Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

November 2010 issue

Gone fishin’

Before traveling anywhere, the closing times of shops and banks there and the days on which they will be open or closed should be learned.

I try to go to Paris often. In France, they have a 35-hour workweek that must be adhered to, so you will not find gas stations open every day. Mondays are often a regular closing day, but it may not be the only day an establishment is closed, and that day may vary from week to week.

Most schools in France have a four-day week, with Wednesday being a half-day or taken off completely. Some shops may be closed on Wednesday so that parents can...

July 2010 issue

Guide to cruise ships

My wife, Gerry, and I have found the “Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships” by Douglas Ward (Berlitz Publishing, 800/432-6277 — $29.99) very useful. It is published annually.

In addition to rating a ship and its accommodations, food, service and entertainment, it offers a good insight into the passengers you are likely to find (general ages, whether they are mostly single or married or families with children, whether they care about entertainment versus lectures, casual versus formal, etc.).

From our viewpoint, the information it gives about provisions for...

January 2005 issue

Wanted flight itinerary printout

We are using our frequent-flyer miles for the first time for a trip to Antarctica in January 2005. We had enough miles with both Delta and United. I started calling more than a year early to book our flights and learned that you can’t book more than 11 months out.

Delta would not allow us to use our miles to fly into Santiago, Chile. They kept wanting to sell us seats. I finally gave up on Delta.

United could get us to Santiago and home from Buenos Aires, so I booked with them in April. When I got the final cruise itinerary at the end of July, I realized I needed to get to...

April 2010 issue

Snorkeling in French Polynesia

My husband, Joe, and I decided to go to French Polynesia, Sept. 20-24, 2009, for our 10-year wedding anniversary.

Since I plan our trips, I decided to look at the usual suspects, such as Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea. However, in the guidebook “Frommer’s Tahiti & French Polynesia” I had read about drift snorkeling on Rangiroa. It sounded so exciting, we just had to do it.

I booked all of our internal French Polynesia flights through Tahiti Tours (Papeete, Tahiti; phone 689 46 40 46). Rather than buy individual tickets to each of the islands, I bought a Bora Bora-Tuamotu...

May 2010 issue

Traveling with O2 concentrator

My husband has COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and uses a personal oxygen concentrator on domestic flights. These concentrators do not involve oxygen tanks but use the surrounding air. For people with disabilities, the FAA approves the devices on flights, and most airlines allow them with an approved doctor’s statement, which must be renewed annually.

(This is not a CPAP machine, which is used to treat sleep apnea and also does not involve an oxygen tank. Several airlines do not allow CPAP machines on flights.)

We would like to be able to travel overseas, but the...

April 2004 issue

Pacific Islands Festival

I’d like to alert fellow ITN readers to the upcoming 9th Pacific Islands Festival of the Arts. It’s held every four years by 27 island nations (including Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia) to meet and greet each other and share their traditions and cultures. It’s not really for tourists, but you can’t keep something that colorful a secret for long.

I’ve been to the last two (held in Western Samoa and in New Caledonia) and can’t wait for the one this year. It will be held in Palau and will run July 20-Aug. 1, ’04. Opening ceremonies are scheduled for July 24.

I go for the...

May 2004 issue

Costa Rica & Panama with Cruise West

My husband and I enjoyed a tour of Costa Rica and Panama, Nov. 6-15, ’03, with Cruise West (2401 Fourth Ave., Ste. 700, Seattle, WA 98121; phone 800/426-7702 or visit www.cruisewest.com).

We decided to fly to San José, Costa Rica, and spend a few days before joining the cruise. We prefer to stay in accommodations more appropriate for the country we are visiting and avoid “Americanized” hotels, which in the case of San José were destination hotels far removed from the center of the Old City. We enjoy staying in a “local” hotel near the historic parts of a city and where shopping and...

February 2004 issue

Enjoyed substitute itinerary

My husband, Don, and I took another fine trip with Viking River Cruises (phone 877/668-4546 or visit www.vikingrivercruises.com), “Vienna to the Black Sea,” via the Danube, on the Viking Europe, Sept. 14-Oct. 2, ’03. In a little over two weeks we visited Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia & Montenegro, Romania and Bulgaria. We could see some of Croatia, but no stops were made there.

Because the river was very low, the pontoon bridge at Novi Sad, Serbia, caused delays and itinerary changes. However, this gave us time in unscheduled places without tourists (Mohács, Hungary; Vidin...