Travelers' Intercom | International Travel News

April 2008 issue

On visiting Cartagena

Colombia has a reputation as a potentially dangerous destination, but I felt no uneasiness when walking around the old walled city of Cartagena for five days in January ’08.

The Old City remains a living place. Yes, there are several hotels and plenty of restaurants that attract foreign visitors, but the streets and shops are alive with Cartageneros going about their business. Some buildings have been carefully restored; others retain their somewhat dilapidated charm. Go now before gentrification and growing tourist demand transform it into a more sterile place.

WHERE TO STAY...

May 2008 issue

Giant’s Causeway bus

During a 14-day “Celtic Kingdoms” cruise on Holland America Line’s Prinsendam, on Aug. 31, 2007, I took a day-long shore excursion from Belfast to Giant’s Causeway.

Before the trip, I had read in a guidebook that the walk down to the causeway took 15 minutes but that a shuttle bus made continuous round trips. As I walked out of the rear door of the Visitor Center, a shuttle was returning up the hill and deposited people nearby, so I hopped on. At the bottom there was a group waiting to get on.

My shore excursion book called it “Causeway Coaster Minibus,” and I saw at least...

June 2007 issue

Mobility in Russia

My wife, Patricia, has severe arthritis and walks with two canes. On a trip to Russia a few years ago, we encountered the following issues as regards accessibility.

There were many stairs at the railroad stations. There was usually a ramp tucked away to one side.

The steps to get on the train from the station deck were several inches away, leaving a significant gap to bridge.

There were no luggage carts in the train stations. There were porters with carts, but be sure to ask the price before they load your luggage on their carts. (At the airport there were free luggage...

September 2007 issue

Int’l Expeditions’ quick save

We were ﬂying home on Feb. 26, 2007, after a trip to the Antarctic with International Expeditions (One Environs Park, Helena, AL 35080; 800/633-4734, www.ietravel.com). Our group was booked on Aerolineas Argentinas (800/333-0276, www.aerolineas.com.ar) ﬂight AR2892 from Ushuaia (USH), Argentina, to Buenos Aires International (EZE).

Our guide, Greg Greer, informed us to watch the departure ﬂight monitors in Ushuaia for any changes. Five minutes before boarding, the monitor changed our arrival airport from EZE to the Buenos Aires domestic airport (AEP). The domestic airport where we...

January 2007 issue

Frequent-flyer joint account

Many years ago, my husband and I acquired a United Airlines MasterCard for which we paid $60 per year and which accumulated many frequent-flyer miles, which we used as needed. We each had a credit card, but all charges, no matter which credit card was used, went to just one bill, so it was basically just one account and we paid just one $60 charge per year.

In January ’06 my husband, sadly, passed away, and in March I contacted United to have the 116,048 miles remaining in my husband’s frequent-flyer account transferred to the more than 33,000 miles in my account.

In early...

October 2008 issue

Hiring a day guide

My husband, Steve, and I have had very good luck with hiring our own private guides when disembarking from a cruise ship, rather than paying the exorbitant prices for the line’s shore excursions.

What we do is ask around the area as we disembark; there are always local tour guides wanting business. We find one who speaks English and has a decent car, decide on a price for the day and off we go. We tell the guide we don’t want to go to the touristy places or the government-run stores for shopping.

In Mumbai, India, in February ’07, “Sonny” was a third-generation taxi driver...

June 2008 issue

Galápagos procedure changes

When Karen Scott and I went on our annual catch-and-release striped marlin sports fishing trip to the Galápagos, Feb. 26-29, 2008, we found some changes in procedures that we think ITN readers will want to know about.

At the Guayaquil, Ecuador, airport, before you get your boarding pass you need to get into line to get a Galápagos travel card. The line is slow. They take your passport, then type your name, passport number, date of birth, date of entry into the Galápagos Islands and the date you’ll exit, then print you a plastic, credit-card-sized card. The cost is $10. You take that...

February 2007 issue

Shipping wine in checked baggage

The recently created prohibitions for carrying liquid substances in carry-ons aboard airplanes makes shipping wine in hold baggage an exercise in creativity to prevent breakage, leakage or other calamities. On a November ’06 trip to the Mediterranean, I managed to get a bottle of wine home safely in hold baggage, but I held my breath until I opened the suitcase in which it had been secured.

In search of a better solution than the one I employed, I conducted a survey of currently manufactured containers that would adequately protect a 750-milliliter bottle of wine. In a section of...