International Travel News

Travelers' Intercom

August 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Jewelry shops

I sell designer jewelry at an upscale specialty store in Las Vegas, Nevada, and consider myself a worldwide consummate shopper. Here are my favorite places to do jewelry shopping.

In Beijing, China, I go to the Silk Market at the corner of Jiangiomennei Dajie and Dongdaqiao Lu. The building has five floors of merchandise, the fifth floor devoted entirely to jewelry. The prices are incredible to begin with, and they expect you to bargain with them. They would rather sell it for...

August 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Jewelry shopping

I have loved to shop for jewelry most everywhere I’ve traveled!

• I bought a wide, choker-type necklace made of camel bones in the medina in Tunis, Tunisia.

• I’ve bought amber in many countries of the world, including Hong Kong, England, Denmark, Turkey and the Dominican Republic. The amber in the Dominican Republic is more yellow than the orangey kind obtained elsewhere. The way to tell if it is real amber and not plastic is to rub the piece against a piece of wool (to create...

August 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Thailand jewelry

Jewelry has always been my souvenir of choice on our many trips abroad. In each country, I try to find a unique gold piece that is representative of the culture and craftsmanship.

The gold and precious stone items in Thailand are irresistible. In 1998 I took a loose, 13-carat amethyst to Bangkok and had it set in a handmade, 18k gold pendant setting with a small diamond for $98.

Mrs. KAYLOR C. WHITEHEAD Granite Bay, CA

August 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Cruiser with impaired mobility

As a person who loves to travel but has had severe disability issues from time to time, I am eager to learn of others’ experiences of traveling with physical limitations, so I thought I would share my own.

When experiencing physical limitations, I realized that I was only “up” for cruises at certain times. Renting a motorized scooter through the cruise line proved to be an excellent aid. When I booked my December ’05 cruise with Royal Caribbean International (RCI), it was recommended...

August 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Visiting a travel fair

The New York Times Travel Show this year was held at the Javits Convention Center in New York City, Feb. 25 & 26. It was worth attending, and I would like to give ITN readers an idea as to what goes on at a travel fair.

Members of the travel industry attended on Friday, the 24th, and the general public was invited on subsequent days (Saturday 10-7 p.m. and Sunday 10-5). The entrance charge of $15 per day was reasonable, considering the big-name travel companies whose...

August 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

A slow drive down Germany’s Romantic Road

by Harvey Hagman, Fort Myers Beach, FL

On my first trip along Germany’s Romantic Road, I didn’t know I was on it. It was July 1968 and I was sleeping in a tent outside the old walled town of Dinkelsbühl when I awoke to trumpets blaring and horses galloping. Sleepily, I peered out on riders in brilliant medieval costumes.

I had blundered into the Kinderzeche, this thousand-year-old town’s annual celebration that dates back to the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). In 1632, Swedish...

August 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Turkey with FLO USA

The ad in ITN for FLO USA, Inc. (4044 W. Lake Mary Blvd., Unit 104-339, Lake Mary, FL 32746; 888/435-6872), caught our eye. My husband and I had been in Turkey in 1994 as part of an independent ’round-the-world trip and had often talked of returning. FLO USA’s 15-day tour that included the 2006 solar eclipse sounded almost too good to be true. When we checked their website and learned it also included several days in Cappadocia, we called and made our reservations for the March...

August 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Srpska, past and present

My wife, Arlene, and I were visiting Belgrade in Serbia & Montenegro for a week in June ’05 and decided to take a day trip to the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Srpska is off the usual tourist itinerary but well worth visiting because of its natural beauty and geographic location in the Balkans.

The history of Bosnia & Herzegovina is extremely complicated and involves Serbs, who are Christian Orthodox; Catholic Croats, and Turks from the Ottoman Empire, who...