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The Discerning Traveler

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The Discerning Traveler » Dealing with delayed, canceled and overbooked flights

Columns, January 2008 issue
by Philip Wagenaar, M.D., first of two parts It was 11:35 a.m. when the Alaska Airlines gate agent intoned, “I am sorry to inform you that flight 580’s departure to San Diego has been postponed. It has been rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. Everybody may pick up a voucher for a sandwich and a drink at this ...

The Discerning Traveler » Snippets of New Zealand

Columns, October 2007 issue
—The Discerning Traveler is written by Philip Wagenaar. (First of two parts) It was our third trip to New Zealand. We were on a 4-week Elderhostel (11 Ave. de Lafayette, Boston, MA 02111; 800/454-5768, www.elderhostel.org) tour of the North and South Islands. Our last journey, in 1984, had culminated in the county hospital in Nelson on the South ...

The Discerning Traveler » International bereavement fares

Columns, September 2007 issue
by Philip Wagenaar, M.D. “I know, you just saw me two months ago,” my favorite aunt, Lenie, said. “I am in the VU hospital in Amsterdam now. My doctor says that I don’t have much longer to live. You think you could see me again? I would rather have you come and visit while I am ...

The Discerning Traveler » Cabin air quality

Columns, July 2007 issue
by Philip Wagenaar, M.D. 14 tactics to increase your flying comfort The following essay was inspired by a letter from ITN reader Mrs. Carey Casey in Cathedral City, California. “Who are those two strange-looking people?” our fellow travelers must have wondered. Our faces covered by oxygen masks with their extended hoses dangling toward the supply tanks, we must have ...

The Discerning Traveler » Missing-luggage strategies

Columns, June 2007 issue
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was the company indeed offering unclaimed luggage for sale? Its website brazenly proclaimed, “Why not stop in at Unclaimed Baggage Center (509 West Willow St., Scottsboro, AL 35768; phone 256-259-1525, www.unclaimedbaggage.com), where you’ll find thousands of lost treasures from around the world. From winter clothes and shoes for the family ...

The Discerning Traveler » Carry-on luggage — ‘The only way to fly’

Columns, May 2007 issue
The Discerning Traveler » Carry-on luggage — ‘The only way to fly’
Nostalgically, my hands hold the genuine leather of the old travel wallet, which, for years, has held my essential travel documents. It still looks as good as it did 51 years ago, when my aunt surprised me with it as a going-away present. I reminisce about the olden days, when friends showered you with gifts each ...

The Discerning Traveler » Upgrading from the ‘sardine’ class

Columns, March 2007 issue
by Philip Wagenaar. With difficulty, I entered the jetway, my bags trailing behind me. Gingerly, I stepped over the plane’s threshold. Rows and rows of seats, crammed together like sardines in a can, stared at me. “This can’t be true,” I thought. “Will I really have to be compressed into a chair that is too small, even ...

The Discerning Traveler » The stunning Faroe Islands

Columns, February 2007 issue
by Philip Wagenaar, M.D. It was Friday, August 25th, 2006. Our Holland America cruise ship, the MS Amsterdam, had docked an hour before in Tórshavn, the capital of the 18-island Faroe archipelago, under a deep fog cover. Our tour Dressed warmly against the cold, my wife, Flory, and I snuggled down in our toasty tour bus as we ...

The Discerning Traveler » Glimpses of rural northern Portugal

Columns, December 2006 issue
(Second of two parts, click here for part 1) Sitting in a small café in May 2006, my bica (espresso) in front of me, I put the finishing touch on the second installment of my Portugal travelogue. The results appear below. The Alto Douro wine region Beautiful vistas of the Douro River, of small picturesque villages, of quintas ...

The Discerning Traveler » Glimpses of rural northern Portugal

Columns, November 2006 issue
(First of two parts, click here for part 2) The scrawny dog was sunning itself on the warm pavement in the center of the narrow highway. Despite my approaching car, the creature refused to budge. Within moments, four more animals had spread out on the road deck, the sides of their heads touching the comfortable asphalt. I honked. ...