In my previous letter on how to handle money abroad (Oct. ’05, pg. 53), I noted that going to the ATM was virtually always the best way to get local currency. At the time of that writing, ATM withdrawals (straight from a bank account) were usually executed at the interbank exchange rate, and there were few “add-ons” other than the basic usual fee of $1-$2 for using an ATM other than your own bank’s ATM (a fee sometimes refunded by Internet banks, USAA Bank and others).

Using an ATM...

My wife, Esta Lee, and I took the “Grand Voyage to Scandinavia,” May 13-June 5, 2006, on the MV Discovery of Voyages of Discovery, formerly Discovery World Cruises (1800 SE 10th Ave., Ste. 205, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316; 866/623-2689).

The package combined a 2-week transatlantic cruise from Nassau in the Bahamas to Harwich in the U.K. and a one-week round-trip cruise from Harwich along the Norwegian coast.

The first segment, which included stops at Grand Turk (nothing to see, I...

Many years ago, my husband and I acquired a United Airlines MasterCard for which we paid $60 per year and which accumulated many frequent-flyer miles, which we used as needed. We each had a credit card, but all charges, no matter which credit card was used, went to just one bill, so it was basically just one account and we paid just one $60 charge per year.

In January ’06 my husband, sadly, passed away, and in March I contacted United to have the 116,048 miles remaining in my husband’...