Travelers' Intercom

The Sphinx. Photo by Ron Merlo

I saw Laila Robinson’s request for information (Oct. ’17, pg. 64) on “The Royal Tour to Egypt” from Archaeological Paths (Plac Kaszubski 17/49, 81-350 Gdynia, Poland; phone, in the US, 917/719-1974, archaeologicalpaths.com).

I took the March 18-31, 2017, tour and would highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in Egyptian history from ancient times to the present.

The basic tour cost $5,985 per person, with a single supplement of $...

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Depending on how you count, there are 13 countries on the Balkan Peninsula. My wife, Patti, and I had visited several of these but not some of the newest ones since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

We contacted Bestway Tours & Safaris (206-8678 Greenall Ave., Burnaby, V5J 3M6, B.C., Canada; 800/663-0844, www.bestway.com) after seeing their ad in ITN for a 14-day “Balkan Mosaic” tour.

We spoke to Chi Pham, and when we explained which...

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My wife and I spent Dec. 1-17, 2017, visiting Taiwan. We arranged our journey independently and traveled around the country using the excellent train and bus systems. However, to visit more out-of-the-way places or to combine multiple destinations into a single day trip, we wanted to hire a driver on some days. 

I came across a website called OWNRIDES.com, which helps travelers arrange for drivers throughout Taiwan. The website also provides suggested day-trip itineraries in...

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One of my hobbies is answering questions in ITN’s “Person to Person” column. I usually average one each month, enjoying sharing my intel even for an audience of one or two travelers, but my answer to a recent info request — about traveling with limited mobility (Nov. ’17, pg. 60) — covered a lot of ground, and I thought it might interest many travelers in the senior category.

The subscriber wrote, “My wife has recently developed a...

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People sampling various types of ramen at the Sapporo Ramen Show. Photo by Stanley Osur

In 2017, the Annual Sapporo Ramen Show was held May 16-21 and May 23-28, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., in Odori Park, Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido, Japan.

This festival started in 2009 and has grown into a major event. The number of attendees in 2016 totaled 130,000 over the 12-day period.

Admission to this event is free, although you pay for each bowl of ramen; this year, a bowl cost ¥800 (near $7). You buy tickets at ticket booths on site so you don’t hold the line...

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I have been traveling since my childhood, and of all my lifelong travel experiences, the following set of events was the most poignant for me.

The 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo were magnificent, and all visitors there had stories of incredible hospitality by the hosting Yugoslavs. On a day when I had no event tickets, I decided to escape the freezing weather and took a train down to the historic city of Mostar.

The gentleman I sat next to on the train happened to live in...

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I was looking at recent updates for the Singapore Changi Airport that were posted by FlightAware on Facebook, and there was a picture of a new seating area with charging stations between pairs of seats. Airline clubs have lots of USB charging stations, too, and waiting and boarding areas at airports all have a growing number of USB charging ports.The problem is that public USB charging stations open the user to what is commonly called “juice jacking.”USB cables have four wires:...

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I initially got a Capital One Venture® Rewards credit card because they didn’t charge interest when I used the card outside of the country, plus I got 2 miles for every $1 I spent. Also, I was tired of the low seat availability and all the blackout dates when trying to book a flight with an air-miles card I had.In early 2017, I found the best price for a round-trip business-class flight in September from Seattle, Washington, to London, England, on Icelandair (via Reykjavik both...

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