Rick Steves gave some good, solid advice on driving in Europe (Aug. ’17, pg. 55), but he skipped over a few items that I consider very important, based on my 60 years of driving rented, leased and owned cars in 75 foreign countries, much of it in Europe.
• Many agencies will not rent to drivers over 70 or 75 years old, spoiling the fun before it starts, but I’ve found Hertz (www.hertz.com) to be consistently liberal about renting to older drivers.
Diane Robbins of Penfield, New York, wrote (Dec. ’16, pg. 53), “I would like to hear of the experiences of… travelers who, after having purchased travel insurance, had to cut short their vacations because of medical issues.
Diane Robbins of Penfield, New York, wrote (Dec. ’16, pg. 53), “I would like to hear of the experiences of… travelers who, after having purchased travel insurance, had to cut short their vacations because of medical issues.
Dear Globetrotter:
Welcome to the 496th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine. (Approaching 500! We must be doing something right.)
I’ve got a lot to cover this month, so I’ll get right to it.
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Starting sometime in late February, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) quietly changed the way its agents perform pat-downs in airport security lines.
In my December 2016 column, I answered questions that readers had after reading the account of my April 2016 emergency room visit in Naples, Italy (Sept. ’16, pg. 51).
One reader, Joyce Perry of Los Angeles, California, also wrote, “As an 86-year-old, I would like to know my options if I become too ill to be treated by a cruise ship’s doctor. Unfortunately, the article that detailed your experiences in Italy did not tell us how to be better prepared for an unexpected stay.”
Having read the travelers’ upsetting trip-insurance experiences in the July and August 2016 issues, I wanted to share one that was positive.
In 2011, my wife, Mary, and I signed up with Grand Circle Travel (Boston, MA; 800/221-2610, www.gct.com) for a 2012 trip to Russia plus an extension to the Baltic countries, 20 days total.
Many readers might recall my article about staying in an emergency hospital in Naples, Italy, after a medical condition I had got worse while I was on a Holland America Line cruise in April 2016 (Sept. ’16, pg. 51).
Upon my return to Seattle, it was inspiring to receive emails from several ITN subscribers, including Joyce Perry, Judy Serie Nagy, Diane Robbins and Jane B. Holt, all of whom inquired about my health and wished me good luck.
In September 2015, my husband, Dan, fell and broke his hip in a hotel in Paris. He was taken by ambulance to the public-assistance hospital. It was a very scary time, as I know little French.
After about six hours of lying on a gurney in hallways, having tests and x-rays done and waiting for results, he was admitted and given morphine, at which point he wasn’t scared at all.
Nearly 20 years ago, I was on a tour in Uzbekistan when one of our group had to be evacuated to Helsinki, Finland, for surgery. Fortunately, she had evacuation insurance. Since that event, I have had emergency-medical-evacuation insurance, as my family and I travel to out-of-the-way places such as Mongolia, Tunisia, Nepal and North Korea.
I read the subscribers’ letters on the subject “Travel Insurance Claim Denied” (July ’16. pg. 37 & Aug. ’16, pg. 36) and noted some situations in which travelers’ credit cards could have covered them when purchased insurance travel plans did not.
Traveling home from the British Virgin Islands to Burlington, Vermont, in February 2016, my husband and I encountered a flight cancellation due to weather, and it required an overnight stay in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. American Airlines was not responsible for any reimbursement, as the cancellation/delay was due to weather.