VERY OT International traveling???

That tells you nothing. The cloudiness in ice is almost always air bubbles. If the ice has been frozen quickly from water which has dissolved air in it, it'll go cloudy. Nothing to do with dirt or germs.

And with ice you never really know how clean the equipment used to make it is, either, and it's not getting sterilized by flame and boiling water like other food processing implements. Better avoided entirely if there's any question at all.

For much of the Middle East and Russia the water is fine. Locals will tell you if there's a problem in their city.

Some rural locations are a problem everywhere, the US included. I got very ill from being in a mountain region of north-east Turkey where the water was snowmelt and appeared sparkling clean. The same could happen to you in Scotland or the US for the same reason: giardia. It's transmitted by deer and sheep grazing in high mountain pastures.

==== 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

The water that runs out of a dehumidifier or AC should be as good as distilled water. My Mum always used it in her steam iron, it never got gunked up, I use it in my steam cleaner and iron. If it was good enough for Mum, it's good enough for me. Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

I think it is the amoebas in the water that cause problems..and can't be filtered out.

We found the same thing in parts of South Dakota last week. My AT&T didn't work, but my sister's Verizon got a good signal.

Julia in MN

Uh, Jack, the distilled water is for batteries and irons!! No one drinks it! PAT in VA/USA, wondering here these ideas surface!!

I used to buy it for mixing contact lens solutions. It was a lot less expensive than having to buy the premade like you do now. It is also useful when you want a PH neutral base for mixing up certain things, as in art, gardening, dying etc. Saves math and measureing. Or if you have to mix certain medicines with water or have an infant with a tummy bug. It has a ton of uses, just not generally as drinking water. I don't think I have seen it in the beverage section in a while here.

NightMist

Umm, part.I DO! It's the ONLY water that doesn't burn while going down.

Butterfly (Only tap water I've been able to drink is at my Grandparent's (now my Uncle's) home and last time I was there, they have a filter thing on the tap-they live in the middle of Potato growing country)

I find the tap water in southern California to taste "odd" -- and I lived there for about six months! But especially coming from Washington, where there are very few minerals in the tap water, the stronger taste of the CA water was off-putting. When the kids and I went to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm for a week in 1997, we did the same thing TiaMary mentions -- I'd fill up the ice bucket at night, and pour the melted (filtered) water into our water bottles the next morning! I'd also try to fill the ice bucket before we left for the day so we'd have some good water to drink when we got back from our day in the heat. Ice machines that use filtered water are your friends. :-)

Dragonfly (Pam)

Yes, that's how bad rumors get started. Glad I'm not the only one who thought that was a little strange.

Pauline Northern California

I don't like to drink our tap water, partly because of the plumbing pipes in our house... Which are old and rusty. sigh. (good way to get extra iron in your diet though. ) We have very hard water, and it tastes bad too. I cook with it, and wash with it... but it can show that too. For drinking we finally invested in a cooled water dispenser and bottled water. I am drinking a lot more water and less soda. DH also noticed a difference in his cool tea.

Pati, > DS in San Diego has water that is really bad. Dad in south OC has bad

Leslie, Congrats on the 'happy accident' and your upcoming travels! It's been decades but I personally loved France and Germany! Enough English to go around (and German is very similar to English at least as far as being able to figure out what's what).

As to cell phones when travelling...I have been working in the telephony field for the last several years. Mostly US and 'big business' private systems but also a fair amount of cell dealings. The folks I've worked with that were doing international travel swear by Nextel of all carriers. They seem to have the best infrastructure internationally and will work virtually anywhere. They have merged with Sprint in the last several years and the two companies are NOT the same internationally. You can probably get a 'rental' phone at whichever airport you are departing from if not the cell provider themselves. No clue on rates. As others have suggested, check with your current, local provider first. You might be happily surprised. Your phone will need to be 'international capable' otherwise GSM to begin with. FWIW, most cell providers are now recommending you upgrade your phone every couple of years due to technology changes. Since most provider's plans let you do this anyhow there's usually not a cost involved unless you're into tech toys and need the ones w/all the bells & whistles.

Have a great trip! Getting a babysitter for the Furbabies or are they going to camp?

Kim in NJ

Howdy!

Quite a few people drink distilled water, all over the world, and many countries have it available for sale to the public. ;-)

Thanks, it's good to be here. :-)

BTW, water at my house tastes better than at my mom's house, 3 miles away. Either we're on different wells (possible; there are 17 in this town), or her older house has more mineral build-up in the pipes, affecting the taste of the water.

Dragonfly (Pam)

chill'n out (literally) in the south pacific, j.

Just a question; won't those filter things that they sell to hikers/campers work? They say that it filters out giardia (sp), so that you can safely drink stream/river water. Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

Bottled water IS very popular in the US. I live in a rural area with a lot of iron in the water- use a special filter so my laundry doesn't turn orange, and a pitcher with a taste & odor filter for drinking. The water is potable, just doesn't taste very good some of the time. I only buy distilled for my steam iron, but I do buy bottled filtered water to carry on trips. Having well water at home I find the chlorine in city water unpleasant. My town sister buys distilled for her C-pap that she uses for sleep apnea. I don't think I've ever gotten sick from tap water in the US. Jane in NE Ohio