Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

March 2010 issue

Embrace left-side driving

I would like to address those who avoid renting cars in countries where driving is on the left-hand side of the road. I feel it is not necessary to miss out on the pleasures of independent travel in these places.

My wife, Nancy, and I have rented cars in numerous countries where they drive on the left, and we consider the extra stress to be minimal. In many instances, it is easier to drive in those countries than in some others because signage is usually in English and the roads often are well marked.

Being from a rural area, I am used to manual transmissions, so we always...

December 2010 issue

Hotel in Rio

My friend Mary and I stayed at the Windsor Martinique Hotel (Rua Sá Ferreira 30, Copacabana CEP 22071-100, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; phone 55 21 2195 5200, fax 2195 5222), about a half-block off the Copacabana beach, March 22-24, 2010.

The staff spoke English and was very friendly and efficient. Even though the check-in time was 1 p.m., they gave us our room immediately when we arrived hours early.

Our room was modern, well equipped and comfortable. Three nights cost us $486, buffet breakfasts included. Free Internet in the room.

The front desk was helpful in providing...

January 2005 issue

Pipes in Paris

Each Sunday afternoon at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, there is a free organ concert for about an hour. Starting between 4 and 5 p.m., depending on the time of year, each concert presents a guest organist from one of the cathedrals of Europe.

We always attend this concert whenever we visit Paris. They print a schedule for each month listing the organist and which pieces will be presented. We like to get there early to get seats because often there is standing room only.

The organ has 6,000 pipes and a sound you will never forget. TONI & BRUCE STAFFORD Manhattan...

September 2010 issue

Biking the Baltics

My husband, Fred, and I took a guided, two-week bicycle tour covering parts of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, July 21-Aug. 4, 2009.

The “Baltic Explorer” cost €1,199, then about $1,700, per person (land) and included hotel accommodation for 14 nights; baggage transport; the use of 24-gear trekking bicycles; all breakfasts; dinners on about half of the days; train/bus tickets for the transfers; admission to many museums; two city tours, and road books with detailed daily routes.

We booked the tour through Bike Tours Direct (Chattanooga, TN; 877/462-2423, www....

March 2004 issue

Re mandatory tipping

I definitely object to cruise lines automatically adding $10 per person per day (or any other amount) for collective tips for the staff.

My husband and I tip according to the quality of service received. We recognize that some employees provide exceptional service and others do not work as hard. In reality, the collective tips penalize those “going that extra mile.”

If the cruise lines want to institute this policy, perhaps they should add $10 per day to the price of the cruise and stress there would be absolutely no tip expected or given to any crew member.

Again, I...

July 2005 issue

Palate pleasers in Athens

My wife and I dined at the following restaurants in Athens, Greece, in February ’05.

• The restaurant Alexander the Great (3, Meg. Alexandrou Str.) is just off Karaiskaki Square where the Metaxourghion metro station is located. The proprietor spoke English well and went out of his way to help us.

We had the lamb special (€15, or near $20), the most expensive item on the menu. Mousaka cost €7; half carafe of white wine, €5; tzatzki, €4; dolmas, €5, and Greek salad, €6, with cover and bread, €2.

This was the best dinner we had in Athens.

• The restaurant Ideal (46...

June 2010 issue

Connecting-flight check-in worries

I purchased two round-trip tickets from CheapAir.com on Oct. 10, 2009, for travel from Los Angeles to Pisa via New York and Rome on April 27, 2010. These were Alitalia/Delta code-share tickets.

When I purchased the tickets, the Los Angeles-New York flight was scheduled to depart LAX at 6:10 a.m., and my wife and I would have a 2¼-hour layover at JFK. This was the key factor in our purchasing these particular tickets because not only would it be necessary to change terminals to make the connection but we would have to go through security again.

On Dec. 1 we were e-mailed an...

April 2004 issue

Maiden voyage of the QM2

There she was, in all of her advertised superlatives: the greatest, the largest (151,000 tons), the costliest (about $800 million), the most beautiful superliner ever built, ad infinitum. It seemed that not enough praise could be lavished on any one vessel. In our opinion, she deserved all these accolades and more.

My wife, Lili, and I had seen news stories and ads in various travel papers and in our wildest dreams believed that being part of history in the Queen Mary 2’s maiden voyage might top off our life of travel throughout a great deal of the world.

At 6 p.m. on Monday...