01
I’ve cruised rivers in Europe, China and northern India with several companies, but my April 3-10, 2011, Rhine River cruise on Uniworld’s River Empress surpassed them all for style and elegance in an intimate and relaxed setting. Most of all, I loved being pampered!
The price for the seven-day cruise from Frankfurt am Main to Amsterdam was $1,999 plus $625 for an upgrade. The single supplement was waived on this sailing!
On July 29, 2011, my wife, Susann, was hit by a motorcycle while in a crosswalk in Paris. She sustained an injury to her leg that required surgery after we returned to the United States.
In March 2010 I called Wholesale Flights and booked airfare for my husband and myself to South America.
by Jean Nethery; Blairsville, GA
March and April have always been favorite travel months for my husband, Al, and me. Before April 15, airfares are less expensive and tourist season is still at least a month away. For 2011 we chose an independent trip to Madeira and mainland Portugal (March 27-April 14).
As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 32 destinations: Afghanistan, Algeria, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Kenya, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
For details, call the State Department at 202/647-5225 or visit www.travel.state.gov.
The US Department of State recommends avoiding all areas within 20 kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in Japan. In addition, avoid the area northwest of the plant, including Iitate-mura, the Yamagiya district of Kawamata-machi, Katsurao-mura, Namie-machi and parts of Minamisoma. Travelers also should avoid all “Specific Spots Recommended for Evacuation” by the government of Japan.
In the Caribbean islands of Aruba, the Bahamas and Santa Lucia, 2011 saw a higher-than-usual increase in the number of clinical cases of dengue fever as well as the more deadly form, Severe Dengue, during July and August
The Bahamas’ Ministry of Health said that outbreaks occur every five to eight years (336 in 1998, 180 in 2003 and 10 in 2010) but that in summer 2011 there were about 6,000 clinical cases in the Bahamas. By early November 2011, the total number of cases reported in the Caribbean was 12,856 (31 of those Severe Dengue), with 10 deaths.
The Department of State warns that, although Guinea has been relatively calm since the democratically elected president took office in December 2010, the political situation remains unpredictable.
The Eritrean government continues to require all foreign nationals to apply 10 days in advance for permission to travel outside Asmara’s city limits. Permission is rarely granted.
In West and Central Africa, an unusually large outbreak of cholera in 2011 infected more than 106,000 people and killed over 3,500 from Jan. 1 through October. Spreading along waterways, it affected countries normally free of the disease.
UNICEF identified three multicountry outbreaks — in the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger), the West Congo Basin (NW Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic) and at Lake Tanganyika (SE Dem. Rep. of the Congo and Burundi).