Dear Steve, I’d like your input regarding the editor’s statement on page 2 of the February ’07 issue. He wrote that U.S. air travelers can lock their checked bags and added, “Of course, Travel Sentry® Certified locks must be used.”
That these locks must be used is not entirely true. For the past several years I’ve checked bags at both Washington, D.C., airports for international flights and used my own little padlocks.
I’m writing regarding the letter “An Altercation Escalated” (April ’07, pg. 66).
I traveled to Vietnam several years ago with an eco-friendly small-group tour company, Peregrine Travel (Melbourne, Australia; visit www.peregrineadventures.com. Book in the U.S. through Adventure Center, 1311 63rd St., Ste. 200, Emeryville, CA 94608; 800/227-8747, www. adventurecenter.com). In November ’06 I took their 12-day “Burma Unveiled” tour. The tour price was $1,375 plus $20 for the tips kitty and $1,100 for round-trip airfare from San Francisco to Yangon on Singapore Air.
We asked readers to tell us what they buy at duty-free shops and why. Are there true bargains? Do the prices and selection vary in different countries? With the new airport security regulations, how do you handle your purchases? What advice can you offer? Below are replies received. If you have more to share, write to “Duty-Free Shopping,” c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818, or e-mail editor@intltravelnews.com (please include the address at which you receive ITN).
My wife, Betty, and I flew Air India from Los Angeles to New Delhi on Jan. 25, 2006, and returned on Feb. 15, 2006. Wanting to apply to their frequent-flyer program so we could get credit for air-miles with Air India and/or their partners, I asked on the plane for an application. They said they didn’t have any but usually do and to ask at their check-in desk when we stopped in Frankfurt, Germany. I did and was told, “Ask on the plane to New Delhi.” Again, they said they had none (though they usually do) and to ask at check-in in New Delhi, which I did.
We flew out of San Francisco on Oct. 11, 2006, destined to board the Pacific Princess in Cape Town, South Africa, for a 29-day voyage across the Indian Ocean ending in Australia. After arriving in Frankfurt, Germany, for the last leg of our flight, with Lufthansa, the airline ramp agent denied us entry onto the plane because we each did not have one completely blank visa page in our passports.
by Ed Kinney, Contributing Editor
From Sohren, GERMANY, March 18, 2007. . .
Nostalgically, my hands hold the genuine leather of the old travel wallet, which, for years, has held my essential travel documents. It still looks as good as it did 51 years ago, when my aunt surprised me with it as a going-away present.
I reminisce about the olden days, when friends showered you with gifts each time you left on a journey, the era when airlines cherished their passengers and when the term “cattle” applied only to animals and not travelers, the time when one didn’t have to worry about the contents of suitcases.
The owner/operator of a taxi in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pablo Menendez (phone 15 5613 4386 or e-mail pablo336menendez @hotmail.com), was superb in transporting my husband, Dave, and me from the international airport to the domestic airport and, on our return, to our hotel in March ’06.
We were so impressed, we engaged him further for a day tour of the city and surrounds. We saw, complete with his political, historical and personal perspective, not only the ritzy part of Buenos Aires but the area where the workers live.