January 2011

by Philip Wagenaar (part five of a series)

“Am I likely to get a refund of a travel insurance premium if I cannot take the trip?”

The short answer is “Probably not.”

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.

This month’s winner is IRVING E. DAYTON of Corvallis, Oregon:

When looking for a hotel, I never book one without reading all the reviews on www.tripadvisor.com, which provides large numbers of specific opinions on destinations. It takes some processing to sort out the bozos from the normal travelers, but I’ve not been disappointed in a hotel I’ve chosen from this site in the last 10 years.

I was dismayed to read the subscriber’s comments in the letter “France Fast with Cosmos” (Nov. ’10, pg. 28); he said that he and his wife did not care for Paris, mostly because it was “inundated” with tourists.

I don’t see how he could come to a negative conclusion about such a beautiful, wonderful city after a visit of just one day.

I agree with the travelers who take digital pictures of their rental cars upon picking them up (Sept. ’10, pg. 40). I do so, myself, and although I have returned cars with a scratch or two it has never been an issue.

I have found that rental cars tend to be inspected more thoroughly at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports than they are at the less-well-known airports (e.g., Bristol), where the return inspections have been cursory or nonexistent. I do get a “prerental” damage description from the rental agent.

I read the readers’ auto rental tips (Sept. ’10, pg. 40). On a trip to Zürich during the ’90s I filled the tank of my rental car right before turning it in so as to avoid the higher charge per liter or being charged for more liters than were actually needed to fill the tank.

I dropped off the car, making sure the full tank was noted, and the agent acknowledged it with an “Okay.”

When I got my credit card bill, however, I had been charged nearly $50 for gas for the Ford Fiesta — obviously a ripoff.

Salzburg’s historic city center became a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1996, and a visit to the delightful Old Town will convince you it truly is a special place.

by Ed Kinney, Roanoke, VA

Tucked less than 10 miles below Canada’s Newfoundland, where the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean meet, several very small French islands with a rich legacy await visitors.

ITN asked, “Where have you had the best ice cream outside of the United States?” In the last two issues, subscribers have shared their favorite ice cream parlors in Italy and in the Western Hemisphere (sans USA). This month they take you around the world.