For people who would like to learn more about Mongolia, I recommend the book “The Blue Sky: A Novel” by Galsan Tschinag (2006, Milkweed Editions. ISBN 9781571310552 — 192 pp., $22). It is the story of a nomadic shepherd boy coming of age during the l950s in the Tuva Valley in upper Mongolia. Reading it, I learned more about the life of a family in a yurt.

Born in the 1940s to a Tuvan family in Mongolia, Tschinag studied in Germany and is a shaman, throat singer, poet and storyteller...

Carry physician ID

In answer to the questions from the doctor not allowed to treat another passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight because he was not carrying his physician ID (Dec. ’07, pg. 45), I think the staff did what was right.

I cannot understand why a physician would have his identification in his checked luggage, of all places. He should know better.

I’m a mental health counselor and I have a copy of my license on my person or in my carry-on at all times, as...

First off, I do not use a travel agent; I’ve had bad luck with them. They have trouble understanding I don’t want the local Hilton but something a bit lower on the food chain.

They are so used to suggesting the better things of travel. When I did my first India trip, I was told by several agents that Americans couldn’t manage the average Indian hotel. Not true! My husband and I used local hotels, several where we were the only Westerners. Once there, we used a local agent to help us...