Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada or Mexico.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.
This month’s winner is NORMAN L. ROGERS of San Anselmo, CA:
We wanted to share notes from a vacation we had in Sweden, July 16-28, ’03. This trip certainly is one we will repeat. We gathered information from the Swedish Travel & Tourism Council (www.visit-sweden.com) and from articles written by ITN subscribers, some of whom we contacted.
We were a little reluctant to try the express train from Arlanda Airport to Stockholm, but it was inexpensive; we paid a family rate of $23 for the two of us. We had our luggage carts from entry and merely took the elevator to the airport’s lower level and boarded the train.
From London, ENGLAND, Jan. 2, ’04. . .
by Kevin Keating
Our 21-day trip to Spain and Portugal, March 5-25, ’02, with Patty’s Places (Seattle, WA) was lovely. We knew it would be, as this was our third tour with Patty; each was wonderful. Patty has a knack for attracting pleasant, congenial and thoughtful people for her tours; in no time at all we all were friends and began looking out for each other.
Our national guide, Laura, was very pleasant and friendly, had lots of enthusiasm and was well versed on the histories of both countries.
Ireland We want to rave about our trip to Ireland, June 16-July 5, ’03, with Patty’s Places (1251 NW 195th St., Seattle, WA 98177; phone 206/546-6717 or visit www.pattysplaces.com). The cost was $2,850 per person plus air, which the tour company can arrange for you.
The small group size (20 plus escort) was perfect, as we got to know our interesting fellow travelers.
My wife and I and our daughter and son-in-law spent a week in May ’02 in southwest England with David and Christine Hale, who have a B&B and a tour service called Village Vacations (Brookmead, Rimpton, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 8AQ England; phone/fax [UK] 011-44-1935-850241, e-mail villagevac@aol.com or visit www.villagevacations.co.uk).
We are retired antique dealers who have spent two to three weeks buying antiques in England twice a year every year for the last 30 years. On those buying trips, we went where the antiques were.
From Paris, FRANCE, Dec. 5-10, ’03. . .
My husband and I spent a week in Tuscany with our family group in June ’03. One feature of our stay was a guided tour of parts of the Chianti wine region not normally visited by tourists.
I found Istanbul as interesting as ever on my eighth trip to my favorite city. Istanbul is all about the people in the streets, both past and present. If you are not too timid, you should stay where the Turkish people are — bustling about the streets in the Sirkeci district (pronounced Sirkajee). From there you can walk anywhere you would want to visit.