Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

September 2007 issue

Amarula in Johannesburg

A reader talked about buying a bottle of Amarula liqueur at an African duty-free shop and putting it in her carry-on bag for the return home (June ’07, pg. 50).

We returned from Africa May 22, 2007, and at the Johannesburg duty-free shop where we tried (the operative word) to purchase Amarula to take to the U.S., we were told that the airlines would not allow such a bottle of liquid on board. No more than three ounces of a ﬂuid substance is the rule and has been for a while. Some shops will carry your packages to the plane for you, but Johannesburg duty-free will not.

After...

January 2007 issue

Pick-me-up in Kobarid

If you’re visiting Kobarid, Slovenia’s, award-winning Kobarid Museum, you’ll do well to have a meal at Restavricija Kotlar (Kobarid, Slovenia; phone 386 [0] 5 38 91 110) before leaving town. It’s located on a square only a 2-minute walk from the museum.

In a village of fewer than 1,500, this white-tablecloth restaurant was an unexpected find on our October ’05 visit. There are at least three dining rooms; we were seated in a midsized room that was filled with sunshine.

Minutes after we were seated, the largest room was filled by a bus tour group. Considering the lack of...

July 2007 issue

Stockholder credit

I was surprised by the reader’s letter “Re Shore Tours, Stockholder Perk” (Sept. ’06, pg. 30) complaining about Holland America Line’s (HAL’s) customer service. While experiences are individual, I have found HAL’s customer service personnel to be unfailingly prompt and helpful.

I too own Carnival Cruise Line stock and always take advantage of the shipboard credit benefit when I sail on any of the ships owned by Carnival Corporation. Information on stock ownership must be submitted in advance of the cruise. My wife, Kathleen, and I have been on seven cruises with HAL, the last being...

May 2007 issue

Scouting out a flight Georgetown-Paramaribo

My wife and I have traveled to much of the world, but what stumped us was how to go by air from Georgetown, Guyana, to Paramaribo, Suriname. When we plugged the flight into the usual search engines, no answers appeared. Somehow we knew that an airline called META existed and flew, or once did fly, to that destination, but we couldn’t find it online.

We purchased BWIA tickets for a January ’07 round-trip flight, Miami-Trinidad-Georgetown, at a cost of $522 each. (On Jan. 1, 2007, BWIA became Caribbean Airlines.)

Since we drove to Miami in order to catch the flight, we decided...

February 2007 issue

Guides in Russia

In planning our trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg in July ’06, I noted three private guides recommended by ITN readers and, after a series of e-mails, selected Alexei Fetisov (Oct. ’05, pg. 122) from Palladium Travel Agency (Artilleriyskaya St. #1, Office 160, St. Petersburg, Russia; phone 7-812 579 6644, fax 6584 or visit www.palladium.spb.ru) to make my arrangements. Of the three, he gave the most detailed itinerary based on my expressed interests.

We found the guides in his service to be highly educated, knowledgeable about the sites visited and passionate about their country....

August 2007 issue

Paris restaurant

Restaurant L’Impasse (4, Impasse Guéménée, 75004 Paris, France; phone 01 42 72 08 45 or visit www.limpasse.com) is a tiny, bistro-style restaurant which I visited Jan. 16, 2007. Within a 2-minute walk of the Bastille Métro stop, it’s tucked away in a dead-end street off of rue St. Antoine, in the fourth arrondissement. It is closed for lunch on Saturday and Monday and is closed all day Sunday.

In the summer you can eat outdoors at tables on the sidewalk without much traffic, except for the occasional driver who disregards the name (which means “dead end”), rushes down the street and...

September 2008 issue

Aboard Peter Deilmann’s Heidelberg

Together with four couples, my wife, Ana Maria, and I traveled through the rivers and channels of the Netherlands and Belgium, May 10-17, 2008, on a cruise aboard MS Heidelberg booked with Peter Deilmann Cruises, or Deilmann Cruises Europamerica (Alexandria, VA; 800/348 8287, www.deilmann-cruises.com).

The cruise started and ended in Amsterdam. Pre and post cruise we stayed at the Radisson SAS, a good choice since it is located within reasonable distance of the many interesting sights of the city, including museums, shops, the Concertgebouw and a few churches, which were open only...

January 2008 issue

Enjoyable trip to South Africa

My husband, Lewis, thought if we checked into South African Airways (800/722-9675, www.flysaa.com) at Washington Dulles Airport 3½ hours before our flight to Cape Town on Jan. 11, 2007, we might have a good chance of getting an exit-row seat, knowing they give preference to their SAA Voyager program members (which we are not). Alas, even at the gate, their representative curtly said, “No.”

But our 13-hour flight to Johannesburg was spent in relative comfort in 2-4-2 seating. It began with complimentary cocktails, and dinner was surprisingly good. South Africa is so much...