Columns

May 2005 issue

Experiencing Santiago like a local
By Randy Keck

(Part 1 of 2 on Chile)

On a visit to Chile in February 2005 I had the opportunity to stay at a friend’s apartment in Santiago and enjoy many of the lifestyle attractions experienced by locals.

The apartment is located in an upmarket district of the city known as Providencia, an area of primarily highrise apartment and condominium buildings only a few blocks away from the busy primary thoroughfare of Avenida Apoquindo. The peaceful, tree-lined streets were seemingly designed for endless strolling, a favored pastime of locals.

This residential area is home to many...

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June 2005 issue

Boarding Pass
By David Tykol

Dear Globetrotter: Welcome to the 352nd issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine.

“As a longtime subscriber, I must write every so often to tell you how much I enjoy the magazine.” So wrote Ann White of Concord, California, continuing, “I have contributed pictures and small articles throughout the years and am enclosing some names of my traveling friends each to receive a complimentary copy. Keep up the good work and writing. The crossword in each issue is lots of fun!”

We thank Ann for the kind words and the names and addresses of potential subscribers. On that point...

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June 2006 issue

Small group travel — who’s in charge?
By Randy Keck

In this edition of “Under the Microscope,” I will examine an important aspect of the greatly increasing trend toward small-group travel. In terms of who is in charge of leading groups, including solving any problems encountered along the way, how are these groups operated on the ground by tour companies?

Compare a recent issue of ITN with one from five years ago and the trend of more tour operators’ offering options for traveling in small groups is clear. This is in response to consumer preference and demand. The host of reasons most travelers prefer traveling with...

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July 2006 issue

Tours for teens, one-way airfaires, driving in the Baltics

STEVE, for the last two years my husband and I have been wanting to take our granddaughters, ages 16 and 17, to France, but due to my husband’s health we can’t do it. Are there any organized and chaperoned tours to France for teens? — Marian Gregoriante, San Mateo, CA

DEAR MARIAN, yes, there are. First, I’d check with their school. Local teachers are often recruited to promote and escort tours during the summer months, and you might find a tour that’s ideal. A tour through a local school would offer your granddaughters the added advantage of traveling with friends. The website www.us....

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January 2006 issue

Luxury adventure travel in South Africa
By Wayne Wirtanen

(First of three parts, jump to part 1, part 2, part 3)

South African game reserves

Everything you ever wanted to know about South African game reserves but didn’t know what to ask!

Imagine that your very large, fenced-in backyard had wild animals in it. You could keep track of the animals, and you could increase their numbers or variety. You could also “cull” them or move them to other backyards. (Culling is currently a very controversial topic. At the beginning of the 20th century, due to heavy poaching for ivory, there were only some 50 wild elephants in all of...

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February 2006 issue

Happy cruising ahead for 2006 and 2007
By Lew Toulmin

Cruising is looking good for 2006 and 2007. The cruise industry appears set to boom over the next two years, due to continuing economic prosperity worldwide; the aging of the world population and the resultant disposable income and time, and the creativity of the cruise lines in developing new, attractive ships and shipboard attractions.

I will discuss this topic by forecasting shipbuilding for the next two years, then describing the really fun stuff: the new attractions that are coming on line in the cruise fleet.

Shipbuilding forecast

Positive demographics and...

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December 2005 issue

Boarding Pass
By David Tykol

Dear Globetrotter: Welcome to the 358th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine.

On Oct. 12, about 1,500 people were evacuated from Machu Picchu, Peru, after a mudslide covered a section of the railway line to the mountaintop Incan ruins. No one was hurt, and buses were employed to take the people down.

Snow melting on a nearby peak caused a chunk of Veronica Peak to break off, burying the tracks with seven meters of mud and rocks. Rail service was restored in a few days.

In April 2004 at least six people were killed by mudslides at Machu Picchu.

In...

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October 2005 issue

What to use overseas: cash, travelers’ checks or credit cards?

by Mary Beltran, Assistant Editor, ITN

Paying for purchases overseas has gotten complicated.

If you exchange your U.S. cash for currency overseas, you may lose some value depending on the exchange rate, and you may also pay a fee for the transaction.

If you take travelers’ checks, you may be able to use them at hotels and sometimes in shops, but small shops or restaurants often don’t accept them. That means you’ll need to cash the checks into the local currency, paying the transaction fee as mentioned above.

If you use your ATM (automatic teller machine) card...

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