Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

October 2006 issue

Using credit cards in France

Just prior to our leaving for a trip in France in late June ’06, ITN carried two items about the difficulty Americans were encountering in France and the U.K. when using credit cards (May ’06, pg. 20 & July ’06, pg. 15). The problem was attributed to new cards in use there that require entering a PIN number.

I called Visa, and they confirmed hearing of the problem and advised that we be sure we knew our PIN numbers. During our 15-day trip, we and our friends charged many meals and minor purchases, mainly in Paris and Nice, without anyone ever asking for a PIN number. Perhaps the...

September 2006 issue

Funniest Thing for September

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged. This month’s winner is NINA ARRABIT of Santa Rosa, CA:

In January of this year we sailed the M/V Nordkapp, a Norwegian icebreaker, to Antarctica. Our first of eight landings was at Arctowski, the Polish Antarctic Station.

June 2006 issue

Guide in Na Trang

During a cruise in November ’05, the ship stopped in Na Trang, Vietnam. As is our custom, rather than sign up for the ship’s structured land tours, my husband and I usually hire a driver and tell him to take us where the tourists don’t go.

A man of about 35 approached us and we hired him and his driver for the day. We paid $70 for four of us as we were traveling with another couple. The guide’s name was Tran Cong Lac, or Loc, for short (29 B Thai Nguyen, Na Trang; mobile phone 0914 166 143 or e-mail conglac@hotmail.com).

He spoke English well, was very knowledgeable and went...

August 2005 issue

Choosing a tour

How do we go about choosing a tour (Feb. ’05, pg. 58)? My wife and I have traveled widely using a range of methods: group tours, individually, combined independent and group travel, canal boat rentals, etc. We would suggest the following steps, in order of priority.

1) Request references from the tour operator or agency. Call more than one reference, covering both male and female contacts. If the agency cannot or will not supply references for any reason, do not deal with them.

2) Determine the tour’s average group size as well as the maximum number of group members allowed...

November 2006 issue

Tips on traveling for months at a time

In the January ’06 issue, page 50, Cecilia Morrissey shared extensive advice on arranging flights around the world. Last month (Sept. ’06, pg. 37), she offered advice on other extended-travel considerations. Here, she continues.

FOOD — In Europe, eating is easy. Your tour books will alert you if the water isn’t safe in a particular country and give you some menu basics. The water is just fine in most countries in Western Europe. The dilemma is this: do you want to 1) eat out all of the time, 2) self-cater exclusively or 3) do a combination of the two?

The more we travel in...

January 2006 issue

Customized NZ tour

I spent two wonderful weeks on the South Island of New Zealand in March ’05.

On the Internet, I found South Sea Mermaids, Ltd. (55A Townsend Rd., Miramar, Wellington, North Island, New Zealand; phone [from the U.S.] 01164 973 0675, e-mail info@southseamermaids.co.nz or visit www.southseamermaids.co.nz), which advertises tours for women.

Liz Sullivan designed a custom trip for my friend Rita and me. Liz needed a couple more people so advertised on the Internet. We ended up with four women plus Liz as a guide. She drove us all over the South Island in her van. The trip included...

July 2006 issue

South Island a speed trap?

Driving oneself is one option for experiencing New Zealand’s scenic diversity. However, I want to describe an encounter my wife and I had with police on the South Island so that future drivers can at least be forewarned.

In February ’06, we had enjoyed a week on the North Island and were just beginning the driving portion of our South Island tour. Shortly after picking up our rental car at Greymouth, we were pulled over and stopped by an officer in an unmarked car for going 113 kilometers per hour (70 mph) in a 100-kph (62-mph) area. The highway south of Greymouth was good, straight...

September 2006 issue

Old greenbacks rejected

There are two things I learned from a July-August ’05 trip to Africa.

1) You MUST have the new U.S. dollars in Africa, especially to pay for your visa at the Kenyan border. We didn’t know this and, had it not been for the gentleman pushing my wheelchair at the Nairobi airport, I doubt we would have gotten in. He argued with the Immigration official for at least 20 minutes to get him to accept our old-style U.S. dollars. They wanted the “big portrait” ones only.

We also saw a sign at one of the lodges during our trip that said that the old bills are no longer considered legal...