Travelers' Intercom

What do I carry on the airplane with me?

I have a backpack slung over my shoulder so my hands are free to maneuver my roll-on suitcase. I am still allowed on flights with both of them. The only place I have ever had a problem was in London at the ticket counter. They said the backpack had to be a handbag, and I demonstrated that it WAS my handbag. We haggled a little bit and they let me go through, with no further questions asked going through security.

The backpack is a cross between a day pack and a full-size backpack, about 20"x20", from REI (800/426-4840, www.rei.com). In...

My travel partner and I were scheduled to return from London’s Heathrow Airport to Cleveland, Ohio, by way of Chicago on Dec. 17, 2010. Upon our arrival at the airport, we were handed a notice that our United Airlines flight to Chicago had been canceled because of the nonarrival of an aircraft from the US. The United desk rebooked us on another United flight (operated by Continental Airlines) to Newark the next day.

The agent gave us a phone number for Room Solutions (0203 004 8948), which offers discounted accommodation, enabling us to book a room at a steeply reduced rate at...

My husband, Tom, and I took the “Danube Discovery Cruise” with smarTours, Sept. 24-Oct. 7, 2008, as well as the pretrip “Dracula Castle Extension” on Sept. 23. The pretrip was a bus tour with a guide and was done very well. After boarding the ship Kleine Prinz, however, the whole trip fell apart, we felt.

On the cruise, we had day guides at all the stops and all were adequate, but none made sure they were giving their talk in a place where we could actually hear it. We had talks surrounded by traffic, construction and leaf blowers.

In the town of Bratislava, Slovakia, a...