Travelers' Intercom
Hiring a day guide
My husband, Steve, and I have had very good luck with hiring our own private guides when disembarking from a cruise ship, rather than paying the exorbitant prices for the line’s shore excursions.
Easter Island dining
My partner, John, and I, were on Easter Island, Feb. 6-11, 2008, attending this year’s Tapati Festival. In Hanga Roa, the island’s only town, we found that restaurants often serve only one item.
Bank of Internet
For purchases and obtaining cash while traveling, I use www.bankofinternet.com and have for years. The senior (50+) checking account gives me 3.4% interest, free checks and an ATM card where up to $8 a month is reimbursed for fees charged by other banks.
Bag left behind
I want to relate an incident that occurred on Aug. 4, 2008, at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in France.
Elephant center near Kuala Lumpur
During a short stay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in March ’07, my travel partner, Frank, and I took a private tour to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Centre. The reserve cares for homeless elephants and relocates elephants from areas where crops, people or the beasts themselves are at risk.
Backpack cushion
There was a write-up of Rick Steves’ handy little black (now in other colors) backpack (July ’08, pg. 84). This little item saved my backside on my April 11-May 11, 2008, trip.
Grand Circle Travel trip to Lapland
On a Grand Circle Travel trip to Lapland, we saw these graves. The white “flowers” that cover them are actually lichen.
Frankfurt airport trek
My wife and I, both experienced world travelers, transferred through the Frankfurt, Germany, airport en route from Los Angeles to Lithuania and back in July ’08. We found landing at Terminal 1 and transferring to Terminal 2 (and vice versa) extremely difficult to accomplish.
Recommended in London
I took a trip to London in July ’08 with my mother and two sons and wish to highly recommend the area around Earls Court tube station both for restaurants and for the accessibility to Heathrow from there. There are a number of 3-star hotels in the area, as well.
Disappointments on Egypt/Jordan tour
My wife and I took an almost 3-week-long tour to Egypt and Jordan with Vantage Deluxe World Travel, Jan. 20-Feb. 8, 2008, at a cost of $10,248 for two, including round-trip airfare from Washington, D.C., to Cairo.
Saw suffering in Viet Nam & Cambodia
I joined a group of 35 seasoned travelers on Nov. 5, 2007, for the 16-day tour “Vietnam Discovery” offered by SmarTours (501 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1402, New York, NY 10017; 800/337-7773, www.
A case for undies
My husband, David, and I thought we were pretty savvy travelers. On an August ’07 trip (Aug. ’08, pg.
Questions State Dept. Travel Warnings
I have concerns as to the value of the State Department warnings for travelers going to certain countries. My case in point is the warning on visiting Syria. Having completed my sixth trip to Syria in March ’08, I question their advice.
Kudos to Glacier Express & Hertz
My wife, son and I rode the Glacier Express (www.glacierexpress.ch) from Zermatt to St. Moritz, Switzerland, on June 2, 2008, and we were planning on renting a car in St. Moritz to drive to Bolzano and Lago Maggiore in Italy.
Serendipity trumps planning in St. Moritz
There are many types of travelers. Some, like me, are planners.
Some disappointments on tour
I took a trip with Grand Circle Travel (GCT), Oct. 6-29, 2007. Along with a “Russian Waterways” cruise-tour I booked two optional extensions: the 5-night “Baltic Capitals: Tallinn, Estonia, and Helsinki, Finland” ($645) and the 3-night “Kiev, Ukraine” ($445).
Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers
On a trip to Malaysia, my significant other, Frank, and I spent a night in Kuala Lumpur where, if a visitor does nothing else, seeing the Petronas Twin Towers is a must.
Daintree, granddad of rainforests
We tend to think of the Amazon as the granddaddy of all rainforests, but, at a mere 10 million years old, the Amazon is really like a grandchild to the Daintree Rainforest on Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia. Daintree is a unique ecological gem, parts of it being as much as 140 million years old.