Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

January 2004 issue

Helped build a school in China

“Grandmothers shouldn’t be doing work like this,” the little Chinese boy said as he took the shovel from me and laid it down. With his small hand in mine, he led me over to a log and indicated I should sit down.

I knew this 3-year-old child. We had met several days earlier when our group of Global Volunteers walked the red clay “main” road in An Shang, China, a village over two rough hours’ drive west of Xi’an.

Eleven of us were in the village in April-May ’02 to work with Chinese builders in constructing a 3-story elementary school. The existing school, already serving 400...

February 2011 issue

The Affordable Travel Club

We’ve been members of The Affordable Travel Club (6556 Snug Harbor Lane, Gig Harbor, WA 98335; 253/858-2172) for several years. With members in the US and abroad, it’s a hospitality exchange club for people over 40.

Members offer to host other members in their homes during their travels. For a yearly membership fee, members receive a list of all the club members and details of their accommodations. The fee is $65-$80, depending on what format(s) you want your list in.

A member can either call or e-mail another member to ask if they would be available to host them for the...

August 2010 issue

Root canal in Colombia

While staying for a month in the city of Medellín, Colombia, in January ’10, I started having a toothache. It became so insistent, I did an Internet search for a dentist and sent a request to the Bocca Clinic (Carrera 43A #14-109 [Edificio Novatempo, Office 406], Medellín).

When I checked my e-mail, the clinic had sent me the cell phone number of the director of the clinic. I made an appointment for the next day.

The office was more modern than that of my dentist in the US. A quick x-ray confirmed my belief that I was in need of a root canal. One hour later, after a pain-free...

January 2011 issue

Tours for Wine Lovers

My husband, Bob, and I were introduced to Vin Marottoli’s outstanding Tours for Wine Lovers (New Haven, CT; 800/256-0141) in 2002 and have taken six tours with him since then, in the US and abroad. Our most recent was an eight-day tour in Italy, April 15-23, 2010, which cost $3,199 each, excluding airfare.

Vin uses Michelin guides to pick the hotels and restaurants and his vast contacts to select wineries. With his more than 20 years of organizing tours, his experience is invaluable. He is a recently retired high school French teacher who is also fluent in Italian and Spanish.

March 2010 issue

Subways in China

Instead of taking optional tours on our China trip with Grand Circle Travel, Nov. 12-Dec. 2, 2009, my wife, Anne, and I used our free time to explore the cities via their subways.

Purchasing tickets is much easier there than on any system we’ve ridden in the States. A screen on the ticket console shows all routes in both Chinese and English. You press the spot showing your end destination and the required fare shows up on the screen.

If you are over 65, like we are, you then press “concessions” and the fare is typically reduced about 50%. Typical fares for us were two to four...

July 2010 issue

Luggage lashing, take two

I work for an airline in the baggage service office and would like to respond to the reader’s observations regarding lashing bags together to save on extra-bag fees (May ’10, pg. 16).

When two bags are secured together to form one piece of luggage, there is only one bag tag or claim check issued, resulting in only one of the bags having the bag tag attached to it.

There are times when the method used to secure bags together fails and the bags end up being separated. It is next to impossible for the baggage-sorter system to determine the destination of the tagless bag.

...

January 2005 issue

Ely’s Octagon

Ely, Cambridgeshire, in England, is a beautiful small city with a glorious 12th-century cathedral whose most outstanding feature, to me, is the Octagon Tower. Constructed of eight massive pillars which support 200 tons of timber, glass and lead, the Octagon seems to hang in space. It was added in the 14th century after the original Norman tower collapsed.

Ely also has a beautiful riverfront area on the Ouse River with all manner of boats, from narrow (canal) boats to cruisers. I visited in June ’02.

JACQUE J. WEYHE Juneau, AK

April 2010 issue

Inside Japan Tours

My husband, Jack, and I took a terrific, 14-night, small-group tour of Japan with Inside Japan Tours (Lewins House, Lewins Mead, Bristol, BS1 2NN, UK; phone ++44 117 314 4620), Oct. 2-16, 2009. The tour was reasonably priced at $3,820 each, not including air.

Using public transportation throughout, we started our tour in Tokyo and ended in Kyoto, traveling to several spots on the island of Miyajima. We stayed in comfortable business hotels and wonderful ryokans (traditional Japanese inns).

The enthusiasm of our tour leader, Liam Chawdhary, for Japanese food and culture was...