Columns

February 2007 issue

Mendoza — wine and more
By Randy Keck

I had the opportunity to travel to Mendoza, the attractive city of 100,000-plus in the heart of northern Argentina’s booming viticulture region, in April ’06. While the city is a thriving regional commercial center, it is the huge wine industry — featuring literally scores of wineries (bodegas) in Mendoza and the surrounding districts — that primarily provides both its national identity and its popularity with foreign visitors. Mendoza has an annual 3-day wine festival the first weekend of March.

Mendoza city

In Mendoza, despite at times the...

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December 2007 issue

Boarding Pass
By David Tykol

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 382nd issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine, the one written largely by you and your fellow subscribers!

A few items worth noting crossed my desk this month.

The International Airline Passenger Association, or IAPA (www.iapa.com), in a Sept. 14 press release wrote, “The U.S. Department of Transportation is considering new rules which may see the airline passenger receiving increased compensation for being denied boarding by any U.S. airline.

“Currently, many airlines overbook planes to ensure maximum profits...

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May 2008 issue

Boarding Pass
By David Tykol

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 387th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine.

Before you get to the articles and letters sent in by other ITN readers — who write for your benefit as well as a love of travel, not for any personal gain — here are some news items you may find of interest.

Travelers flying into Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport are no longer being asked by Immigration officials to state where they will be staying while in South Africa.

Officials also ask visitors to declare how much cash they are carrying, and after a...

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March 2007 issue

Where Salome shed her veils
By Julie Skurdenis

by Julie Skurdenis

To me, it’s always been one of the most vivid passages in the New Testament.

It’s Herod Antipas’ birthday celebration. Salome, his stepdaughter, dances for him. Herod, entranced, swears he will give her anything she asks for. Salome, prompted by her mother, Herodias, who hates John the Baptist because he has denounced her marriage to Herod (she was divorced from Herod’s brother), asks for the Baptist’s head. John the Baptist is beheaded and his head brought on a platter to Salome and Herodias.

It’s the stuff of great stories, great opera and great...

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September 2007 issue

Calling home using SIM cards, seniors and Machu Picchu

by Steve Venables, CTC

Q:

DEAR STEVE, I am going to India and am trying to get information about the purchase of a SIM card. Living in New York, I thought one could buy almost anything if one were willing to spend time looking for it. Wrong! You cannot buy a SIM for India in New York. Online it is possible, but the increment is rather large.

As is, universally accepted SIMs are less expensive if bought in the country one is traveling in. I would like to know how easily available SIMs are, in what increments they are available and if foreigners need documentation in order to...

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July 2008 issue

Tidbits from Chile

by Deanna Palic

Hollywood goes to Chile

Chile’s landscape stretches from the northern deserts of Atacama to the southern glaciers of Patagonia, adorning it with a diverse and alluring array of scenery that is catching the eyes of Hollywood filmmakers and setting Chile apart as a hotspot for movie-making.

The Atacama Desert was recently selected as a backdrop for the next James Bond adventure, “Quantum of Solace,” which will be released this coming November.

Daniel Craig and the movie crew set up camp in Sierra Gorda, a town with a population of 1,000, in the...

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February 2008 issue

Boarding Pass
By David Tykol

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 384th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine, something that YOU help make happen. For the most part, this magazine is written by pay-your-own-way travelers like yourself, everyone watching out for each other. Whether it was a terrific guide or a hotel that was the pits, write in to share what you found and learned on your latest trip.

In the meantime, here are some news items you may want to be aware of.

In Paris’ eighth arrondissement, which includes the Champs-Elysées, crime has risen sharply in the last few years...

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October 2007 issue

Boarding Pass
By David Tykol

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 380th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine.

The following may explain some things about air travel fatigue.

Airplane cabins pressurized to equal the air pressure found at altitudes up to 6,000 feet generally cause passengers no discomfort, but the discomfort increases dramatically among some people as the pressure nears that of 8,000 feet. So concluded a study described in the July 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Most commercial aircraft are pressurized to 6,000-8,000 feet, with short-haul flights set...

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