “extraordinaire.” Not only is Mehmet knowledgeable about Turkey and its wonderful history, he is a caring, patient, engaging individual. Every day was a [...]Food in Turkey
The food on our trip to Turkey was wonderful. Lots of lamb, of course, but the big surprise was the quality and variety of seafood. Best grilled fish ever! The surprise treat was the fried mussels on a stick. The mezes, or starters, were another surprise; a modest mom-and-pop restaurant would offer eight or 10 [...]Driver-guide in Oman
We wanted to share a nice “find” we made in Salalah, Oman, while on a cruise in April ’05. It is a great cab driver and tour guide named Khalid Bakheet (phone 99489979 or contact his friend, Ali Atif Al Yafai, who is the assistant front office manager at the Hilton Salalah Resort, Box 699, [...]All Aboard » Rhine-Main by S-Bahn
There is a myth that travelers cannot visit small European villages and towns by train. It gratifies me that my e-mail shows that more and more readers are discovering the large number of less-well-known cities and villages that they easily reach by train. A case in point is Germany’s Rhine-Main S-Bahn, the rapid-transit system that [...]The Cruising World » Dew from Heaven
Too often, we cruise passengers think of our cabin stewards and stewardesses as 2-dimensional persons, without families, lives or futures. So aboard Crystal Symphony on a cruise through the Mediterranean in the summer of 2005, my wife and I decided to have a chat with our energetic, attractive, 24-year-old stewardess, Rasa Janonyte of Klaipeda, Lithuania. [...]New on the Bookshelf
by Chris Springer, Contributing Editor “The Clumsiest People in Europe, or: Mrs. Mortimer’s Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World,” by Todd Pruzan and Favell Lee Mortimer (2005, Bloomsbury. ISBN 158234504X — 208 pp., $19.95 hardcover). It’s a small world, after all — and here’s a shockingly small-minded view of it. Nineteenth-century children’s author Favell Mortimer wrote a [...]Travel & Health » Dealing with jet lag and motion sickness
One of the most mysterious and arcane topics among airplane travelers is jet lag and its incapacitating effects on the traveler. Having firsthand experience from traveling frequently over a 6-year period from New York to numerous destinations in Asia, I have found that jet lag is a debilitating experience that, fortunately, can be dealt with. I [...]Better Travel Photography » Picture your unique story
When we return from an adventure, we count on photographs to tell the story and convey the excitement and the feeling of the place we’ve been. But often we end up with “George in front of the Eiffel Tower,” “George beside the Blue Danube,” “George riding on a camel,” “George staring into the camera”. . [...]The Discerning Traveler » Settling your debts abroad
(Second of two parts) In the last issue I analyzed the ins and outs of bill paying abroad. In this issue, I offer additional suggestions on this topic. Debit card checklist Once you have acquired your debit card, it is helpful to do the following. 1. Ascertain the expiration date of your plastic money (the same holds for credit [...]Focus on Archaeology » Ancient Egypt in one week
I first visited Egypt 22 years ago. On my fourth trip to the country, in November 2004, I traveled with my 25-year-old daughter, Katie. I wanted to see her eyes light up at the sights that make Egypt one of this world’s greatest tourist destinations. I wanted her to say, 40 years from now, “Way [...]Adventure Travel » Morocco: distinctive architecture & distinctive people
(Part 3 of 3 on Morocco) Kasbahs “Come wiz me to zee casbah,” Charles Boyer supposedly said to Hedy Lamarr in the movie “Algiers.” This legendary romantic line never was used in that classic 1938 film, but the myth lives on. What is a casbah, anyway? A casbah (kasbah) is a walled, fortified residential/commercial center, originally an extended-family [...]
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