by Alan M. Spira, M.D.

(Third of three parts)

In the prior two issues, routine and travel-specific immunizations held our attention. Now we turn to immunizations which are “required” and relevant to travelers.

There is good news, here. The only immunization mandated by international law is that for yellow fever, through the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the United Nations via the World Health Organization. This document was reratified in 2005 at the World...

by Julie Skurdenis

“You’ve come at just the right time,” commented the cheerful young woman in the Tourist Information Office. “If you look just outside our front door, you’ll see the archaeologists excavating the Roman Forum. They just started six weeks ago.”

My husband, Paul, and I were in the Croatian town of Pula at the tip of the Istrian Peninsula jutting into the Adriatic. And, sure enough, what we had thought was just another street-repaving project was actually a...

DEAR READER, I’d like to share an incident with you that I had on a recent trip to France.

Nearly a thousand years ago, in 1066 to be exact, one of my ancestors moved from a small village in Normandy to England and founded our family. He became known as “Gilbert of (or from) Venables,” and his descendants simply became Venables (without the “of”). Now every five years, the village, north of Paris on the Seine River and still small, hosts a party and all Venables are invited back to...