Q – We have been listening to some of the talk coming out of ISIS about attacks in Italy in the near future. Is this something that should be a concern and are any of the potential targets identified? A – Statements from ISIS in Libya have claimed that Italy is their next target. The…
Q – Dear traveltruth: We depart from SFO for Madrid and two weeks in Spain in the next three weeks. Our agent is quite good but not at all a “Foodie” In fact I think she believes that the Outback is gourmet fare. So wondering if you can help two hopeless food snobs. What are…
Q – I am traveling more and more lately, pretty much globally. This is business travel, but since I’m the financial guy at the company, I like to handle my own arrangements. I’ve been amazed at how much flights can vary in cost and was wondering if a corporate travel agent would be able to…
Q – We just spent three nights at the JW Marriott in Dallas and absolutely loved the bed. We both slept like a baby and made up for the sleep we’ve been lost the past several weeks dealing with some issues at home. We’re back a week and my lovely wife instructs me that I am…
Q – Just back from a two-week jaunt around the British Isles. We stayed mostly at the better-known chain hotels but we also found some charming three-star places. I thought they were fine but my wife said she felt “itchy” during our last night in Edinburgh and wanted me to ask how we can tell…
Q – My wife and I really appreciate your approach and so we come to you with a question that’s been on our minds for months. You could say we are frequent world travelers. As COO of a large company based in Boston, I travel overseas an average of two times per month. We take…
My Trip to the 7th Continent By Derek Lloyd – Quark Expeditions As soon as I was confirmed I did what probably 90% of your travelers to Antarctica do: I spent way too much on new equipment and clothes for the trip. Of course I checked out our blog on what one needs to…
Q – Love both of your sites. How damn refreshing to hear the truth without ads or sales bs. But please, help us out. We sell river boats and we want to be sure that we have it right. Is “Riverboat”, as in your site name, correct? Or, are these just boats or, should we…
Q – My wife and I are River Cruise veterans, having done cruises along the Rhine and Danube with Avalon. Now, we are looking at a cruise in the Duoro River Valley. We’ve sort of narrowed it down to AMA or Uniworld. We love the fact that we can come here and get straight advice…
Q – Wonderful web site with lots of great information. My wife and I are looking to take our 5-year anniversary in Europe and a riverboat cruise seems to be at the top of the list (It may be the whole trip or only spend half of it on the boat). However…we’re in our mid-thirties and…
Q – My family is in a similar situation to the folks who wrote to you about Viking from Columbus. We have read every word on your site and I guess we have one question to pose to your Editors. What is the single thing that you like the most about Viking River? Your response will…
Q – We are thinking of joining two friends from Columbus on a Viking River Cruise along the Danube next July. As we were getting ready to call in our reservation, we came across this site and were wondering if you were aware that yours is one of the only sites to downgrade Viking. One…
Q – My next-door neighbor and his wife, who are far better traveled than we are, just returned from a river cruise where they said they got a great deal of knocking about as the ship progressed with the ship rising and falling and shuddering. They were on a longer Rhine/Danube cruise, something we are…
Q – We were referred to this site by our travel agent and were surprised at your placement of Viking River Cruises below many of the smaller, lesser-known lines. The Conde Nast Ratings apparently rate Viking River near the top. No offense intended, but why should we believe a web site versus a respected publication…
Q – It took my husband and I about five minutes on riverboatratings to figure out that river boating is really not for us. It all sounds a bit more mass market and regimented than we had hoped. But we did see that the very top-rated river boats are not necessarily Europe-based boats. Our profile…
Q – We have cruised Europe with Vantage and we recently returned from China where we sailed with Viking River on their Emerald. The Cruise tour did not really give us enough time in Beijing and Shanghai and we would advise traveltruth readers to try to add days in both cities. The cruise, however, seemed…
By Richard Bruce Turen The news was starting to get to me. Too much negativity. The world seems to be in a knot, a twisted, convoluted series of pressure points, any one of which can explode at any moment. My clients have concerns. I have concerns for them as they travel the globe. I needed…
Q – My wife and I have been following traveltruth for the past eight years. And we always thought we could take anything you said to the bank. But this last story about flying monkeys, horses, and pigs is stretching our credulity. I just can’t believe that any airline is going to let any of these animals…
We get a fair number of e-mails from civilians complaining that air travel is not as elegant as it once was. OK, that’s a given. Perhaps we ought to have some minimum dress rules aboard aircraft. Perhaps we ought to close down bars at airports. Perhaps we ought to have odor detection machines and available…
Given the importance of tourism in the underdeveloped world, accurate news of diseases that can affect visitors is often under-reported. Here is a list of some important worldwide health advisories that may be of interest to travelers in the months to come. Some of them have occurred in developed nations including portions of Europe. The…
Q – We are about to book a two-week river cruise on AMA, one of your top-rated lines. We will be traveling with good friends for two weeks on the Magnificent Europe Program. In evaluating costs we were wondering how the top three lines vary in terms of what they do and do not include…
Q – We will be leaving for London next week flying on United, with a United connecting flight to Lisbon. We just noticed we have four and a half hours between flights. Any suggestions as to where we should eat or shop in the Terminal would be appreciated. A – You need to get specifics…
Q – My wife and I have just spent several hours on the phone trying to actually book seats using miles, miles we’ve earned by being loyal customers. I used to fly for my work so I am in a position to see how the damn airlines have cut and cut the seats they allocate…
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which now owns the Oceania and Regent Seven Seas brands, has announced that it has purchased the former 604 guest Ocean Princess, a vessel originally launched in 1999 as an R-class ship with now defunct Renaissance Cruises. The Ocean Princess, once named the Tahitian Princess, will undergo a 35-day, $40 million…
Q – Do you happen to know which country has the most travelers, meaning residents who travel abroad. The question came up over dinner last night and the answers ranged from the United States, France, and England. Also wondering why you no lo longer answer questions about restaurants. We used to find that part of…
When your local guide bursts into laughter as he begins to attempt to describe his city, you know you are in for an experience, of sorts. “In Naples, you know,” the guide begins, “they say all of the crazy people in Italy, the really crazy ones who are not politicians, live in Naples….
It is not longer a matter of debate. This April, May, June, August and September saw Europe experience its hottest temperatures since weather records began being recorded in the 1890’s. The rise in daily temps is in keeping with the rise across Europe of greenhouse gas levels. This is leading many of the best travel…
Q – After only a decade of talking about it, my procrastinating husband has finally agreed to take me on a crossing to or from Europe next year. Wait until he finds out he won’t be able to get ESPN on the ship. We want the best itinerary and ship and we’d love to have…
Part Two of a Three-Part Series By Managing Editor Richard Bruce Turen After beginning our culinary march through southern Italy in Rome, we landed in Catania, the tip of the Italian boot, with views of Mt. Etna in the background the Mediterranean and the Ionian Sea forming suitable backdrops to a seemingly endless collection…
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