International Travel News

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September 2005 issue | Appears on page 0

Driving in Italy

For a November ’04 trip in Italy (July ’05, pg. 55), we short-leased (this is different from a rental) a brand-new Peugeot 407 from Auto France (Wood-Ridge, NJ; 800/572-9655 or www.autofrance.net) for a total cost of $1,329 for 18 days, and that cost was comparable to a straight rental. The cost would have been $310 less had we picked up the car in France, but it included all insurance and all the warranties that we would have gotten with a rental.

It was delivered to us at Milan’s...

September 2005 issue | Appears on page 0

Allow cell phone use on planes?

Knowing that lawmakers are considering allowing cell phones to be used on planes, in the July ’05 issue (page 122) Rich Harvey of Athens, Ohio, asked if anyone else was opposed to the idea. Several readers replied, as follows.

Cell phone use on planes? NO, NO, a thousand times NO! It’s bad enough that passengers can now use their cell phones before taking off and after landing. How many times have you had to listen to dozens of loud, inane conversations? “We’re taking off soon.” “We’...

September 2005 issue | Appears on page 0

Dual citizenship

I read Dr. Wagenaar’s article about having a second passport (April ’05, pg. 102). I have two passports: American and British. I got mine through birth and parentage; I don’t think it’s worth the cost to actively seek out a second one.

Generally, the utility of having two passports is being able to choose between them depending on the country one is visiting (although the U.S. requires that all American citizens each enter and exit the U.S. using their American passport).

For...

September 2005 issue | Appears on page 0

Check your passport

We have a trip to Russia planned in a few months and I just found out that to visit Russia a visa is needed and there must be two blank pages in the visa section of one’s passport.

Mine is full. Pages can be added, but the passport has to be returned and it can take a month or more. The good news is that it does not cost anything. The bad news is that the passport could be lost in the mail.

You can also, when renewing your passport, request double visa blank pages at no cost. I...

September 2005 issue | Appears on page 0

Seniors at the wheel

I read the article on seniors and car rentals in the July ’05 “Discerning Traveler” column. Another car rental agency on the European continent is Sixt GmbH & Co. (Zugspitzstr. 1, 82049 Pullach, Germany; phone 888/749-8227, 877/474-2566 or +49 [0] 89 7 44 44 0 or visit www.e-sixt.com).

When we motored Portugal for two weeks in 2002, our travel agent recommended Sixt because they would have no problem with our driving. My wife was 73 at the time and the driver, while I was 77 and...

September 2005 issue | Appears on page 0

Guide in Tuscany

Six of us had several delightful days in May ’05 doing excursions from Florence in a 6-passenger Mercedes minivan with tour guide Dr. Marcello Grandini (Frazione Padule 109/A, 50039 Vicchio-Firenze, Italy; phone/fax 011-39-055-8407830 or e-mail marcello.tourguide@tiscali.it).

Marcello is extremely knowledgeable and well trained and speaks excellent English. He took us on full-day excursions to Pisa, Lucca and the hill towns of Tuscany (such as San Gimignano, Volterra, Montepulciano,...

September 2005 issue | Appears on page 0

Eugenie le Bain

One of the delights of the area in which I live, the Laree region of southwest France, is Michel Guérard’s famous restaurant, Eugenie le Bain. My wife and I last ate there at the end of May ’05.

The food was so well prepared and so well presented. After the amuse-bouche (a little starter), my wife had smoked salmon and herring on a coulis (purée) of rocket, then beef and, for dessert, an apricot tart that dissolved in the mouth.

I had a terrine of wild mushrooms and foie gras,...

September 2005 issue | Appears on page 0

Modernizing the greatest shortcut on Earth

What cruise destination is older than most grandmothers, needs an $8 billion face-lift and yet still earns $1 billion in revenues every year? It’s the amazing Panama Canal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Why fix it if it ain’t broke? According to Roberto Alfaro, Panama’s ambassador to the U.S., “Almost 45% of the ships being built today are too wide to go through the canal. In the future, all the ships built will be too wide. So if we don’t enlarge the canal, we will...