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Enjoyable trip to South Africa

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
Enjoyable trip to South Africa
My husband, Lewis, thought if we checked into South African Airways (800/722-9675, www.flysaa.com) at Washington Dulles Airport 3½ hours before our flight to Cape Town on Jan. 11, 2007, we might have a good chance of getting an exit-row seat, knowing they give preference to their SAA Voyager program members (which we are not). Alas, ...

Sizzling Singapore & vibrant Viet Nam

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
Sizzling Singapore & vibrant Viet Nam
A bustling port and the economic leader of Southeast Asia, Singapore is a city, state, capital and country all in one. My 4-day visit to Singapore, part of a 2-country group tour, began with an orientation tour at the top of Mt. Farber; the views were spectacular. The city was glistening-clean, with purple bougainvillea bushes lining ...

Beijing sites to see

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
On a visit to Beijing, Sept. 6-Oct. 2, 2007, I was fortunate to learn ahead of time of three interesting areas often missed by tourists. • The Daoist Bai Yun Guan, also known as the White Cloud Temple (6 Baiyuanguan Jie, Xibian Men Wai; phone [011] 86-10-6346-3531, www.thetao.info/tao/whitecloud1.htm), in the Haidian District, has a dynastic charm, ...

Dingle Peninsula ‘superior’

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
For the first part of our trip to Ireland (Nov. ’07, pg. 65), Aug. 27-Sept. 1, 2007, we used the “Emerald Package” from Dooley Vacations (Lynbrook, NY; 877/331-9301, www.dooleyvacations.com). The package, at $899 per person, included round-trip air from New York to Dublin, a hotel for the first night, five nights’ vouchers for B&Bs and rental ...

Bags trailed on British Air

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
When my wife and I did our planning for our visit to Edinburgh for the 2007 International Festival as well as the Fringe Festival, I elected to fly British Airways (B.A.) for two reasons: the cabin service has always been excellent and they provide connecting flights to Edinburgh from Heathrow. When we heard about travelers’ problems ...

Heathrow overflowing

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
On a trip from San Francisco to Bologna, Italy, on May 23, 2007, I changed planes at Heathrow airport. It was a Wednesday morning. After getting off the airport bus at the terminal, l had to wait in a narrow hall before going through a security checkpoint. Then l had to wait again before going up ...

BA seat assignments

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
Directly from British Airways on their website, www.ba.com, I purchased a ticket for my sister, Ursula, to fly in economy class from Berlin, Germany, to Los Angeles via London on June 19. A day ahead, she signed onto the website and got a seat assignment for the Berlin-to-London leg but could not get a seat assignment ...

Seat assignments on BA

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
As ITN readers know (July ’07, pg. 26), British Air will not give seat assignments more than 24 hours in advance of a flight — regardless of class — unless the purchasers have fully flexible tickets or are Gold or Silver Executive Club members (another exception — families with young children). I flew from Seattle to ...

Roaming charges on board

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
The following is being printed because it may apply to cruises to destinations other than the Caribbean, which ITN does not cover. My husband, Aaron, and I cruised out of the port of Baltimore, Maryland, on May 18, 2007, for a 9-day trip to the Caribbean with Royal Caribbean International on the Grandeur of the Seas. We ...

Choosing a hotel

Travelers' Intercom, January 2008 issue
As a single, older woman who travels independently on a tight budget, here’s my travel tip: find a centrally located first-class hotel rated four stars (or higher) in your destination city. Note the address, and then reserve an accommodation in a moderately priced 2- or 3-star hotel within two or three blocks of the 4-star. That ...