Luggage tags

To the right are pictured (slightly reduced) Magellan’s “retriever tags.” You place your itinerary in the pouch and, with the furnished strap, attach it to the handle on your luggage.

I can personally attest to how useful these are. A few years ago, my luggage went astray between Vienna and Venice. For three days. Fortunately, as I often do, I had packed spare underwear, sox and a shirt in my carry-on.

The trip was on a ship (that had same-day laundry) in the Adriatic. (Croatia is great!) One day, because I’d written each stop of the ship on a sheet of paper and left it inside the pouch, my bag appeared.

The retriever tags are available from Magellan’s: 800/962-4943, www.magellans.com.

ITN doesn’t print items about travel in North America or the Caribbean. Mainly because those destinations are well covered in other publications and we felt our readers would be better served if we used the space for, say, Botswana or New Guinea.

However, after hearing from many readers interested in reading about Mexico and the Caribbean, we’re going to put it to a vote. Would you prefer that ITN also cover Mexico and the Caribbean or should ITN continue to cover only destinations outside of North America and the Caribbean?

Write to Cover Mexico/Caribbean?, c/o ITN, 2120 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818, or e-mail armondnoble@yahoo.com.

You must, in order to have your vote count, give your last name and your ZIP code. (That’s to prevent ballot box stuffing.)