I obtained through the TravelSmith catalog (800/950-1600 or www.travelsmith.com) two TSA-approved luggage locks with the red TSA-approved logo plainly visible on them. On Nov. 20, ’04, at the end of a trip, I boarded LanChile flight No. 500 from Santiago to Miami. Since I had been forewarned that many foreign countries were not familiar with these locks, I did NOT lock my bag for the flight.
A trip we made to Kenya was a near disaster.
On our trip to Southeast Asia in January ’05, we will be visiting Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia and Hong Kong. While we are independent travelers, we purchased package deals for Thailand, Cambodia and Hong Kong with Pleasant Holidays (e-mail generalreservations@pleasant.net or visit www.pleasantholidays.com).
The package for Burma is being provided by Golden Rock Tours & Travel (grtt@goldenrock.com.mm or www.visitmyanmar.com).
On Feb. 3, ’04, as a traveler with the “Tango and Samba” group of smarTours (800/337-7773), I entered Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, coming from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
As part of a journey through east Central Europe in July ’03, a friend and I boarded a train in Warsaw headed for Moscow, about a 25-hour rail trip. Part of the route entailed traveling through the country of Belarus, thus a stop was made at Terespol, the border town between Belarus and Poland. Here, as part of routine passport inspections, guards boarded the train.
In a letter in the December ’03 issue, page 78, a reader was “shocked” to learn of Turkey’s $100 visa fee and thought to cancel her trip when she did learn of it. It is truly “penny wise and pound foolish” to miss a trip to one of the world’s interesting countries, one with nice people, because of $100.
The reader might consider how much the U.S. charges citizens of Turkey to enter our country. Yes, that’s right: $100!
Moreover, Turkey is not alone in this. Chile, for example, admits U.S. citizens for $100 paid at the airport. Reciprocity is not robbery.