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December 2010 issue

Britain by foot

My husband, Robert, and I have enjoyed a lifelong love of walking the countryside of England, where if a path between villages was ever a public path, it must be kept so even if the land it is on is sold.

From 1983 to 2009, we went on 20 tours with Lord Winston’s Walking Tours (now called Footpath Touring but offering tours only to previous clientele).

Lord Winston (aka Ken Ward) has written many excellent guidebooks that enable people to plan walking holidays on their own. Most recently, he has authored “Six Feet to Land’s End” (2010, Footpath Touring. ISBN 0956402801— 420...

October 2010 issue

US line’s overseas bank fee

Reading Patricia Russell’s letter about a foreign-transaction fee (May ’10, pg. 14; also see July ’10, pg. 11) triggered my writing about my experience.

My wife, Ofelia, and I booked a 27-day cruise on Oceania’s Insignia from Valparaiso, Chile, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for March 7-April 3, 2010. We booked through Bob’s Cruises (162 - 3105 Dayanee Springs Blvd., Coquitlam, BC, V3E 0C2, Canada; 866/682-2627, www.bobscruises.com).

Although we live in Canada now, we have a USA credit card in US dollars through Citibank, so whenever we charge items in US dollars we use this card...

March 2004 issue

Crisp bills

I read the reader’s letter titled “Money Laundering 101” (Oct. ’03, pg. 45), on cleaning paper currency to use for travel. Fascinating. For those more slothful travelers, here is a suggestion.

I would imagine most banks are like mine. About four days before I want to pick up my trip money, I give my bank a list of the denominations that I want and when I will be in to pick up the bills. On the appointed day, I show up and the teller counts out all new bills. Less fatiguing.

JACQUELYN ENGLE Georgetown, IN

July 2005 issue

Reviewers’ Corner

Here are a couple of the latest travel-book reviews written by an ITN reader.

“Fodor’s African Safari” (2004, Fodor’s LLC, Fodor’s Travel Publications. ISBN 1400012341 — 190 pp., $9.95 paper).

This guidebook’s focus is how to choose big-game adventures in East or Southern Africa. However, its maps, organization, paucity of wildlife information and multiple checklists distract from the objective and even prove misleading.

The book’s only two maps show Eastern and Southern African countries but fail to illustrate all national parks and game reserves, offering only...

June 2010 issue

Notes from visit to China

I joined a group of 34 well-traveled people on May 14, 2009, for an 18-day trip to China with smarTours (New York, NY; 800/337-7773, www.smartours.com). It included a Yangtze river cruise and time in Hong Kong.

I highly recommend smarTours, which delivered a top-notch trip at a terrific value for the money. The cost was $3,099 per person, double occupancy, with air from JFK in New York. This included $185 for departure taxes/fees, in-country airfare and almost all meals. The single supplement ran $799-$999.

A China visa cost $130 at the time of our trip. Although I had easy...

April 2004 issue

Paris shuttle

The airport-to-Paris shuttle service PariShuttle (visit www.paris-anglo.com) was mentioned previously by ITN readers (Feb. ’02, pgs. 74-75). For a trip in September ’03, I tried to call the service and learned that their toll-free number from the U.S. is no longer available. You must call their other numbers or contact them through their e-mail address: ashuttle@club-internet.fr. (I made alternative arrangements.)

GLADYS ROWE SHELDON Albuquerque, NM

February 2005 issue

A ‘super day’ near London

London was crowded with tourists in August ’04 and it was also the wettest August on record. Daily sky bursts were the norm, and before your umbrella was fully extended you were sopping wet. So many people running for the same shelter at the same time only exasperated the situation.

Although it rains everywhere, there are many places in the outskirts of London, away from the crowds, that offer a super day of art, architecture, history and nature.

Kenwood House, a marvel of 18th-century architecture, filled with art treasures and surrounded by tranquil countryside, is a haven...

March 2005 issue

Companies came through

• A promotion run in 2003 by Grand Circle Travel (347 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210; phone 800/221-2610 or visit www.gct.com) promised two $250 travel certificates applicable to your next GCT trip if you completed an extensive questionnaire on your future travel plans. We dutifully completed it and sent it in and waited and waited and waited, but no certificates.

After six months or so, and past the expiration date of the travel certificates, we began a follow-up campaign by telephone. When that proved fruitless, we sent a letter to GCT headquarters politely pointing out our...