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Travelers' Intercom

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Renewing a passport

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
I read with interest the letter titled “Missed Cruise Due to Visa Snafu” (June ’07, pg. 32), about passengers not having enough blank pages left in their passports for stamping. When I made my last visit to Tibet, in 2005, it was no longer possible to send a passport directly to the Chinese Embassy service in ...

Re extra passport pages

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
Regarding extra pages for visas in your passport, I’d like to point out another problem. Before my husband and I went to Israel in November ’06, I noticed that my passport (which had about 2½ years to go until expiration) had only four blank pages left, so I ordered extra pages from the State Department. I ...

Biking Germany, Austria and Hungary

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
Biking Germany, Austria and Hungary
I read about biking down the Danube in the March ’04 issue, phoned the writers for more info and began a 2-year planning effort. A friend asked to join me, and the two of us ended up having a very pleasant time for 2½ weeks in September ’06 biking along the Danube River from Passau, ...

How much to tip on tours

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
Richard E. Smith of Long Beach, California, opened up the topic of 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 ...

Volunteering at Mother Teresa’s hospital

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
The Hospital for the Dying, in the Kalighat area of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India, is where I spent three memorable mornings as a volunteer. The hospital, established by Mother Teresa in 1950, is run by the Missionaries of Charity with the help of volunteers. Working there made me realize 1) how fortunate we Americans are ...

Leading the eye

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
I learned from a professional photographer, who is also a Kodak retiree, that the color of clothing can be very important when traveling if you expect to be in your pictures. Bright, solid colors photograph well, like a red umbrella on a rainy day. White will stand out and dominate your picture, distracting the eye from ...

The Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
The Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu
My husband, Joe, and I traveled to Machu Picchu in Peru in January ’07. I didn’t know if we would ever return to Machu Picchu, so I wanted to make the trip very special. I decided to book all Orient-Express Hotels properties for our Machu Picchu trip as well as their elegant train called the Hiram ...

India/Pakistan border ceremony

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
India/Pakistan border ceremony
For pure pageantry and nationalistic bravado, visit the border post ceremony in Wagah, a town half in India and half in Pakistan, at sunrise or sunset. This is the only road crossing between the two countries, and twice daily crowds gather to witness the ceremonial opening or closing of the border. My husband, Clyde, and I ...

IAMAT medical care abroad

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
One of the perils of international travel is dealing with illness or other health emergencies when in a foreign country. (Cruise ships with medical services aboard are the exception to this.) When we learned in 1988 that the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers, or IAMAT (1623 Military Rd. #279, Niagara Falls, NY 14304-1745; ...

Insurance paid off

Travelers' Intercom, November 2007 issue
Regarding travel insurance, all travel is a risk, but so is staying home, catching up on that “to do” list. I generally have not purchased travel insurance but did so for a trip to Austria in May ’05 with Untours (Media, PA). My reasons were simple: on a prior trip to Switzerland, my wife overextended her ...