Calling All Readers

January 2015 issue

What To Do With a Pet While You're On a Long Trip (1 of 3)

As for suggestions on finding someone to care for your pet while you’re traveling, here’s what we can offer.

Check with your veterinarian. He or she may have other clients who do pet sitting or will know of reliable companies that will provide in-home care. (We happen to be lucky. Our vet has teenage daughters who, when we’re away, love earning money by coming to our house every day to feed, pamper and clean up after our cat.)

If you have a neighborhood watch group or actually know your neighbors, ask them for recommendations on pet sitters. We’ve...

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February 2015 issue

What to do with a pet while you’re on a long trip (2 of 3)

Here are suggestions for finding pet sitters.

Ask your veterinarian. (Check out the vet technicians.)

Check out pet trainers and dog-training schools to see if they have recommendations. Ask pet groomers and at pet stores.

Ask friends and friends of friends. Look for retirees. Ask family members or church members if they can recommend anyone.

My husband, Bob, and I have traveled for more than 30 years and have owned dogs all that time. Never once have we boarded or kenneled a dog. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough: people should not board or kennel their...

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March 2015 issue

What to do with a pet while you’re on a long trip (3 of 3)

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.

After long, happy lives, those two dogs passed away and we acquired another dog. Our friends whom we originally traded dog-sitting services with did not get another dog, so we now trade dog-sitting services with a different family.

This arrangement has...

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April 2015 issue

Received a traffic ticket from overseas

Nancy Tan of Fresno, California, wrote (Sept. ’14, pg. 33), “While traveling in Spain with my husband and son in May 2014, we received a speeding ticket, but we didn’t even know we had been cited until at least two weeks later when the rental car company forwarded the ticket to us by email (charging us over €30 for this “service”). The ticket, a fine of €300 (near $403), had been given electronically. The ticket said we had been cited for going 20 kilometers per hour over the limit.

“I printed the ticket out. . . and learned that I could pay online. I tried to do this but couldn’t...

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May 2015 issue

Annual themed festivals

We asked you to tell us about a fun, impressive or unique annual festival, celebrating something in particular, that you attended outside of the US in the last few years. Among the information we requested was the name of the festival, where it takes place, when it takes place and for how many days plus the year you went. We also wanted to know what activities occurred, what you experienced, approximate costs, tips on how to get to the festival and any other helpful advice.

A number of the responses appear below, these on festivals in many parts of ASIA. If you are an ITN...

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June 2015 issue

Annual Themed Festivals (2 of 3)

We asked you to tell us about a fun, impressive or unique annual festival, celebrating something in particular, that you attended outside of the US in the last few years. We requested the name of the festival, where it takes place, when it takes place and for how many days plus the year you went. We also wanted to know what activities occurred, what you experienced, approximate costs, tips on how to get to the festival and any other helpful advice.

Last month, we printed descriptions of festivals in Asia. In this second of three parts, the responses are about festivals in LATIN...

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February 2014 issue

Maintaining a special diet while traveling
Subscribers tell how they cope with food allergies on the road and share secrets for preparing meals with equipment they pack
March 2014 issue

True chip-and-PIN cards issued in the US

Some banks in the US are beginning to issue credit cards with antifraud security chips embedded in them. The chips hold account information that is encrypted.

In the US, most of these cards are “chip-and-signature” cards with which you usually must provide a signature (and an ID) to complete a transaction. However, what are being used in a great many countries outside of the US are “chip-and-PIN” cards, each of which has a personal identification number (PIN) assigned to it that you punch into the credit card terminal’s keypad when asked for it. ...

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