October 2005

From a May-June ’05 trip to Europe, here are two caveats.

1. Beware of the short flight connection.

Ecuador is currently being flooded with near-perfect counterfeit bills, mostly arriving from Colombia. As a result, Ecuador’s commerce and banking sector is no longer accepting any U.S. 100-dollar bills. Even the banks will not exchange these bills, at present.

This might not seem odd at first glance, but the legal currency of Ecuador is, in fact, the U.S. dollar (adopted in late 2000).

On a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to England on Virgin Airlines in late April ’05, we had an opportunity to try out the new upper-class suites.

There is now an alternative to paying €14 (near $26) for a 15-minute ride on the quarter-hourly Heathrow Express from London’s Heathrow to Paddington Station.

by Larry Flinner, Cincinnati, OH

  On our trip to Thailand in February ’02, we found Bangkok hot and crowded, and the pollution was unbelievable. The northern part of the country was much nicer.— BARBARA RAGLAND, Oroville, CA

Dear Globetrotter:
Welcome to the 356th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine.