Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

March 2004 issue

Surprise third party

ITN performed an invaluable service for travelers in publishing the reader’s letter entitled “Mystery Charge on Credit Card” regarding Internet hotel reservations (Dec. ’03, pg. 30).

I, too, made a reservation over the Internet with a hotel in Dublin. This was in 2001. After returning home I got a bill from an unknown “travel arranger” in England. I was billed in pounds for my hotel in Ireland, which at the time used punts. I had paid the hotel directly in Ireland.

When I refused to pay my credit card company for this bill, I received an outstanding piece of fiction from the...

July 2005 issue

Wieliczka

The Wieliczka Salt Mine (www.kopalnia-wieliczka.pl/english) in Poland is still a working mine, but not the part where tourists are allowed. The section we saw on our trip in August ’97 is a museum with figures carved in salt. There are two chapels dating from the 17th century made entirely of rock salt.

The highlight of the tour was the cathedral of the Blessed Kinga, a huge salt cathedral many feet underground. It was beautiful, and the artwork was magnificent. The tour involved descending 490 feet by elevator and taking a moderately strenuous walk, with steps.

Our guide...

June 2010 issue

Slovenian family tree

The discovery of a handwritten family tree led me to the “old country” of Yugoslavia, now Slovenia, from which my great grandfather, Martin Jakljevic, emigrated in the late 1880s. His village of Metlika, in the Bela Krajina region, is known for vineyards, wine making and sheep breeding and is a mere hour away from the capital, Ljubljana.

Armed with our roughly drawn family tree, I chose to explore this area with a travel companion in 2009 during Metlika’s annual wine festival, the Vinska Vigred, which is held the third weekend in May.

The Internet proved to be a valuable...

October 2010 issue

West Coast National Park, Cape Town

About an hour north of Cape Town, South Africa, on Route R27, West Coast National Park provides a totally different view of the coast and wildlife. Recommended! On your return to the city, watch for Rietvlei Nature Reserve, south of a small town named Table View. If the tablecloth (clouds) are covering Table Mountain, stop for a moment and observe Cape weather in action. It was from there, in October ’07, that I took this picture, about six miles northeast of Table Mountain, seen looming over Cape Town. — FRED KOEHLER, Orange, CA

April 2004 issue

Multilanguage license

In reference to recent letters (Dec. ’03, pg. 78 & Feb. ’04, pg. 83), I thought the purpose of having an International Driving Permit was to present it in the case you had to deal with authorities in non-English-speaking countries. It serves as a multilanguage translation of your driver’s license, including what type of vehicles you are permitted to operate, i.e., car, motorcycle, etc.

RICHARD MILBERG Champaign, IL

May 2004 issue

The Discerning Traveler » Charming Madeira

by Philip Wagenaar, M.D., first of two parts

“Money,” the young crook hissed, aiming the rock at my face.

Scared out of my wits, I uttered, “I have no money.”

I yelled for help and looked around only to discover that six more villains had materialized and had completely surrounded our car. Nobody else was in sight at the deserted miradouro (viewpoint) at Câmara de Lobos.

My mind in complete turmoil, I could only think of my wallet, which was still in my back pocket, as I had felt no need to transfer it to my money belt while in “safe” Madeira. If the thieves...

February 2005 issue

Extended travels in Latin America

My wife, Elaine, and I traveled in Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands at the end of January and beginning of February ’04 for two weeks. We then spent several weeks in Peru and finally a month in Panama. Here are a few comments that might be of interest to readers.

ECUADOR & GALÁPAGOS — It seems most travelers head over to the Galápagos Islands by way of Quito, Ecuador. I would suggest that the city of Guayaquil is also a worthwhile stop. The plane to Guayaquil always stops in Quito, so there is an opportunity to see both cities.

Although Guayaquil, located on the coast,...

September 2010 issue

Friedrichshafen flat

My husband and our three adult children and I rented an apartment in Friedrichshafen, Germany, home of the Zeppelin Museum, in June ’10. Friedrichshafen is on the shore of Lake Constance, and we took the ferry there from Romanshorn, Switzerland.

We rented through the Internet at the owner’s website (www.ferienhausmiete.de/ferienhaus_suche.php?land=1). Mr. Deutschle met us at the apartment and showed us how everything worked.

The holiday flat was very clean. It had two bedrooms for two persons each, plus a child’s bed; a living room/dining room with another bed (and a door,...