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ITN asked, “When planning for a trip outside of the US, which guidebook publisher do you look to for information and why?” Along with naming the guidebook and publisher, we requested that your response include approximately when you took the corresponding trip and where. A number of letters were printed in the September and October 2009 issues, but this topic generated a few more, presented here.
by Joseph Lambert; Glenview, IL
After reading an article in the USA Today travel section in September ’07 about Nicaragua’s growth in tourism, we started making plans to travel there in mid-September ’08.
On my trip to Ethiopia in September-October ’09, I found that having a local travel agent is a godsend.
India offers an exotic kaleidoscope of sights, sounds and smells. The contrasts are amazing. People still use water from public wells to wash their storefronts and trucks, as cows pick through garbage along the curb. Women wear bright, colorful saris while going about their daily activities.
My husband, Ray, and I experienced this during the “Heart of India” tour with Overseas Adventure Travel, or OAT (Cambridge, MA; 800/493-6824, www.oattravel.com), Oct. 22-Nov. 7, 2008. (In 2010, the tour price, land only, is $3,095 per person.)
My wife, JoAnn, and I have taken many cruises but never one on any of Europe’s rivers, so when we saw that Uniworld (Los Angeles, CA; 800/733-7820) had introduced the 160-passenger River Beatrice in March ’09, with 7-night cruises along the Danube, we decided to go.
I was on the last voyage of Princess Cruises’ Tahitian Princess from Cape Town to Singapore, Oct. 18-Nov. 19, 2009. The ship went into dry dock when it reached Singapore, and it will come out as the Ocean Princess.
I went off on Sept. 22, 2009, with my new luggage, an Eagle Creek Tarmac 22, expecting the carry-on piece to stay with me throughout my trip to Edinburgh and England. I travel light and never check my bag.
On the very first flight, aboard a United Skywest Airlines plane, the overhead could not accommodate my carry-on. The crew had to remove my luggage and utilized their “à la carte” service, meaning the bag would be made available to me on the tarmac upon arrival. The very same thing happened on that same plane back to Medford on Oct. 8.
by Marvin Herman & Judy Licata; Delavan, Wisconsin
In the Perinet Reserve in Madagascar we saw our first lemur, the indri, which is the largest type and can weigh up to 15 pounds.