Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

June 2008 issue

Defaults to U.S. carriers

We don’t fly a foreign carrier when a U.S. carrier has the route, even though we realize the U.S. carrier will not match the foreign airline in service. Why? Because our carriers need all the help they can get to stay alive; if not supported, more will go the way of Pan Am, TWA, etc.

We have found that Continental does provide comfortable seating and good service, having flown them many times on the Honolulu-Guam-Manila or -Hong Kong route and from Frankfurt to Newark or Dulles as well as Paris-Newark and New Delhi-Newark — all good flights.

The best foreign carriers we have...

February 2007 issue

Minimizing transaction fees

Julee Roth raises an important issue about the recent changes in banks, credit cards, ATMs and foreign currency transactions and the new fees (Dec. ’06, pg. 12).

Regarding currency transactions, two bad things happened on our visit to Tuscany in September-October ’04. Hertz processed our Italian rental car transaction in U.S. dollars instead of euros, at an unfavorable exchange rate. They called it “Dynamic Conversion,” claiming that it was for our “benefit.” When I asked that the charge instead be processed in euros, the desk clerk suddenly lost his ability to speak English.

August 2007 issue

Taxi tours of Gibraltar

On my Holland America cruise around the Mediterranean in October ’06, one of the ports of call was Gibraltar. The cruise line sold tours of “the rock,” but my wife and I wanted to go into the town first to do a little shopping and arrange for a tour by cab later in the day.

As expected, there was a line of cabs at the end of the pier, almost all of them 7-passenger VW buses that could hold five to seven people. Not one single cab would drive us into the downtown area. They all were selling their own half-day tours of “the rock” and would not take anyone anywhere else. In addition,...

September 2008 issue

Foldable hiking stick

Usually there are only a few times on a trip when I need my hiking pole, but when I need one I REALLY need it, i.e., when fording a rocky stream or climbing down steps of uneven heights.

My Leki, which I regularly use, is too long to put in my small suitcase, even when broken down. My solution is a foldable stick ordered from Rocky Mountain Amblers (Denver, CO; 303/793-0719, www.rockymountainamblers.com).

Ruth, at Rocky Mountain Amblers, was extremely helpful in guiding my selection of just the right stick. They offer them in various heights, weights and diameters to fit the...

January 2007 issue

Ziggy in Poland

We had the most incredible two days in Poland in 2005, thanks to the best guide ever, Ziggy Pelczyk (e-mail zpelczyk@wp.pl), and the ITN reader who wrote and told me about him, Elizabeth Moore.

We went there for two days over the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend. We left home on Wednesday and arrived in Warsaw midday on Thursday. It was a great time of year to travel, as the holiday season was just starting and most of the European cities were decorated and had Christmas markets in the town squares — very festive. The weather was a chance encounter, but we were lucky because it snowed and...

July 2007 issue

Ship credit hassles

My husband and I sailed on Holland America Line’s MS Statendam for a “Japan and Transpacific Passage” (Japan/Siberia) cruise, April 29-May 21, 2006, which we booked through Vantage Deluxe World Travel. Before leaving home, we sent a copy of our 100 shares of stock to the cruise line’s parent company, Carnival Cruises, in order to receive $250 in shipboard credit.

On the ship we went many times to the business area and were told several answers: 1) their communication with Seattle was not working; 2) they were not responsible, we were, for getting the credit for us, and 3) they would...

May 2007 issue

Road signs in Japan

In the article “Traveling Solo in Tokyo” (Jan. ’07, pg. 46), the author states, “As you get farther outside of Tokyo, the signs all switch from Romaji to Japanese characters.”

I have skied in Japan every February for the last five years, renting a car and driving around back roads in Hokkaido, Niigata, Nagano and Iwate prefectures. I travel alone and can neither read nor speak Japanese. All of the road signs I have seen, even in very small towns, have been in Japanese and English. I have never really had any navigation problems.

RICHARD PAZARA

Arlington, TX

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February 2007 issue

Hotel + guides in Russia

With a Viking River Cruises trip in Russia planned to start on Oct. 1, 2006, my husband and I decided to arrive a day early in St. Petersburg and also stay an extra night in Moscow after the cruise. My first job was to secure hotel reservations, which proved to be very difficult mainly because only about 25% of the e-mails I sent were answered or the hotels were already full. The other reason is that prices are high in Russia for even basic rooms.

One of the exceptions to this was a little gem of a hotel whose owner answered every question. Casa Leto Hotel (34 Bolshaya Morskaya, St...