I traveled to Kenya, June 12-24, 2014, with Road Scholar (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768, www.roadscholar.org) and I want to commend the company for not canceling this tour even though there were only four of us. Apparently, there had been 16 people registered for this trip, but 12 canceled because of perceived danger in Kenya.
All of the promised accommodations, safaris and lectures (a hallmark of Road Scholar trips) were exactly as promised.
A few years ago I got the British Airways Chase Visa card, since I had been promised 100,000 bonus miles and was told that it would charge no foreign transaction fees. I quickly racked up 150,000 miles and a companion voucher for British Airways. However, this turned out to be worthless.
First, I never found seats available for the times that I wanted to travel.
I returned from London, flying to Los Angeles on United Airlines out of the airline’s new Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport, on Oct. 22, 2014. After walking forever and ever from security to the gates in Terminal 2B (Gates B31-B49), I wondered just how far it was.
When I couldn’t find the information online, I asked the woman doing the check-in in the United Red Carpet Club if she knew how long the walk was. Without hesitation, she said, “Yes. It’s a mile!”
(Part 3)
A lot of you make all of your travel arrangements, yourselves, these days, using online booking engines to purchase flight tickets and reserving tours on tour companies’ websites, but we wanted to hear from any of our subscribers who prefer to let a travel agent do the work or who have had a positive experience using one recently. We asked you to include the following details.
I read the letter “Global Entry Advantages” (Sept. ’14, pg. 54), regarding programs allowing approved travelers expedited security screening for selected departures in US airports.
My husband and I have had and have used the Global Entry program flawlessly on our returns from international trips. However, it has seldom been the case for us that TSA Pre√™ (Pre-check) has been assigned us on any domestic trips. Even queues marked “TSA Pre√/Global Entry” refuse us if “TSA Pre√” is not actually printed on our boarding passes.
Concern about the spread of the ebola virus has prompted some nations to begin screening passengers arriving from affected countries.
My husband, Ray, and I arrived at New York’s JFK Airport on Delta Air Lines flight 185 from Paris, Sept. 21, 2014. Our flight was on schedule.
When we entered the terminal, officials were barking orders for US passport holders to get into a line that looked a mile long. (I really wanted to take a photo to post in ITN, but signs prohibiting photography were posted everywhere.)
Tickets now can be purchased online for North Korea’s state-owned airline Air Koryo. In September, Spain-based airline ticket broker Destinia (US residents, phone +34 91 524 24 00, http://destinia.us) became the first agency to offer the tickets online.
The website offers three round-trip routes: Pyongyang-Beijing, China, starting at $962; Pyongyang-Shenyang, China, from $1,233, and Pyongyang-Vladivostok, Russia, from $1,865.
The “Go Round Asia & Southwest Pacific Pass” gives travelers a flexible way to visit 26 countries. Travelers book a minimum of two and a maximum of 10 stops for travel in economy or business class. Travel must begin and end in the same country (although it can be different cities in that country), and at least one stop must be in Australia, New Zealand or Micronesia. Also, one flight/connection must be on China Airlines, China Eastern or China Southern.
Sometimes I wonder why I lug my bag through airports, following my own recommendation to pack light enough to carry on and avoid checking any bags on international flights. It can be a drag, dragging your bag through airports, but when scrambling with last-minute changes in flight plans, those without checked bags are far more nimble.