Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

October 2005 issue

Visegrád bridge

In the June issue, page 50, Kit Lane of Douglas, Michigan, asked if anyone had recently seen the old bridge in Visegrád, Bosnia. I’m happy to report that I saw that wonderful bridge on June 3, ’05, on an extensive tour of the Balkans. The bridge is in excellent condition, and if it did suffer any damage in the Bosnian wars, I certainly did not detect any except for broken protective glass around the lights that are on the walking side of the bridge.

I certainly agree with Kit that it is a beautiful bridge, and now I want to read the book that Kit recommended, “The Bridge on the...

June 2005 issue

Iran visit ‘marvelous’

Our 16-day trip to Iran in September-October ’04 was absolutely marvelous in all respects, and our concerns about what it might be like, based on “information” published in the States, were totally baseless.

We recommend visiting Iran. Its various cultural heritages, its various religions, its fine museums and the chance to learn more about Shia Islam make it as stimulating a place to visit as any we have been in, and this we say as lifetime travelers. Being among Moslems again reminded us of how much is shared among them with the Jews and Christians, including the importance of...

November 2005 issue

Thoughtful gift

In the late ’90s, my wife and I took a Bolivia and Peru tour with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA), as I had always wanted to visit Machu Picchu. The group size was limited to just 16 people plus the tour guide. We saw a part of South America that few tourists see and had an overnight stay on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca.

I had wanted to take something of value as gifts for people we might meet, but, at 13,000-plus feet, it had to be light! So I selected some 10 maps that I had saved over many years from National Geographic magazine, maps of South America, the...

March 2006 issue

Shopping for furniture: Fiji, Orkney chairs

Fit for Fiji

I took my first trip to Fiji in August ’05. Our group of six flew from Los Angeles to Nadi, changed planes and flew to the second-largest island in the Fijian chain, Vanua Levu. We spent the next week at the wonderful Koro Sun Resort & Rainforest Spa (in the U.S., call 877/567-6786 or visit www.korosunresort.com). My personal feeling about this area of Fiji is that I did not realize that a place like this still existed on Planet Earth.

After the Koro Sun experience, we spent the remaining part of our journey on Malolo Island at the Malolo Island Resort (P.O...

September 2005 issue

Surcharge for rising fuel cost

In August of 2004 we booked the trip “Athens, the Greek Islands and Beyond” for June 4-26, ’05, with Grand Circle Travel. The total cost for two was $7,596.80. We were told that if we paid early in advance we could save $398 and that paying in advance would “lock in the cost of the trip,” so we paid the full cost in advance. However, we received a letter dated Jan. 19, ’05, from Grand Circle stating that we owed $110 as a “fuel surcharge.”

We went to the Grand Circle Travel Handbook and found the following under the subheading Ways to Save: “Lock in the cost of your trip. Pay in...

December 2006 issue

Amsterdam Canal Tours

I think of Amsterdam as a painter’s palette with a variety of colors to dip into. There are the vibrant rainbow shades of the famous floating flower market complemented by the subdued ochre tones of old city buildings bordered by blue canals.

And everything in this gallery of a city is easy to get to and easy to see. Whether by boat, foot or public transportation, no place is more than a few minutes from the heart of the Old Town.

On our trip to Amsterdam in July ’05, we stayed at the SAS Radisson (888/201-1718 or visit www.radisson.com),a comfortable 5-star hotel...

April 2006 issue

Strange craft

I enjoyed Roger Canfield’s story on Macau in the February ’06 issue, but I should point something out. On page 40, he mentions seeing in a museum a boat used by Vietnamese people escaping the Communists. This particular boat was not “converted” from a basket but is of a type still in use today in a few areas of Vietnam.

In November and December ’04 I took a 23-day customized tour of Vietnam with Journeys International (Ann Arbor, MI; 800/255-8735) and saw these round boats in use.

What I found interesting about them is that the Mandan Indians who lived along the Missouri...

October 2006 issue

Lauds Vantage for alternative tour

My husband, Stanley, and I traveled with Vantage Deluxe World Travel (90 Canal St., Boston, MA 02114; 888/982-6824) in April and May 2006.

We were supposed to have a 2-week river cruise on their “Eastern Europe and the Black Sea” tour, April 13-26. We opted for the post extension Transylvania excursion as well, three nights in Brasov, Romania. When that was over, we traveled from Bucharest to Berlin to begin our second tour with Vantage. It was called “Historic Cities of Eastern Europe” and originated from the U.S. on April 27.

Well, Mother Nature had other ideas, and the...