Travelers' Intercom
Recommended in Switzerland
My husband and I visited our friend Hilde in Turbenthal, Switzerland, Sept. 15-22, 2019.
On Oceania’s ground transfers
I read the account of the traveler Michael Burge and his wife (March ’20, pg. 52), who took an around-Australia cruise with Oceania Cruises and felt that $109 per person, each way, was too much to pay for the cruise line’s airport/port transfers. They found alternative transportation.
Pleasant surprise
In January 2019, my wife and I booked a flight from Minneapolis to Portland, Oregon, on Delta Air Lines, the first leg of a June 2019 trip to South Korea, but we got our signals crossed and double-booked — a goofy first for us — so we had to cancel two of the tickets.
Winging it in Japan
On a trip to Japan, my daughter Stacy and I stayed in a virtual ghost town when we lodged at Ryokan Sakaya - Nozawa Onsen (9329 Toyosato, Nozawa onsen, Nagano 389-2502, Japan; ryokan-sakaya.com), April 17-19, 2019.
Fighting credit card fraud
In the letter “Watch Credit Card Statements” (March ’20, pg. 24), a subscriber wrote that he handed over his credit card to a waiter in a taverna in Greece for a few minutes and later discovered that a fraudulent charge had been made during that time.
Carry local currency
On a cruise my husband and I took aboard the Norwegian Star (leaving Venice, Italy, Sept. 8, and returning Sept. 15, 2019), my husband and I traveled to Montenegro, Greece, Croatia and back to Venice.
Tour guides in India
My wife, Marilyn, and I took a customized 3-week trip to India arranged by Swagatam Tours (New Delhi, India; www.swagatam.com) in February 2019.
Hotel Antumalal, Chile
While visiting Chile’s Lake District in November 2019, my wife, Arnette, and I stayed at a nice hotel beside a beautiful lake within a mile of the center of the delightful town of Pucón, which is also on the lake.
Italy with Oceania Cruises
I took the cruise “Inspiring Italy” with Oceania Cruises (855/335-2416, oceaniacruises.com), Aug 6-16, 2019.
Fine dining in the Azores
My wife, Nancy, and I spent a week in the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago approximately 930 miles west of Lisbon, in August 2018.
Found Odysseys Unlimited’s air policies restrictive
My wife and I were about to take our first trip with Odysseys Unlimited (Newton, MA; 888/370-6765, odysseys-unlimited.com), and on Dec. 26, 2019, we made a deposit on the tour “Norwegian Splendor,” starting on May 17, 2020, to visit Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Super-senior’s travel adaptations
The article “Travel Tips for the Less Able,” by Paula Prindle (Jan. ’20, pg. 40), was good. I will be 80 this year. I’m blind in one eye, my hearing isn’t perfect, and my knees now balk at stairs. But I still love to travel, even though I’ve lost my travel buddies!
‘Wonderful’ guide in Nicaragua
My husband and I were able to access Granada, Nicaragua, for a lovely excursion during a “Portraits of Panama” canal cruise with Oceania Cruises. On the Sirena, the cruise started in Miami and ended in Los Angeles (but did not have an actual stop in Panama), and our excursion was on Nov.