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We recommend Campanile Roissy (Zone d’Activites du Parc de Roissy, Allee des Vergers, 95700 Roissy en FRANCE; phone +33 1 34 29 80 40, fax 80 39 or e-mail roissy@campanile.fr) to anyone looking for a reasonably priced hotel near Charles de Gaulle International Airport.
I spent a delightful week at a lovely, small hotel in London, ENGLAND: the Blandford Hotel (80 Chiltern St., London W1U 5AF, U.K.; phone 44-207-486-3103, fax 487-2786 or visit www.blandfordhotel.com). I first stayed there in January ’05 and liked it then, but on my most recent visit in March ’07 I found that the entire hotel has been beautifully renovated from top to bottom.
by Bill Kizorek, Lisle, IL
Richard E. Smith of Long Beach, California, opened up the topic of tipping on tours (April ’04, pg. 4). Questions he asked included 1) “Should the cost of tipping be included in the tour price?,” 2) “Should there be an existing standard for tipping adhered to by most tour companies?,” 3) “Should an escrow tipping account be set up for each traveler, to be refunded partially or in toto (the reason being that some cheapskates never tip a penny)?” and 4) “Should travel companies be required to advise of their tipping recommendations in their advertisements?
by Jim Sajo, Polcenigo, Italy
In response to Mr. Halbert’s unfortunate loss of money from his hotel safe in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I’d suggest in the future he wear, tucked inside his clothing, a money belt and/or neck pouch and carry his valuables with him. My husband and I have never lost a thing by each wearing one of these.
To paraphrase Rick Steves, how many people have reached inside your underwear?
NORINE MATTESON
Vacaville, CA
I am a 55-year-old woman who does a lot of international traveling alone. The issue of where to keep my money and passport is always a problem. Although I am somewhat hesitant about the in-house safes, in so many countries where pickpocketing is a regular job, we almost have to use the hotel safes. I do two other things.
Murray Halbert’s tale of theft from his room safe at Angkor Wat (May ’07, pg. 41) resonated painfully with me, as something eerily similar happened while I was staying in a not-so-wonderful, smallish hotel in Bangkok in December ’06. I have made use of those in-room electronic safes on several occasions, a habit that I am determined to shed from now on.
A hotel room safe is no more secure than the management or any of the personnel is honest. In fact, it is something of a sitting duck — obvious and easy to open quickly, either with an override key or code.
On a trip to Morocco, Dec. 20, 2006-Jan. 4, 2007, I arrived in Casablanca with only a hotel reservation and some ideas but no firm plans. I had read articles about Morocco in ITN, checked the Internet and had referred to Lonely Planet and Footprint guidebooks as well as several fine pamphlets (“Imperial Cities,” “Museums,” “The Kasbah Trail,” “Casablanca,” etc., published by the Moroccan National Tourist Office (Orlando, FL; 407/264-0133, www.visitmorocco.org).