International Travel News

Travelers' Intercom

February 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Sentiments of hope

My wife, Mary, and I were in Cairo in January ’05 when we learned that our daughter Julie, back in Arizona, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. We became frequent customers in the Cairo Marriott gift shop, where they sold phone cards. The problem with the phone cards was that they each lasted only three minutes on calls to the States.

When we tried to buy cards with “more minutes,” the young man working there sensed our concern and offered to let us use his cell phone for the same...

February 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Three unusual islands

My friend Edith Ann Pazmino and I took an adventure that included three unusual islands between Asia and Australia, July 6-25, ’05. Our 20-day trip took us from San Francisco to Hong Kong, Hainan Island (in the South China Sea), Singapore, Perth and, in the Indian Ocean, Christmas and Cocos islands.

The trip would not have happened without the excellent help of Helen Svensen and Arthur Waine of Greenbelt Travel Services (5510 Cherrywood Ln., Greenbelt, MD 20770; phone 800/695-0317 or...

February 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Confounded by Coptic community of Cairo

Having made several past visits to tourist areas of Egypt and the Sinai, on our March ’05 trip my husband and I decided to explore the Coptic aspect of Cairo.

The Copts are the only Egyptian Christians. They believe that St. Mark established their church at Alexandria. The official “birth” of the Coptic church was in A.D. 286. Their worship is still conducted in “Coptic,” now considered a dead language. St. Anthony (A.D. 250-350), the originator of Christian monarchism, was a Copt....

February 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Provence dining and more

We had a 2-week stay in Provence, Oct. 5-19, ’05, with Idyll, Ltd. (Box 405, Media, PA 19063; phone 888/868-6871 or visit www.untours.com). We stayed in Velorgues, France, in the Oasis 2 apartment, a luxurious 2-bedroom rental with dishwasher, washing machine, patio and lots of privacy. The cost was $2,169 for apartment, car rental and airfare from Philadelphia.

Idyll provides a local “host” for orientation and support plus a wealth of pre-trip information. They have rentals...

February 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Dining in Brittany

After a tour of Greece in late June ’05, my wife, Dorothy, and I stopped in Brittany, France, to visit our daughter who resides in the small city of Douarnenez, which at one time was the sardine capital of Europe. We had the opportunity to try a few restaurants there.

• On the waterfront at the end of rue Anatole France, which leads into the marketplace, is the Bord Eaux Restaurant. From the deck there is an excellent view of the small boat harbor, and from inside there is a limited...

February 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Pad of greenbacks

Before I leave on an extended tour, I stop at a bank and get a pack of new one-dollar bills. They come 100 to a bundle a little over an inch thick.

I then take this pack to a local print shop which prepares business forms and ask them to cut a piece of cardboard the exact size of a dollar bill. I have them place it at the bottom of the stack of bills and use rubber cement on one end of the stack, gluing the bills together to make a pad of money with a cardboard backing. (FedEx Kinko’s...

February 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Trusting merchant in B.A.

My wife, Barbara, and I have been traveling the world for over 30 years, and I thought I had heard and seen it all.

On our visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September ’05, we wandered into a classy leather shop in the San Telmo district, Art Design Leather (Defensa 1170, Sala 2, La Candelaria; phone [54-11] 4300-7021). I decided to buy a very nice leather jacket as did my wife.

I asked the proprietor, Nora Osis, if she accepted credit cards. She said she preferred U.S. cash...

February 2006 issue | Appears on page 0

Rubbing elbows with the locals

Digital photography beats film in lots of ways. Still, there’s “lag time,” that delay after you press the digital camera’s shutter button but before the picture is recorded. On my camera, the recording process takes five seconds — and during those seconds the electronic through-the-lens viewfinder leaves me “blind.” I see only the image being recorded to the card.

On a visit to Athens in May ’05, I decided to take a picture of three leg-lifting, arm-swinging Greek sentries marching...