Calling All Readers

Whether you travel with just a carry-on or also check a bag or two, what types — and brands — of luggage do you travel with these days, and why? That was what we asked recently, with the following instructions. Describe the backpack, carry-on and/or suitcase with which you have been most satisfied. So that others can duplicate your purchase, give the brand name plus any identifying model or style name or number. If you purchased it recently, tell where you found it and approximately how much it cost.

We gave you this assignment: name a bridge (outside of the USA) that, for whatever reasons, is exciting to cross. Tell where it is (and, if necessary, how to find it) and approximately when you were there. Did you cross it on foot? By car? By train? Include your impressions. You may write about more than one bridge.

In Europe, Canada, Latin America and parts of Pacific Asia, the Middle East and Africa, retailers use an “EMV” credit card verification system that requires a computer chip embedded in the card. The cardholder must enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to complete a purchase. This EMV (aka “chip-and-PIN”) system is being increasingly used because of its effectiveness in combating fraud. ITN confirmed with MasterCard, American Express and Visa that, currently, no financial institution in the United States is issuing credit cards that use chip-and-PIN security technology.

In a writing “contest,” ITN posed the question “What makes Madrid “Madrid”? The window for submissions is closed, and in last month’s issue we named prize winners and printed a few of the entries. Here are a few more. Other cities will be the subjects of future essay contests, with more prizes.

Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece “Guernica” brought me to Madrid, and if I’d seen nothing else during my two weeks in Spain in April ’09, it would have been enough.

We gave you this assignment: name a bridge (outside of the USA) that, for whatever reasons, is exciting to cross. Tell where it is (and, if necessary, how to find it) and approximately when you were there. Did you cross it on foot? By car? By train? Include your impressions. You may write about more than one bridge.

We got a terrific response to the assignment we gave you a few months ago.

In the first of our writing “contests” about inspiring destinations, we posed the question “What makes Madrid “Madrid”? From the responses received, it is clear this city makes for vivid memories. We are accepting no more submissions for this contest and will print a few more of the entries received in the next couple of issues.

ITN asked, “When planning for a trip outside of the US, which guidebook publisher do you look to for information and why?” Along with naming the guidebook and publisher, we requested that your response include approximately when you took the corresponding trip and where. A number of letters were printed in the September and October 2009 issues, but this topic generated a few more, presented here.

Ellen Jacobson of Centennial, Colorado, wrote, “I would like readers to write in about the good food experiences that others can expect to have in different countries. I’m not talking about specific restaurant recommendations but about the particular dishes or types of foods that travelers should seek out in new places.”