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In the first of the letters compiled for “What to Eat Where” (Jan. ’10, pg. 42), there was an error in the conversion of the price of a thali; 150 to 250 rupees does not equal $1 but is more like $3.25-$5.50.

R150-R250 might be the price of a thali at a more upscale restaurant or for a special thali. On our trip to northern India and the Gangetic plain in November-December ’09, my husband, Clyde, and I found thalis in Delhi at fast-food chain restaurants for R100-R200, which we...

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Just a note re the photograph and text on New Zealand on page 80 of the March ’10 issue. The writer uses the word marae for “village,” and this is not correct. A village is usually called a pa or pah, which originally meant a fortified village but these days refers to most rural Maori settlements.

A marae is a sacred, open meeting area usually situated in front of the whare runanga, which is the communal meeting house.

The marae is the basis of traditional Maori life, and there...

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For my friend Billie Rivers and me, one of the delights of spending time in London is enjoying afternoon tea — the ambience, the slowing down, the cosseting and savoring both food and conversation. On our September ’09 trip we tried several locations.

• Through the website www.restaurantguide.com, we booked tea at 1901 at the Andaz (Andaz Liverpool Street hotel, 40 Liverpool St., London, EC2M 7QN, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 20 7618 7000).

Knowing that the Andaz, near Liverpool Street...

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My wife and I took our seventh trip in eight years to Thailand, Dec. 5, 2009-Jan. 13, 2010, and we noticed something new regarding paying for hotel rooms with a credit card.

In the past, when we paid for our room using our credit card, we always were charged in Thai baht, and, of course, by using a Capital One credit card we avoided the currency-exchange fee as charged by all the other card issuers.

This year, however, we noticed that right on the credit card slip that one is...

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Instead of taking optional tours on our China trip with Grand Circle Travel, Nov. 12-Dec. 2, 2009, my wife, Anne, and I used our free time to explore the cities via their subways.

Purchasing tickets is much easier there than on any system we’ve ridden in the States. A screen on the ticket console shows all routes in both Chinese and English. You press the spot showing your end destination and the required fare shows up on the screen.

If you are over 65, like we are, you then...

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During a week-long visit to France in early July ’09, I took a day trip to the Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison to visit my friend Briony.

Located about eight miles west of central Paris, the suburb of “Rueil” changed its name in 1928 to reflect its most famous tourist attraction, the Château de Malmaison, the last home of Napoleon’s first wife, Josephine.

I took a northbound subway from the local Métro station to the Gare Étoile station, where I transferred to the RER commuter...

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ITN was mailed a copy of the following letter, sent by a subscriber to Value World Tours.

I would like to pass on our comments re a Black Sea cruise-tour my wife, Marie, and I took on the MS Taras Shevchenko, May 20-June 3, 2009 (including a two-day post-cruise stay in Istanbul), with Value World Tours.

We had opted for a suite on board and were glad we did. The accommodations were very comfortable, with two sofas, TV, fridge, tub, full-size shower, etc.

The suites all...

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My wife and I took our first river cruise, the 17-day “China’s Cultural Delights,” Oct. 9-25, 2009 (excluding Japan stopover), with Viking River Cruises (Woodland Hills, CA; 800/304-9616). Although I abhor tours, this seemed like the way to go in China and I was correct.

We paid $14,650 for the two of us, but this was a cruise exchange (value, $1,200) using one week’s points from my Hyatt Vacation Club timeshare. Included were international airfare from Orlando, Florida; five days in...

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