Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

June 2005 issue

Rude awakenings on cruise

ITN was mailed a copy of the following letter, sent by a reader to Holland America Line.

I am writing in reference to our cruise on the MS Noordam, May 9-19, ’04, out of and returning to Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy.

This was a cruise we chose to celebrate our golden anniversary on May 16. For this special occasion we picked a cabin in one of the best categories (B) and were very disappointed. The cabin, number 68, was large and very nice, but of the nine days at sea, we were able to sleep past 7 a.m. on only two days, and often we were unable to take a nap in the afternoon....

November 2005 issue

Mont-St-Michel sans crowds

When we visit Mont-St-Michel, France, we prefer to stay on the island rather than the mainland because of the change in the atmosphere when the last of the day-trippers leave by about 5 p.m. It goes from a noisy, crowded, carnival atmosphere to one of magic, romance and solitude. You can walk the ramparts without running into anyone else, and looking up in the dark at the beautifully lit abbey is an unforgettable sight. We’ve made four visits to Mont-St-Michel.

The magical experience of staying on Mont-Saint-Michel in northwestern France begins, unfortunately, with fighting for a...

March 2006 issue

Easter Island guide

My wife, Mary, and I took a 35-day cruise on Holland America Line’s Statendam, embarking Nov. 17, ’05. This was a wonderful experience for us, even though we had traveled on many shorter cruises. The stops in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Easter Island, Tahiti, Bora Bora, American Samoa and New Zealand all were excellent, but I want to provide information to ITN readers about one special guide we had on Easter Island.

ITN contributed to our finding this guide, Patricio Rojas (e-mail patricio@aotour.cl or visit www.aotour.cl); in the October ’05 issue, page 83, Margo Wilson recommended him...

September 2006 issue

‘Amazing’ buffet in Beijing

While traveling in Beijing, China, in November ’05, my husband and I stayed at the Great Wall Sheraton. We happened upon a buffet that was the most amazing and delectable display of seafood we have ever encountered. It is put on every Tuesday and Friday night from 6 to 10:30 in the hotel’s Silk Road Trattoria.

There were 25 large, hot chafing dishes filled with seafood done every way imaginable: in sauces, grilled, fried, filleted, baked, barbecued, sautéed, broiled, blackened, steamed or stuffed.

Then there was the salad bar, with the same amount of selections of fish we had...

December 2006 issue

Attn: bird lovers

Lake Nakuru, Kenya, is a bird lover’s paradise. It is very shallow and can fluctuate up to 12 feet each day. When the water is low, you can see a white band of crystallized soda along the shoreline.

On the lake are up to two million greater and lesser flamingos. There is pink as far as you can see — and when they take off from the lake and fly into the air you see pink, white and black (the wingtips). Beautiful!

On our July-August ’05 trip we also saw marabou storks (famous for their feathers), pink-backed pelicans (much prettier than their drab brown cousins that we usually...

April 2006 issue

Guide in Turkey

Being loyal ITN subscribers, and packrats, we scanned several years of back issues as we researched our October-November ’05 trip to Turkey. We found a reader’s referral (May ’99, pg. 117) for a guide/tour operator, so we followed up and made contact with Mehmet Ozbalci of Turfantastik Tours & Travel (Millet cad. Inan Is Hani No: 5 / 610, Aksaray, Istanbul, Turkey; phone [90] [212] 589 33 25, fax [90] [212] 586 32 56, e-mail turfantastik@tnn.net or mehmetozbalci@tnn.net).

Mehmet is the owner/operator of his small company and personally plans and leads custom small-group trips...

June 2005 issue

Central Portugal base

The small town of Nadadouro was our base in Portugal during a stay in 2001. Ninety kilometers north of Lisbon, this area is ideally located for exploration of central Portugal, including the towns of Óbidos, Fátima, Nazaré, Tomar, Peniche, Sintra and all points north as far as Porto, a 2-hour drive.

We rented a condo, Casa Paula (Quinta da Boa Vista, 30 Nadadouro, 2500 Caldas da Rainha, Portugal; phone 351-262-978260, mobile phone 919-187-283 or e-mail davidclark@mail.telepac.pt). It had a large veranda overlooking Lagoa de Óbidos. The view of this lagoon and the Atlantic beyond was...

November 2005 issue

Food in Turkey

The food on our trip to Turkey was wonderful. Lots of lamb, of course, but the big surprise was the quality and variety of seafood. Best grilled fish ever! The surprise treat was the fried mussels on a stick. The mezes, or starters, were another surprise; a modest mom-and-pop restaurant would offer eight or 10 choices.

Restraint is in order, however, because you really should try the lentil soup — I tried it in 12 places and each version was delicious and different from the others — and you must leave room for the main course.

We drank only bottled water; it was available...