Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

May 2006 issue

Ensuring credit card usage overseas

For several years my wife, Paula, and I have used the same airline-affiliated Visa cards without incident, traveling to Malaysia, Chile, Slovakia, etc. Recently, the airline began transitioning to a MasterCard issued by a different bank than the Visa issuer. During the application process for the new MasterCard, I told a representative of the bank’s credit card operation that we would soon leave for Spain and that we intended to use our new credit cards there. (We each were getting a new credit card.) She stated that this would not be a problem and even offered to overnight the credit...

February 2006 issue

Venice airport-city transfer

Clean, modern and well-equipped, Venice, Italy’s, Marco Polo Airport (www.veniceairport.it) provides a convenient gateway to the city, but the transfer between the airport and your hotel certainly won’t be the highlight of your visit.

Any good, recent guidebook should detail the choices and direct you to the websites of the various service providers. During an October ’05 visit to Venice, my wife and I learned a few lessons that will help you know what to expect and make the right choice.

Before you leave home, determine your hotel’s location. Is it near a vaporetto stop or,...

October 2005 issue

CDG Airport woes

From a May-June ’05 trip to Europe, here are two caveats.

1. Beware of the short flight connection.

My wife and I decided to use up our Skymiles before the airline went bankrupt, so we organized a 3-week trip to Ireland. It was too late to get a direct flight, but a young lady at Delta worked diligently with us and finally found a way to get us from Daytona Beach to Atlanta to Newark to Manchester, where we picked up an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin.

The only foreseeable snag was on the return, which could be managed only via Paris. The itinerary showed a one-hour...

August 2006 issue

A slow drive down Germany’s Romantic Road

by Harvey Hagman, Fort Myers Beach, FL

On my first trip along Germany’s Romantic Road, I didn’t know I was on it. It was July 1968 and I was sleeping in a tent outside the old walled town of Dinkelsbühl when I awoke to trumpets blaring and horses galloping. Sleepily, I peered out on riders in brilliant medieval costumes.

I had blundered into the Kinderzeche, this thousand-year-old town’s annual celebration that dates back to the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). In 1632, Swedish troops under Colonel Sperreuth laid siege to the town. After stiff resistance, it fell. As the...

November 2005 issue

Call for airport-ship/hotel transport

As avid travelers, we have been to over 100 countries. We love to cruise, and there is one thing we have a hard time finding good information about: how to get from the airport to the cruise port in an economical manner.

Since we purchase our own airfare, we do not have this transportation included in our cruise ticket, and we find the fees that the cruise lines charge to be exorbitant! Also, the local taxi companies seem to up the price significantly compared to the standard taxi rate for the same distance. If we could find a book that contained specific information, we would...

March 2006 issue

Setting the pace

I read with great interest Wesley Wilson’s letter regarding his handicapped wife’s negative experience with Vantage Deluxe World Travel on their September ’04 river cruise in Europe (July ’05, pg. 27). Although Mrs. Wilson often stayed on board rather than take shore excursions that required considerable walking, the cruise company nevertheless asked her to leave the ship.

I took a cruise myself with Grand Circle Travel from Eastern Europe to the Black Sea aboard the riverboat Aria, May 25-June 10, ’05, and there were several handicapped passengers. Some required wheelchairs, while...

July 2006 issue

A dry start

The reader’s letter about drying clothes by twisting them in towels (June ’06, pg. 92) describes what we’ve done for years. Rather than reuse towels damp after showering, though, I have a twist on her scheme.

When we are first shown to our hotel room, I always ask for two extra bath towels to be delivered immediately as well as daily thereafter, thus giving us extra DRY towels with which to wring out the laundry. JANE B. HOLT Hinesburg, VT

December 2006 issue

Yacht in the Cyclades

On a trip to Greece in September ’05, my wife, Margaret, and I took a 7-day cruise of the Cyclades Islands aboard the comfortable but not luxurious motor yacht m/s H&B, through Viking Yacht Cruises (4231 Lakemoor Dr., Wilmington, NC 28405; 800/341-3030, www.vikings.gr).

The cruise cost $1,460 per person, including breakfast daily along with either lunch or dinner plus the services of Eleni, an excellent cruise director. The H&B is a small craft that carries 40 guests; on our trip there were only 26.

Our itinerary was flexible, but we visited at least one of the...