Travelers' Intercom

January 2010 issue

Keep paperwork plus notes

In March ’09 I received a promotional e-mail from American Express stating that if I opened a credit card account (and met other requirements), I could get 25,000 air miles with Delta Air Lines plus two passes to Delta’s airport lounges. Having a number of air miles with Northwest Airlines and knowing that Northwest was merging into Delta, I called and applied for the American Express Card.

In about mid-April American Express sent another promotional e-mail, but this one offered 40,000 miles plus two Delta passes for opening an account. I called American Express (800/257-0770) again...

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March 2009 issue

JAL came through

My husband and I took a 3-week tour of Laos in late November ’08. About a week before we were due to fly home on Dec. 3, citizens of Bangkok, Thailand, demonstrated their dissatisfaction with their government at the airport. No planes were able to fly in or out of the city.

Since we could not fly from Vientiane, Laos, to Bangkok, we rented a van and drove there on Dec. 2. Japan Airlines was not answering the phone, so we took a cab to their downtown office. Up on the 10th floor, we found them very well organized. There were about six employees working their way through the line. We...

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March 2009 issue

Assumed cabin was booked

In January ’08 I reserved a cruise to Norway for May 31-June 11, 2008, with Taitbout Voyages. I sent them a check for €1,180 (about $1,636) for the basic price and added €346 ($480) for a single cabin.

I asked Taitbout in several letters at what time I would have to meet the group on May 31 to take the bus from Paris to the cruise ship in Amsterdam and at what location. Taitbout Voyages never answered my letters or e-mails. The telephone number on their brochure was not reachable from the US; it was a number that could be used only inside France.

Taitbout did not return my...

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December 2008 issue

Credit card purchases

Responding to a reader’s request (Oct. ’08, pg. 94), I know of a credit card with NO 3% foreign exchange fee. Any card from CapitalOne.com has this feature. My choice is the “No Hassle Cash Rewards Credit Card.”

This one also has NO annual fee plus an excellent cash-back program, which doubles for groceries and drugs at supermarkets as well as for gasoline.

AVI BASS

DeKalb, IL

April 2009 issue

Notes on Australia

In the March ’09 issue, page 55, Wanda described her pretrip planning before she and her husband, Ray, took the tour “Ultimate Australia” with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA; 800/493-6824, www.oattravel.com) in October-November ’07. Here are her tips from the trip itself.

• In MELBOURNE we stayed at The Crossley Hotel (www.crossleyhotel.com.au) — small, comfortable and well located, with a helpful staff.

Do go to the Federation Square Information Office to request free walking-tour maps. These maps help organize explorations more efficiently.

Do go to the...

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May 2009 issue

Eastern Turkey’s ties to the world

When I signed on for the 22-day/21-night “Turkey’s Biblical East” tour organized and led by Tamer Teoman of Teo World Culture Tours (New York, NY; 888/444-1110, www.teoworldculturetours.com), I knew little about that part of the world. Anatolia? I can’t say I even knew what part of Turkey that was. As I studied a map and pinpointed the towns and places we would visit, ghosts from my old schoolbooks came marching out of the past.

Anatolia is what we called Asia Minor. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers start there, and between them is the northern part of what the ancients called...

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February 2010 issue

Simply reachable

Thank you, thank you, John Putman, for your letter (Nov. ’09, pg. 52). I, too, cannot see the point of the endless e-mails, phone calls, etc., that leisure travelers feel it necessary to make. It’s annoying when time is wasted on a tour so that people can find an Internet cafe to “keep in touch.”

I leave an itinerary behind for emergencies and make the occasional cell phone call if I’m unavailable for any length of time, but that’s it other than a few postcards. I’m so glad someone else feels the way I do.

BARBARA GLAVISH

Incline Village, NV

March 2009 issue

Bucharest taxi snag

Prior to our trip to Romania in April ’07, we had read many bad things about the taxi drivers in Bucharest, so we had the hotel send a taxi to the airport for us since we would be arriving at 12:30 a.m. on British Air.

The hotel did that, but it was not a good idea as the flight was over an hour late; instead of its costing $20, it cost us $50 because the driver had waited for the flight.

Plus we had to use American currency because the driver spoke no English and did not understand we wanted to get some Romanian money at the airport.

RACHEL BALDWIN

Anchorage,...

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