We took a great “Burgundy barging” trip with Odysseys Unlimited (85 Main St., Ste. 101, Watertown, MA 02472; phone 888/370-6765, fax 781/370-3699 or visit www.odysseys-unlimited.com) in September ’03.

We shared a marvelous chemistry with our fellow passengers, the crew of La Litôte (our barge) and our guides. We also enjoyed the food.

Unusual was the fact that there wasn’t enough water in the canals of Burgundy for our trip. Instead, we cruised the Canal de Briare, the Canal du...

I took a Panama Canal cruise on the Norwegian Sun, departing Miami April 12, ’03, and arriving in Los Angeles April 29. The ship line provided an e-mail address where we could be contacted aboard ship. I gave this to family members so they could reach us if they had to. Two of them sent messages and we never received them. Fortunately, they were not emergencies, but what if they were?

To send an e-mail from the ship, we had to pay a registration fee as well as an access fee. I did not...

I have traveled often to Europe, Southeast Asia, South America and even Borneo and have used a debit card in all those countries, finding it the best method of securing local currency. Until our last trip we encountered no problems and our bank charged us no fee for the transactions.

In the past, we never notified our bank or credit card companies that we were leaving the country. Occasionally, if we made a large purchase abroad, on our return we received a call from the credit card...