On March 14, the population of Crimea voted to separate from Ukraine and join Russia. The Russian parliament then drafted a law that allowed the annexation of Crimea, and troops were sent into the region to protect the newly proclaimed Russian territory. The US and Ukraine have condemned the vote and annexation as illegal, but Ukraine has pulled its armed forces out of the region, and Russian forces now hold the peninsula.
If one has to have a long layover, I’m here to tell you that Incheon International Airport near Seoul, Korea, is the best place to have one. I flew from Siem Reap, Cambodia, to Portland, Oregon, via Incheon and Seattle on Feb. 18-19, 2014. The journey included a 13-hour layover (5 a.m. to 6 p.m.) at Incheon.
I was traveling with five other women, and we decided to use the time for a bit of sightseeing. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that Incheon has a Transit Tour Desk and we could take a tour. We had a choice of six different itineraries, each from two to six hours long.
In her letter “Air Travel Tips” (Jan. ’14, pg. 10), Ms. KT Porter could not have been more right about the value of being nice to airline agents.
My husband and I were scheduled to fly Lufthansa on Dec. 9, 2013, from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, with a transit time of about two hours before continuing to Nürnberg. Our flight from Los Angeles ended up being delayed about two hours, so, concerned about the connection and our checked luggage (two small suitcases), during the flight to Frankfurt we talked to a flight attendant.
Her response was, “If the passengers can make it to the connecting flight, so can the luggage.”
For a trip to Vietnam in January-February 2014, George Dottl of Rogers, Arkansas, called American Airlines and booked tickets for his wife and himself.
They would fly on Jan. 2 aboard American Airlines from Arkansas to Dallas/Fort Worth to Tokyo, Japan (Narita International), then board a Japan Airlines flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They would fly the reverse route on the same airlines on Feb. 17.
The Department of State warns of the risks of traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa, or DRC).
Throughout the country, travelers are frequently detained and questioned by poorly disciplined security forces at roadblocks and border crossings. Requests for bribes in such instances are extremely common, and security forces have occasionally injured or killed people who refused to pay. In the past year, several US citizens were illegally detained by government forces or were robbed of their valuables while being searched.
In January, the US Transportation Security Administration stopped providing personnel to guard exits in the secure, “airside” areas of some airports, including New York’s JFK and LaGuardia. As part of a measure to reduce its 2014 budget by $88 million, it transferred control of exit-lane access to local airport authorities.
Airport advocates who object point to the shutdown of Newark International for several hours and subsequent flight delays after a nonpassenger snuck through an exit lane to kiss his girlfriend good-bye in 2010.
I spent 11 nights in Nepal, Oct. 22-Nov. 2, 2012, and four in Bhutan, Nov. 2-6, with a private guide and driver in each country. The trip was arranged by Himalaya Holiday Service (G.P.O. Box No. 9831, Kathmandu, Nepal; phone/fax +977 1438 9594), and I was very happy with its itinerary and organization.
No one was hurt at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, when in the early-morning hours of January 17 an IED tossed from a car exploded in a trash can outside a coffee shop, nor when smoke grenades were found in an airport toilet on Jan. 10.
by Arthur Hanna, Contributing Editor
As I boarded my flight from New York’s JFK to Medellín, Colombia, little did I know what fantastic experiences would be in store for me.