VERY OT International traveling???

Geez - That's how I ended up married for the 3rd time which added 7 more kids to the 9 I already had! (Been married 5 years now and still a good thing)

Have fun!

Marilyn in Alberta, Canada

You might want to check with TMobile. I think they might be the only one (maybe there are two) who can use a Sim card for foreign travel. We had a Russian visitor a year or so ago and he had to go there to buy a card for his cell phone to use here for a month. I'm not at all sure how it all works, but I know the options were pretty limited at the time. Just a thought. I don't believe cell phones are as useful/flexible as something that uses the internet.

Sorry, I had a different experience Jack. MasterCard was the charge card of choice when we were in Germany, less than 10 years ago. We landed in Berlin, drove around Germany for 3 weeks & flew out of Munich. We were handicapped the entire trip by not having MasterCard. I still suggest Leslie check before she goes.

Pauline Northern California

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. wrote:

With stuff like e.coli, you end up **really** sick. What I am talking about is having your "innards" react to water, etc. that is safe(meaning it doesn't have any of that dangerous junk in it) but so different from what your system is used to, you end up with "potty problems". In this instance, washing fresh fruits & veggies doesn't put enough of the water in your system to cause any problems. As many have siad, I would imagine that most of the EU countries have clean, safe drinking water and you wouldn't end up in hospital if you drank it. You could quite likely end up in a rest room somewhere for a good while though :-). I know that bottled water can be a bit pricey but it's worth it -- at least to me -- for the peace of mind. If you are going to be gone for several weeks, then you can take a few days to get accustomed to the local water if you want. It usually takes me 3 days and then my "innards" are OK. If I am going to be somewhere for just 5 days, it's not worth the trouble. If you go to Mexico (a flight attendant friend has told me anywhere in South America), just drink bottled water! Your best bet would be to go to Hawaii, Canada, Ireland or the U.K. Hawaii is so exotic it's like being in a foreign country and the other countries are English speaking countries (well, mostly) with customs quite like those here in the States. I know the t.p. in Canada and Ireland is like what we have and Sally has assured us that the UK has nice stuff too :-))))). DH (who traveles A LOT on business) just came in. He said to tell you that the water in most of Europe won't put you in the hospital but it will put you in the bathroom -- LOLOL! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

If I am somewhere and I can order a beverage, I will either order a soft drink or ASK what brands of bottled water is served. If I know the water brand, then I will order it, if not I stick to a soft drink or coffee/tea. If I purchase a bottle of water in a shop, then I can pick and choose. I have never had trouble with bottled water but then, I always buy a brand I recognize. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

I just asked DH about this. First off, if the above reason is the only time you plan on *maybe* having to use the phone, then talk to your phone service provider about it. Let them know you don't plan on phoning home while you are gone -- you just want to be able to get in contact with your friend *IF* there is a problem before you meet up. The cost shouldn't be a problem at all for a one or two time use. DH also suggested that you contact your airline and ask THEM if they have any sort of process for this. I mean, before cell phones, people had to be able to get in touch somehow and it might have been through the airline. If your friend runs into problems, he might be able to let your airline know and they can flag your name in their system so that when you go to check in, they give you a message. It would be worth checking into. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Even brushing your teeth with local water can do it. SIL/BIL traveled to Mexico every year...she'd get sick. couldn't figure it out as she was very careful NOT to drink water or eat fresh fruit. Last time she ended up in the hospital. ER Dr asked what water she used to brush her teeth......

Butterfly (Didn't have any trouble with the BOTTLED Canadian water, but I >> I find this info about 'minerals' in the water to be very interesting. I

Leslie --

How about this for your first trip?

Love in Stitches,

Coleen

Digital camera's are a blessing when it comes to travel! Take hundreds of pictures each day -- then sort through what you want to keep at night and delete unnecessary or duplicate pictures. (Or buy a few extra media cards.) Sure is easier than dealing with rolls of film! Let's you play with pictures -- since it doesn't cost you anything to see what you get!

A friend of mine always buys some really INEXPENSIVE underwear -- and throws it away before she heads back home. She goes through her closet and finds things that are borderline out-of-season that she would consider donating to charity -- and packs several of those pieces to coordinate with her better stuff.

Then when it is time to come back home -- she leaves all that stuff behind -- which then frees up space in her suitcases for anything (clothing or souvenirs) she has purchased on her trip!!!

I've never tried it -- but sounds like a good idea to me!

Yup....when I was in Russia, trying to remember to brush my teeth with only bottled water was a real challenge. But I was paranoid enough that I even kept my mouth tightly shut when taking a shower!

Howdy!

Hotels take messages, too. As do local friends, tourist bureaus and American Express travel offices (just thinking of the ways we used to keep in touch..or still do). I don't travel w/ a laptop, either; many hotels & those helpful tourist bureaus offer free internet service. Planning ahead helps us set up "contact points", including phone numbers that are always available. And, again, the 'net can tell us where are the quilt shops & other essentials that must be added to the list. Still, I'd call my phone service provider to ask what they can do to help me. ;-)

Good luck, Leslie! We'll be hoping for postcards and pics.

R/Sandy

I have a friend who used to work for one of the airlines & she packs her old underwear when she travels & tosses it along the way. My sister, who is a travel agent, always buys new underwear when she's taking a trip. I really like to look "well put together" if you will, so I can't quite bring myself to the point of taking old clothes & leaving them behind. I'm probably more in the camp of buying new clothes for a trip. Not the most practical, I realize & I know nobody else is looking at me, but me! (And when you think about it, how much space does underwear really take up:)) I've also heard that people buy disposable underwear to take when they travel - yuck! That must be really uncomfortable.

I couldn't agree more about the benefit of digital cameras. DH & I were wondering if you could even buy film now, but I saw it at Costco the other day, so I guess so.

Pauline Northern California

I got a bad case of the runs from cleaning my teeth on a British sleeper train, using the water from the tap.

Russian water quality varies a lot. Moscow's is safe, St Petersburg's is loaded with giardia. (You could say the same about Turkey: cities in the western part, including Istanbul, have safe water, but don't think about drinking what comes out of the tap in Diyarbakir or Urfa).

More often it's what it tastes like that's the problem. Most tapwater in south-east England is horrible.

I suspect that no other developed country has water as bad as the US, on a national scale. There's nowhere else that you can find distilled water on sale in supermarkets. The idea that you might want it seems just crazy this side of the pond.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === ==== Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557 CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

You can still find internet cafes in most places. Less than a few years ago in more developed countries, since wireless access has become more common, but most cities have them. You will also often find them at major airports. Just get a Gmail account and you can use it anywhere (also a good place to store copies of documents like travel tickets, insurance policies and passports - email yourself a scan of everything you might need).

Internet cafe culture is an interesting reflection of the local society. In Croatia and Bosnia they're mostly patronized by spotty adolescent boys wanting to shoot each other. In Slovakia it's mostly people using the job ads. In Turkey there are two implicit categories of internet cafe: loud sweaty shoot-em-ups like the Croatian ones and rather quiet ones with a clientele a few years older where everybody is in a private cubicle flirting by webcam. And I found one in a town on the Black Sea which seemed to be exclusively used by ferociously serious schoolkids doing their science homework.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === ==== Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557 CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

Only time I ever bought distilled water was for auto batteries. Those are sealed now though. I am amazed at the amount of bottled water sold. We are lucky to still have good water out of our tap from wells here in this particular area. Taria

Jack Camp>

I live in SC close to the mountains and our water is GREAT. Barbara

Good point TM. But, do you mean you drink the ice melted into water in places where you only drink 'bottled water' otherwise? Not sure I understand that -- ice is usually made from local tap water. I've never understood the water issue - I drink tap water where ever (except for third world etc). The more minerals the merrier. Maybe the whisky masks the true flavor though! Or kills the bugs tee hee. But then again, the Italians are huge bottled water drinkers - you should see the supermarkets -- yet their tap water is beautiful and safe. Its a huge marketing con, bottled water (imho). In third world, I keep away from any ice in drinks, eat only veg. cooked or otherwise peeled, and the same with fruit. Bananas and oranges are good. I keep away from salads mostly too.

Cheers Bronnie

Yup...I was in St. Petersburg.

Assuming the ice I can get at a hotel is good -- meaning almost totally clear -- then I will fill the ice bucket in the evening and use the metled ice water to fill my water bottle the next morning. If ice is clear then most of the "stuff" -- good or bad -- has been filtered out of it. I've never had any problem doing this. As I said, I try to only buy bottled water whose brand name I am familiar with so I know fairly well what I am buying. OF course, I have have never traveled to a place where the water was *sure* to be bad -- places like Mexico, Middle East, Russia, etc -- well, unless you include New York City (that's a joke) LOL. All of my trips to Mexico have either been day trips to Nogales or on a cruise ship. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at