Travelers' Intercom

In the letter “Obtaining an India e-Visa” (March ’20, pg. 14), a traveler described how he paid $178 to a third-party visa-processing service for a one-year multiple-entry e-Visa to India rather than attempt to complete the confusing online application process on the Indian government’s website (https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html), where he would have paid only $40 plus a 2.5% credit card fee.

Rather than get a one-year visa, in January 2020 I...

CONTINUE READING »

In the letter “Watch Credit Card Statements” (March ’20, pg. 24), a subscriber wrote that he handed over his credit card to a waiter in a taverna in Greece for a few minutes and later discovered that a fraudulent charge had been made during that time.

Even though an incident like that cannot be prevented, you can contact the bank that issued your credit card and request that a notification be emailed to you whenever your card is charged over a certain amount or...

CONTINUE READING »

I read the account of the traveler Michael Burge and his wife (March ’20, pg. 52), who took an around-Australia cruise with Oceania Cruises and felt that $109 per person, each way, was too much to pay for the cruise line’s airport/port transfers. They found alternative transportation.

I cruised with Oceania Cruises on the “Indian Ocean Odyssey,” which began Feb. 3, 2020, in Cape Town, South Africa, and was to end 28 days later in Singapore. Because of the...

CONTINUE READING »

In January 2019, my wife and I booked a flight from Minneapolis to Portland, Oregon, on Delta Air Lines, the first leg of a June 2019 trip to South Korea, but we got our signals crossed and double-booked — a goofy first for us — so we had to cancel two of the tickets. They were nonrefundable economy-class tickets for $310.40 each.

The usual online flight-cancellation routine levied a $200 fee for each ticket and offered a future travel voucher for the balance, just $220...

CONTINUE READING »
Fyllis Hockman fashioning perfume at Tijon Parfumerie — Saint-Martin. Photo by Victor Block

People who travel to the French/Dutch Caribbean island of St. Martin and spend all of their time on the beautiful beaches or shopping for bargains are missing a below-the-radar attraction.

For a trip that my husband, Victor, and I took in December 2019, I looked online for things to see and do and found that, on the French side of the island, visitors to the Tijon Parfumerie (1 L’Esperance Grand-Case MF 97150, Route de l’Espérance, Grand-Case, Saint-Martin; www.tijon.com)...

CONTINUE READING »
Children running toward us as we passed a school in Baranagar. Photos by Stephen Addison

For those of you planning your first trip to India, this report provides supplemental advice based upon experiences my wife, Paula Owens, and I had on our trip. We don’t usually take tours, but India is a challenging place to visit on your own, so we ended up traveling there with Uniworld (Los Angeles, CA; 800/349-7397, www.uniworld.com), Nov. 21-Dec. 3, 2019.

These tips cover topics that were either not addressed or, more commonly, did not receive sufficient emphasis in the...

CONTINUE READING »
Typical monigotes in Puerto Villamil. Photo by Rod Smith

There are only so many New Year’s Eves we get to experience in our lives. One of the most memorable for my wife, Karen, and me was on Dec. 31, 2019, in the town of Puerto Villamil on the Galápagos island of Isabela.

December 31 started out with various organizations and vendors gathering on the main square, where a large stage had been set up at the end of the dirt street. In the afternoon there were two soccer games, the first with young males, then one played by females.

... CONTINUE READING »

My wife and I were about to take our first trip with Odysseys Unlimited (Newton, MA; 888/370-6765, odysseys-unlimited.com), and on Dec. 26, 2019, we made a deposit on the tour “Norwegian Splendor,” starting on May 17, 2020, to visit Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Then we discovered their very rigid air policy. For one thing, we could not book a day-early arrival at our first stop before the main tour due to, as they claimed, “our airline contracts.”

...

CONTINUE READING »