Boarding Pass

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 389th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine.

In Brazil, Congress soon may pass a bill requiring all foreigners to get visitors’ permits from both the justice and defense ministries before entering the Amazon. Foreigners caught there without the permits could be fined 100,000 reals, or about $60,000.

The action is to fight “biopiracy” — the illegal use of the rainforest’s resources, including traditional or indigenous knowledge and biological resources — in the world’s largest remaining rainforest, which comprises 60% of Brazil.

Foreigners working or visiting, including individuals and religious groups, would need to have the authorization.

With the Olympics approaching, and worrying about disruptions by protesting activists or possibly terrorists, China is requiring of some travelers proof of hotel reservations, round-trip air tickets or even letters of invitation.

Students seem to be targeted, but travelers, travel agents and foreign embassy officials also have had trouble getting visas for the period the Games will be held, Aug. 8-24. Also, visitors have been encouraged to apply in their own countries rather than in Hong Kong.

At least through August, Beijing has widened its ban on smoking to include not only taxis and Olympic venues but most public buildings. Public outcry kept the city’s restaurants and bars from being included as well, but those venues must provide nonsmoking rooms or areas.

Likely to be copied by other airlines, as of mid-June American Airlines is charging passengers $15 for the first checked bag (plus $25 for the second, $100 for the third, etc.). This does not apply to international flights, passengers who purchased full-fare tickets and some AAdvantage program members.

Citing high fuel prices as one of the reasons, the airline also is trimming at least 75 aircraft from its fleet and laying off thousands of employees. Fees for oversized bags, reservations, pet handling, etc., have increased, as well.

In England, tour operators must absorb the first two percent of any unexpected price increases, but beyond that they are legally entitled to demand from their customers up to 10% more on the published price of a tour or tour package.

Due to rising fuel costs and unfavorably changing exchange rates, numerous tour companies recently offered their customers the choice of paying extra or losing their deposits.

On its Nile cruises, Bales Worldwide, for example, asked each passenger for £55-£70 more due to currency fluctuations plus an additional surcharge to cover fuel costs.

Effective July 1, 2008, on flights of fewer than 500 miles, United Airlines Mileage Plus Program members now will accrue only the actual miles flown. The award miles will not be rounded up to a minimum of 500.

Delta Airlines had 42 exclusive lounges in airports worldwide, open to Delta travelers who paid as much as $600 a year for access, but in May it closed nearly a dozen of them. Reciprocal lounge privileges may be available with Northwest and Continental.

A federal appeals court on April 21, 2008, gave Customs officials the authority to examine, copy and seize travelers’ laptops without reasonable suspicion, rejecting the contention that a traveler’s laptop is essentially intellectual property and not the same as luggage or freight.

There are no published guidelines as to what might trigger a secondary inspection of a computer or the seizure of data or the computer.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (www.acte.org/laptop_seizures.php) has advised business travelers of the following:

1) You should not carry on your computer or other electronic devices any confidential or personal information that you would not want examined by third parties. This includes financial data, photographs and e-mail stored on computers, wireless phones, Blackberries or iPod-type devices.

2) You should limit the amount of proprietary business information you carry on your computer and transmit it before crossing the border so you have access to it in the event your unit is seized.

3) If your laptop serves as your major home computer, get another one for travel purposes.

4) The ACTE is not advising travelers to hide data from U.S. border authorities but to take steps to minimize the impact of its loss, or the inability to access it, in the event it is seized.

Okay, here’s some “good” news.

As of May 16, airlines and travel agents are required by the Department of Transportation to disclose both on their websites and in print advertisements any fees for checking a bag aboard a plane. New or increased fees and restrictions cannot be added after a passenger has booked a ticket.

Airlines also must give more data on the amount of time delayed flights sit on the tarmac. Previously, airlines did not have to report flights that departed from a gate more than once or that were canceled after having left the gate or that were diverted to other airports. Hopefully, this will provide a more realistic picture of average actual travel times.

London’s new mayor has made good on one of his election pledges: to ban the drinking of alcohol on the tube, buses, trams and the Docklands Light Railway. The ban began June 1, 2008, sending a message that public drunkenness is socially unacceptable. (Permission has to be gained from the Department of Transport before the ban can include the London Overground train service.)

The leader of the Rail Maritime & Transport Union, Bob Crow, commented, “. . . it appears that this really hasn’t been thought through very well and could well make matters worse… We are being told that it will be our members who will have to approach people drinking and ask them to stop… Perhaps the mayor will come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman one Saturday to show us how it should be done. . .”

A couple of ITN subscribers, Barry and Corinne Smedley, think their fellow readers would be inspired by the DVDs they have made of their world travels, though Barry admits, “These are definitely not commercially sponsored Hollywood productions.”

An ITN staffer reviewed a couple of them and confirmed, “The sound quality is variable and there is lengthy panning at some tourist sites.”

But Smedley says, “After presenting our travel shows to libraries, travel clubs and, our favorite audience, seniors at retirement facilities, we have been told repeatedly that the charm of our work (if we can call it that) is we personalize travel in a natural but refreshing way.”

Twenty-one DVDs have been completed, each 45 to 60 minutes long. Titles include China 1 & 2, India 1-4, Russia 1 & 2, South America 1-4, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru 1 & 2, Kenya, Japan, Fiji, Tonga and Solomon Islands.

Each sells for $13 plus $6 shipping (any quantity) plus 7.75% sales tax for California residents. Contact Recreation Therapy Consultants (6115 Syracuse Lane, San Diego, CA 92122; 858/546-9007).

Thanking us for “many hours of pleasure reading ITN,” Clytice Gardner of Brandon, Mississippi, said she is “downsizing” and will box up and send a number of years worth of the magazine (October 1991 to May 2008) to anyone who pays the postage.

“I hate to throw away the magazines if anyone can use them,” she wrote. Call her at 601/825-3339 or e-mail clytice@bellsouth.net.

Bob Rodgers of Chicago, Illinois, has the same offer, for issues from 2002 through 2007, although “a few issues are missing.” Call 312/266-2377 or e-mail uqlbob@rcn.com.

Corroborating the high value that our subscribers place on the magazine, Judy Puckett of Cartersville, Georgia, wrote, “By the way, there is just not another travel magazine that equals ITN. I get SO much help from it for planning my independent travel, which I usually book myself. Thanks for what you do.”

We at ITN would like to encourage each of you to submit a feature article, a piece of around 1,500 words with photographs, about travels you’ve taken recently (within six months or so).

Try to avoid writing an hour-by-hour journal account of an entire trip’s itinerary; concentrate on a few highlights or pick a special destination from your visit and give your impressions. You could focus on some facet of a trip — how you went about arranging it, lessons learned or some theme that kept popping up (castles, flowers, theater. . .). What was interesting to you?

Send your feature article to our Features Editor in Oregon, Beth Habian (Box 1148, Florence, OR 97439, or e-mail beth@intltravel news.com).

All other mail — shorter letters, trip appraisals, travel tips, comments, inquiries, suggestions, etc. — should be sent to ITN’s home office at 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818; e-mail editor@intltravelnews.com.

(ITN prints no features, letters or news on destinations in North America or the Caribbean.)

This magazine is mostly written by you and your fellow subscribers. It’s what you’ve experienced and what you’ve learned that is valuable. You get here what you don’t read in the guidebooks. Jump in.— David Tykol, Editor