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After reading the letter “Forgot My PIN. Now What?”(Jan. ’15, pg. 26), about someone forgetting his ATM PIN while on a trip, I thought I might share my solution for this same concern.
When preparing for a trip, I fill out a page with addresses and emails of family and friends. Also on the page, usually at the top by my name, I print my PINs. I do NOT identify them, so only I know the meaning of each set of four numbers.
In January I picked up my new 10-year China visa, which has unlimited-entry privileges. It is my understanding that all 10-year visas allow multiple entries into China*.
Incidentally, my new visa was procured through Lisa O’Brian at Universal Passports & Visas (Dallas, TX; 800/831-2098, www.universalpassportsandvisas.com).
I have used them before, for a visa for India, and got very efficient and fast service. The cost of my China visa included a fee of $140 plus $50 to Universal for a total of $190.
DAVID WILLIAMS
I was very impressed by Kathryn Tisdale’s description of her Europe trip and her tips for the mobility impaired (Jan. ’15, pg. 18). However, I do have a couple of related suggestions for London, which I last visited in December 2014.
I avoid the hop-on, hop-off buses. They’re expensive, they have no shelter on the top deck and, from reports I’ve read, it sounds like you can sometimes wait a long time.
My wife, Jackie, and I, along with another couple, took a 10-day bus tour of Ireland in early September 2014 with CIE Tours (US office in Morristown, NJ; 800/243-8687, www.cietours.com). It was fantastic!
We booked the trip through Bethany Travel (Millsboro, DE; 800/806-8747, www.dreamvacationinc.com). I don’t recall the total cost.
As a wheelchair user for 47 years and a paraplegic, I’ve found that overseas travel can provide obstacles and challenges.
In Germany, the world’s longest beer garden and bar will stretch more than a mile on Berlin’s Karl-Marx-Allee, Aug. 7-9, 2015. The Berlin International Beer Festival will have 340 breweries from 87 countries serving 2,400 types of beer, plus 20 stages with live music. Free entry. Visit www.bierfestival-berlin.de (in German).
Open until Aug. 20, 2015, in Buenos Aires, the exhibit “Latin American Art of the 20th Century” is showing works of some of the most important Latin American artists from the early 20th century through 1999, including pieces by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Antonio Dias.
The Museum of Latin America (Av. Figueroa Alcorta 3415, C1425CLA, Buenos Aires, Argentina; phone +54 11 4808 6500, www.malba.org.ar/en [mostly in Spanish]) is open 12-8 p.m. Thurs.-Mon. and 12-9 Wed. Closed Tues. ARS60 (near $7) adult or ARS30 student.
Since our marriage 35 years ago, my husband and I have had two dogs. Early in our marriage we acquired a dog, and some good friends also acquired one from the same litter, and for the life of those two dogs we managed to coordinate long vacations so that the dogs always stayed with one family while the other family was away.
