Air Travel

From Seoul, SOUTH KOREA, Sept. 12, ’05. . .

“You can leave earlier if you travel standby on Delta,” the reservation agent told my cousin, Marcus, when he called Northwest Airlines about his JFK-to-Seattle flight.

I have been trying to get a reader’s letter, titled “Bhutan Arrangements ‘Challenging’” (Oct. ’05, pg. 31), out of my mind, but I can’t. Bhutan, the country complained about, is my favorite place in the world, and I feel it was unfairly maligned by the traveler.

First of all, to allow only four days to see a country seems a bit short. Especially since flying into Bhutan entails landing between mountains, and anything short of a beautifully blue sky is going to mean no flying. On my trip, 13 years ago, we lost a day going due to rain.

by Florence Drake, Readfield, ME

The tour called “China and the Yangtze,” organized by Grand Circle Travel (347 Congress St., Boston, MA, 02210; phone 800/321-2835 or visit www.gct.com), might be subtitled “The Best of China.” This wonderful 21-day tour, April 9-29, ’05, cost $3,005 per person, including airfare from San Francisco, five internal flights and a 5-day cruise on the Yangtze River. My wife and I elected to take eight optional excursions (highly recommended) for an additional $277 per person.

Nancy Stott of Walnutport, Pennsylvania, wrote, “I would like to see readers write on the topic of ‘around-the-world itineraries’ such as those featured by airline alliances and some consolidators. It would be great to have a few first-person accounts of experiences plus suggestions.”

We printed Nancy’s request in our June ’05 issue and received a number of responses. Several are printed below, and one reader’s very informative and comprehensive letter will follow next month.

I read about the reader’s frustration in trying to find the rental car return location at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle International (Sept. ’05, pg. 46). I picked up a car and returned it there in late September ’05, and I found that if you watch the signs, it is not at all difficult.

One of the most mysterious and arcane topics among airplane travelers is jet lag and its incapacitating effects on the traveler. Having firsthand experience from traveling frequently over a 6-year period from New York to numerous destinations in Asia, I have found that jet lag is a debilitating experience that, fortunately, can be dealt with.

What do you do to pass the time in an airport waiting for a flight? Have any suggestions to make the interval more pleasant? ITN asked readers those questions and printed some of their responses in the May ‘05 issue. More ideas have come in and we are presenting them here.

If you have any tips to contribute (photos with captions welcome), write to Whittle While You Wait, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramentro, CA 95818, or e-mail editor@intltravelnews.com (please include the address at which you receive ITN).

by Jan Oravetz, Ft. Myers, FL