Short cuts in Paris
My wife, Pam, and I have relied extensively on information from ITN readers. We would like to reciprocate by passing on a few tips from our March '01 trip to Paris.
We could not believe the number of people waiting in line for the museums. We suggest getting a museum pass so you can go right in! You can order passes in advance online at www. ticketsto.com.
The line to buy tickets at Musee d'Orsay was wrapped around the block, but our guidebooks said that those with museum passes could enter through the door to the left of the main entrance. The only door we found was to the gift shop, so we walked in and showed our passes to the attendant on the museum side and just like that we were in the museum.
The museum pass entrance to the Louvre is in a corridor between the glass pyramid and rue Rivoli (the main road that runs along the north side of the museum). For those of you who still insist on not getting a museum pass, here's a tip for another way to bypass the long line here.
First of all, the line to enter the Louvre (at the base of the pyramid) is not the line for buying tickets; rather, you queue up to run your bags through an x-ray machine. The tickets to the galleries are purchased once you're inside.
Want to get right in without waiting in line? Go to the Metro station called Palais Royal Musee du Louvre. Go down the steps, pay eight francs (a little over a dollar) to get a Metro ticket and go through the turnstile, but do not get on a train. Just follow the direction signs for the Louvre. You will eventually come to a security check. Go through it, stroll past the shops and restaurants and, voila, you're in the museum. Buy a ticket and enjoy yourself.
Another tip -- the Metro trains that run along the Champs-Elysees are new and the doors open automatically, but that is not true for the other lines on which you must either push a button or lever to open the door when you want to get on or off.
One more thing -- the guidebooks are correct when they urge you to use certain French phrases such as "bonjour," "s'il vous plait," etc., but don't resurrect your high school, French and attempt to carry on a conversation. Two things can happen, both bad.
1) The waiter will look at you like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. This is because he doesn't have a clue as to what you said. 2) Worse, you will sound so proficient. that the waiter, believing you actually speak the language, will respond in rapid-fire French. Of course, then you, having no idea what he just said, will take on that same deer-like expression.
STEVE BRADY
Orlando, FL
Airfare tips from the (self-proclaimed) 'Traveling Tightwad' I can't resist those off-season deals to Europe and have been there seven times since January '00. When the fares triple for the summer and everything's so crowded, the place has less appeal to me (though daylight that lasts until nearly midnight in the northern areas IS a summer bonus).
The rock-bottom price, so far was $252 to London Gatwick on TWA (all fare quotes will be round trip from Los Angeles' LAX Airport, plus tax). TWA is toast now; so I'll have to bottom feed elsewhere, but I've gained over 170,000 miles since 1998 and American will supposedly honor the frequent-flyer miles.
The real deals are when you get these miles, but some of the Internet fares (like Cheaptickets) do not include frequent-flyer miles. On their tickets, the fare box will have the letters "BT" instead of a price. I suppose that means "bulk ticket."
I called about a fare of $199 to Heathrow I had spotted in the paper and it really did exist (Air New Zealand, too), but it was during Thanksgiving and I was away on another trip and couldn't use it. $99 each way from Los Angeles to London on a good airline? What a giveaway!
Of course, the low airfares are just the beginning of the trip expenses, but those low prices lure me into going. My family and cats no longer take my future trip announcements with cheerfulness but more resignation and silence.
I drooled about a $278 fare to Amsterdam recently (United's E-fares) but didn't dare go and would have lost two other nonrefundable tickets anyway. The 11,000 miles on my United account would have given me enough miles to go to Australia. That would be a real value as there are rarely "giveaway", fares to Australia (although I saw a rate of $644. on United's E-fares this week). However, these fares are extremely restrictive, and once booked you either "use it or lose it."
Cheap flights abound within Europe and I have used easy Jet and Virgin Express several times. On my $252 trip to Gatwick, I bought a $30 (one way) fare to Europe on the easyjet.com website. The problem was that it was from London Luton airport. Since there was a train direct from Gatwick to Luton, I tried it. It ended up that the one-hour train connection between the two London airports cost MORE than the easyJet flight itself!
Well, at least I got to sample Luton and EasyJet. Luton airport was expanded in 1999. There was a free shuttle from the "Luton Airport Parkway" train stop to the airport. EasyJet even charged for water on the plane but still arrived on time and at Boeing speed.
I had to make a connection between Heathrow and Luton on another trip where I bagged an easyJet fare to Barcelona ($30 one way). I could have gotten from Heathrow to Luton by bus for $30, but easyJet's website offered a discount on the Luton train if I bought it online while buying the air ticket. The problem this time was that the train left from London King's Cross station, so in order to save much over the bus I needed to ride the Underground from Heathrow to King's Cross, but I had my 87-year-old mother with me.
We decided to endure this torture because the subway went directly to the King's Cross station and that cut the $60 transfer-for-two to $24. However, there were lots of tunnels and stairs at King's Cross. I wouldn't put her through that again (especially with a hip held together with screws).
With carriers like easyJet and VirginExpress, the deal is you can get their lowest fares on a one-way basis. If you can buy a round-trip ticket for your intra-Europe air travel, you can get almost the same price (from other website offers) and not have the expensive and time-consuming transfers between London airports.
I always check Travelocity, Cheap-tickets, various airlines' websites or Expedia. I look forward to Orbitz debuting soon. Lowestfare.com has disappointed me recently on flights to Europe but should be checked anyway, especially for U.S. domestic air (and cars, hotels, cruises, etc.).
Don't forget to check that travel section in the newspaper. Travel agencies that don't have the resources to run online booking websites still advertise good deals (like that $199 to Heathrow).
I used to be a travel agent and we used computers then, but now, with the Internet, anyone can have access to the information that a traveler needs.
You can even book and buy some train travel in Europe without going through the more expensive American sellers. The Belgian Rail website can sell tickets on Thalys and Eurostar, but you must pick up the tickets in Belgium. I prebought a ticket on the Spanish Rail (RENFE) website one time and a conductor on the platform handed it to me as I boarded the train!
GEOFFREY TEMPLEMAN
Gilbert, AZ
'Encounters' in Rio In the April '01 issue, I read Wayne and Saima Wirtanen's column "Adventure Travel for the Mildly Adventuresome" with great interest as I have lived in Brazil and visited Rio de Janeiro many times. My personal experience does not support the information in the column concerning "Tourist safety." In the 25 years I have been visiting Rio, I have found that the safety of tourists has been in a state of continuous decline.
During my last trip to Rio in April '99, I personally had three encounters in a period of seven days. These encounters could best be described as being surrounded by a pack of wolves in the form of young men aged in their early teens. Their objective was to intimidate and rob the victims of all their valuables. They were very aware of the location of the police and were not deterred by the presence of lights, as two encounters took place in broad daylight.
I'm aware that my experience could be an anomaly and I welcome the input from other readers. If, however, my experience is typical, then ITN is doing its readers a disservice by printing this misleading information, which seems to be self-serving for Riotur, which was involved with providing the trip for the Wirtanens:
ROGER W. HEWITT
San Jose, CA
Editor's note: ITN Contributing Editor Wayne Wirtanen offers the following in response to Mr. Hewitt.
Mr. Hewitt certainly has had more experience as a traveler to Rio than I have; I could only report my impressions based on three days in Rio in May of 2000. (See the 4-part trip report in the January, February, March and April '01 issues of ITN.)
