Informing the international traveler since 1976.
August 2007 issue.
Articles are displayed in the order they appear in the magazine.
Boarding Pass
Dear Globetrotter: Welcome to the 378th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine. If this is the first copy you’ve seen, all you need to know is that articles and letters from travelers like you make up most of each issue. Subscribers traveling overseas or just back from a trip send in reports on interesting destinations they’ve [...]Travel Tidbits
A reader mentioned www.award planner.com (June ’07, pg. 4). My husband, a member of AwardPlanner, received a letter from them March 23, 2007, which read, “We have noticed a discernable increase in the amount of time required to research suitable award redemption alternatives, as well as a significant decrease in award availability options. Consequently, it [...]A 23-day exploration of Ethiopia
by Yvonne Horn, Santa Rosa, CA Nothingness stretched seemingly forever as viewed from my window seat aboard the Ethiopian Airlines Fokker 500 turboprop en route to Bahir Dar from the country’s capital city of Addis Ababa. Nothingness, that is, if one discounts the ferocious landscape of deep canyons and jagged tumbled mountains unfolding below and the [...]Taxi tours of Gibraltar
On my Holland America cruise around the Mediterranean in October ’06, one of the ports of call was Gibraltar. The cruise line sold tours of “the rock,” but my wife and I wanted to go into the town first to do a little shopping and arrange for a tour by cab later in the day. As [...]Planning for northern Spain
My husband, daughter and I traveled to northern Spain for 16 days, April 23-May 9, 2007. We’d all been to Spain and Portugal quite a few times and always stayed in paradores or pousadas. I’ve always found, after the fact, that I hadn’t taken advantage of the “deals” offered to seniors or for extended stays, [...]Airport transfer advice
Concerning airport transfers, I have a few tips that can help. First, when choosing your flights, pay attention to flight number changes. It could be a simple stopover or plane change or it could be code-sharing where you actually check in at another airline’s counter or have to move across the airport to another concourse. Second, watch [...]Funniest Thing for August
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 [...]England’s beautiful southern coast plus the Isle of Wight
by June Griffin, Lewiston, ME England’s southern coast along the channel, especially East and West Sussex, is a beautiful place to visit. In May ’06 I had a wonderful stay there in beautiful weather. The temperature was in the 70s, and from London south people were enjoying sunshine and no rain. While the newspapers reported a [...]Rented car online for Heathrow
I had to fly urgently to the U.K. on family business and so made arrangements over the Internet to rent a car from Dollar Rent A Car at London’s Heathrow Airport, Feb. 10-20, 2007. The total price I was quoted on Expedia was about £110 (near $219). On arrival at Heathrow, I could not see a [...]Travelex came through despite Alitalia’s silence
As my wife, Jeanell, and I were planning a trip to England and Italy in October ’06 connecting with a cruise, we felt we should have medical insurance. I had read in ITN (April ’06, pg. 54 & Aug. ’06, pg. 57) about Travelex Insurance Services (Box 641070, Omaha, NE 68164-7070; 800/228-9792, www.travelex-insurance.com), so I [...]Avoid passport glitches
The letter “Missed Cruise Due to Visa Snafu” (June ’07, pg. 32) highlighted the potential danger in not having sufficient blank pages in your passport. A couple was denied boarding in Frankfurt for their flight to South Africa because they each did not have a full page remaining in their passport for the required visa [...]Passport pages
This is in reference to the letter from the couple who missed a cruise due to the lack of, in a passport, an entire blank page for a South African visa stamp (June ’07, pg. 32). We encountered a similar problem on a Holland America cruise from Lisbon to Cape Town, Oct. 17-Nov. 7, 2006. We [...]Flying from UK, only one carry-on allowed
The reader’s letter “British Air and Luggage” (June ’07, pg. 75) may confuse some people, I feel. He was discussing checked baggage; however, I found that the rules on carry-on baggage in the U.K. are still strictly limited. A passenger entering Britain can indeed have two pieces of carry-on luggage, but if he is transiting to [...]Taking the grandkids
In May ’07 my husband and I took our granddaughter Laura to Rome, Orvieto and Florence. Incidentally, some guidebooks recommend getting tickets to the Colosseum at some other location to gain entry faster. This no longer helps, as the entry process involves a long security line and ticket holders are given no advantage. Once we got [...]Australia & New Zealand: “Blogging” our way through a trip Down Under
How Much to tip on Tours?
Richard E. Smith of Long Beach, California, urged readers to comment about tipping on tours (April ’07, pg. 4). Questions he asked included 1) “Should the cost of tipping be included in the tour price?,” 2) “Should there be an existing standard for tipping adhered to by most tour companies?,” 3) “Should an escrow tipping [...]Beijing & Tibet with JMG Tibet Tours
Jeff Garrett, owner of JMG Tibet Tours (6001 Falls Cir. Dr., Ste. 301, Lauderhill, FL 33319; 866/548-4238, www.jmgtibettours.com), does an amazing job of coordinating all travel plans and keeping expenses down. I can’t say enough about the wonderful job that he did making my April 5-23, 2007, trip such a success. The cost of the [...]JMG Tibet Tours to Beijing & Tibet
I was quite surprised at the modern Beijing. There are skyscrapers everywhere. The city will host the 2008 Summer Olympics, so there is construction everywhere too. My 20-day tour with JMG Tibet Tours (Lauderhill, FL), Oct. 5-24, 2005, was wonderful and cost $3,100 including air from Cleveland. (In 2007 this tour is offered as an 18-day [...]Orient Odyssey to China
To celebrate their 10th anniversary as a company, Orient Odyssey (1385 Gulf Rd., Ste. 203, Point Roberts, WA 98281; 800/637-5778, www.orientodyssey.com) offered a 10-day trip for September ’06 that I could not resist. It was to Guizhou Province in southeastern China, and the price was $1,430 from Vancouver, B.C. (In 2007, Orient Odyssey offers this [...]China trips with Pacific Holidays
Dusty and Margi Miller took two trips to China in 2006 with Pacific Holidays (12 West 32nd St., Sixth Fl., New York, NY 10001; 800/355-8025, www.pacific holidaysinc.com). The first, March 10-22, was to the Yunnan Province in southwest China. The current price of this tour, “Rediscovering Shangri-La,” starts at $2,595 with air from the West Coast. Next, [...]China & Tibet with Uniworld
My husband, Buddy, and I, and our two nieces took one of our best tours ever, the 16-night “China, Tibet and the Yangtze River,” with Uniworld (17323 Ventura Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 91316; 800/733-7820, www.uniworld.com), Aug. 19-Sept. 5, 2006. Including fights New Orleans-Chicago-Beijing, with return from Shanghai, plus all meals, insurance and visa, the price was [...]Biking through Hungary
by Jim Hendrickson, Bellingham, WA In late July and early August ’06, I took a one-week bicycle tour of the puszta (great plain) in eastern Hungary. Called “Spa Route Through the Puszta,” it included seven nights in mostly 3-star hotels; delicious buffet breakfasts and Hungarian dinners daily; the rental of a 21-speed bicycle; two English-speaking tour [...]Marrakech ‘oasis’
In connection with a short trip to Marrakech to see one of the last remaining medieval North African walled cities, I stayed at Riyad Al Moussika (62 Derb Boutouil, Kennaria, Marrakech-Medina, Morocco; phone +212 [0] 44 38 90 67, fax 44 37 76 53, www.riyad-al-moussika.com). This is a beautiful small hotel (three suites, two doubles, one [...]Guide in Morocco
My husband, Shayne, and I had a very enjoyable 3-week trip to Morocco with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA; 800/221-0814, www.oattravel.com) in October ’06. We took their “Morocco Sahara Odyssey” plus the Essaouira and Casablanca extension. We paid approximately $2,700 each for the main trip, which included economy air from New York (JFK), plus $700 each [...]Chilean guide ‘excellent’
On a visit to Santiago, Chile, Jan. 20-22, 2007, I used the services of an excellent local guide, Alejandro Molina (Vicente Perez Rosales 1654-C, La Reina, Santiago, Chile; home phone 56-2-2730241, cell phone 56 9 2983434 or e-mail amolina@ecoventura.cl or alejandromolinamarin@yahoo.com). He is a personable, thoughtful person, and he can take individuals or groups anywhere in [...]Tourists tip extra?
We ate at the restaurant Lubitsch in Berlin in May ’07. Recommended by a reader (Jan. ’07, pg. 75), it is indeed a very fine place to eat — good food and good ambience at a reasonable price. I think we had a starter and a main course each, two glasses of wine, two beers, [...]Chancing street food in India
A friend in Delhi told us to never eat anything in India unless it is cooked and hot. This would have kept us totally healthy on our first trip, Nov. 14-Dec. 21, 2004, but we would have missed out on a lot of the best of India. We took some measured risks, eating some street food, [...]Potsdam restaurant
When visiting Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany, do yourself a favor and enjoy a tasty and relaxing meal at the Wiener Restaurant & Café (Luisenplatz 4, Potsdam, Germany; www.wienerrestaurantundcafe.de). It’s located near a bus stop on a square two or three blocks south of the eastern entrance to the park and at the west end [...]Paris restaurant
Restaurant L’Impasse (4, Impasse Guéménée, 75004 Paris, France; phone 01 42 72 08 45 or visit www.limpasse.com) is a tiny, bistro-style restaurant which I visited Jan. 16, 2007. Within a 2-minute walk of the Bastille Métro stop, it’s tucked away in a dead-end street off of rue St. Antoine, in the fourth arrondissement. It is [...]Colombia, Paraguay, and Uruguay — three surprising South American destinations
by Sandra Scott, Mexico, NY To escape northern New York’s winters, my husband, John, and I spend three months of each year someplace warmer. In 2007, our “winter getaway” was South America. While we had been to South America several times, during this trip we found some pleasant surprises. The new Colombia If ever a country needed a P.R. [...]Ask Steve » Choosing a tour company, leftover foreign coins
by Steve Venables, CTC Q: Steve, my wife and I are starting to plan a trip to Africa next year to experience a wildlife safari. Usually, ITN has about 18 to 24 different companies advertising such journeys on a monthly basis. Is there a website or other source to cut through the covers of these companies and [...]Eye on Travel Insurance » Q&A
by Wayne Wirtanen Following are some ITN readers’ letters and inquiries that I have received recently regarding travel insurance. The first came from Judie Kesson of Coronado, California: Q: “As longtime subscribers and sometime contributors, my husband, Ken, and I want to report back on our very positive experience with Divers Alert Network, or DAN (Durham, NC; 800/446-2671, [...]Focus on Archaeology » Rapa Nui: the navel of the world
by Julie Skurdenis Its first inhabitants called it “Te Pito o Te Henua,” or “The Navel of the World.” Nowadays we call it Rapa Nui, Isla de Pascua or Easter Island. It’s one of the most remote and isolated places on Earth. Situated in the Pacific Ocean, Easter Island is almost exactly equidistant from South America and [...]Report Cards
From Wroclaw/Boleslawiec, POLAND, June 3, ’07. . . • Hotel-Restauracia Bielany (55-075 Bielany-Wroclawskie, ul. Klecinska 3, Wroclaw, Poland; phone +4871 311 2794, www.hotelbielany.com.pl). On a trip from Slovakia to Boleslawiec to buy Polish pottery, I stayed at Hotel-Restauracia Bielany in Wroclaw. The hotel is right off the A4 autostrasse near the large stores Tesco, Ikea, Makro and [...]Far Horizons » Hue and Hoi An
(2 of 4 on Viet-Nam & Cambodia) The second stop in my March 2007 journey in Viet-Nam and Cambodia, the land portion of which was hosted by SITA World Tours, focused on Hue and Hoi An in central Viet-Nam, a region that many Vietnamese feel is the historic cultural heartland of the now-thriving country. Many of Viet-Nam’s [...]
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