(00:00:00) Katherine Watson as you probably know is the travel editor for the Star Tribune and she is here to answer your travel questions today will open up the phone lines in just a moment Catherine. How are you? I'm fine. How've you been? Where were you been going lately? I've been going I'm going Outdoors mostly in this heat and humidity and surviving it. Uh, well the Rockies all the Rockies. Okay. Yeah Rockies last weekend Southern Colorado before that. All right, how is the weather there was cold cold and rainy in Colorado, right? It cleared up and was beautiful but it reminded me of what normal weather's like hmm. Yeah. Now normally in past years you have typically gone to some very exotic places in spent a fair amount of time their comeback and written all fair number of articles about those particular places. You seem to be doing something a little bit differently this time we are and the reason is because American Travelers are doing different things. There's there's a trend a real strong Trend to Shorter more activity oriented vacations and this year I decided See if I can make my own travel plans and our travel writing match that pattern. So I've been doing I did a so we can a sailing school we get an archaeological dig last week a pack trip in the Rockies and next week. I'm rafting the Grand Canyon. What is the do you suppose is the reason for this change in travel pattern? Is it some is it related in some way to the fitness craze and all that stuff? I think that's part of it. I think that's part of it and also the fact that an awful lot of people have grown up traveling so that they they have done a lot of the traditional sort of student tour of Europe kinds of things. So there's a market for more exotic stuff but a real Factor behind the shortness of the trips, is that more and more families have to two adults working and it's much harder to take to get work schedules vacation schedules to match so that people can take off for two or three weeks with the kids and do a long driving trip. So there's a much stronger trend of short one week kind of intensive things as the travel industry caught on to this and has it responded to it. Yeah. I think they have the last And I saw on the number of Adventure oriented and that's pretty broadly defined. It is an all mountain climbing but Adventure oriented trips runs about 20,000 different kinds of Tours really which is amazing. And that's that's known listed towards don't count local trips. That might be run by a local Outfitter and I think the bed-and-breakfast trend is part of that to the sort of Posh pampered short three or four day weekend kind of kind of get away. Hmm. How do you find out about these so-called Adventure trips are these available typically through travel agents? Like the more traditional tours are or they things that you have to kind of know about on your own many many of them are a lot of the the adventures are fairly Posh the Llama packing trip that I did last week featured upscale. Not quite gourmet food, but pretty close and a whole lot of sort of borderline luxury camping. I'm not sure if it's every luxury if you're out in a tent. All right. Well, I'll tell me what does that available for traveling explain to me how how you can be such a thing as luxury camping and gourmet food on a camping trip. It has to do with staff the more the more staff. You've got the greater the level of luxury we still had outdoor toilets, but we had a staff of 346 guests and they spent one of them spent their time spent time guiding us on the Apex day pack trips and the other two stayed in Camp and cooked like mad. Is that right? And so when you got back you were ravenously hungry and instead of the yeah the canned spam and that sort of thing. They had what grilled burgers for you? Ah, steak and lobster steak and lobster packed in Frozen on the backs of the llamas. Unbelievable. I was amazed. Well, if you have some questions for Katherine Watson about this kind of travel or other types of travel, whatever your curiosity you can give us a call to to 76 thousand in the Minneapolis st. Paul area 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities elsewhere within the state of Minnesota. Our toll-free number is 1-800-695-1418. Five to ninety seven hundred and outside the state of Minnesota. Call US Direct. On the Twin Cities line that's area code 612 2276 thousand the long-distance rates are never cheaper than they are right now. We have somebody who's already on the line. Let's go to your question about their (00:04:13) good morning and good morning to Miss Watson. Hello. I'd sort of time with uh, I'm here on I have questions about someplace. I'm trying to get to Temporary at this time. We're trying to get to Russia and they run into a real mess and trying to find photography facilities for the Pisa pictures that are required. I know you have been there and then just wondering what if without mentioning brand names if you have suggestions on how one would find the proper place they have to be an odd size to begin with and they have to be a matte finish and things of that sort and and oddly enough. The carriers are go over there tell you you have to have these things that they don't tell you where to get them. So as a general question, could you Address that perhaps (00:05:01) oh, I'm going to be out on a limb here, but I think that any place that does passport pictures can also do Visa pictures. I'm not sure if the courthouse facilities which which can take passport pictures will also do extras for visas, but failing that I'd call a professional photographer in any photo studio that that's listed in your in your area and simply ask them. If you know the specifications exactly what you're supposed to have and I make sure you got that in writing from either from your carrier your line or or from the interest the Russian travel agency. You ought to be able to just tell them what size you need and what kind of finish you want. All right. Tell me answer a very basic kind of question for me the difference if you would between a passport and a visa when you need one when you need the other okay, technically a passport is a document that simply says you're an American citizen or a citizen of whatever country and it has depending on on what we're doing at the time politically and it may or may not have Restrictions on it or Warnings but it essentially says who you are and that you belong to the US a Visa is a permission to enter that's granted by the country are going to France at the moment is requiring visas from America for Americans. The rest of Europe is not Western Europe is not and that means that with a passport you can simply go with France and countries like Russia and others around the world you need permission from their government to enter and that means you apply to their Embassy or through your out your travel agent. Most travel agencies can just handle the complicated beasts arrangements for you you then get us you send your passport away and it comes back from usually the foreign Embassy or consulate with a stamp in it. Sometimes fancy. Sometimes very plain, but they essentially say in the language of the country. This person has permission to enter India or France or the Soviet Union for a specified amount of time. Usually without working. Most of them also have a line included saying you can't take a job there. Hmm But it's the other countries control and do they typically allow these periods Time like two weeks four weeks something like oh, yeah, they're usually they usually quite generous in terms of time. If it gets upwards of six months. They might want to say well quite often. They'll ask you things like like the number of your airline carrier. Do you really have proof of a ticket out? I see depends a lot on the country some countries where you would probably never think of staying working or maybe even visiting have the most elaborate visa restrictions. Em. All right. Well, let's move on to our next question or then. Hello Katherine Watson is listening. (00:07:31) Hi. I am I on here. Yes, sir. I wondered if what the advantages or disadvantages are of traveling in Europe in the fall is that an off-peak season when rates and hotels Etc go down (00:07:47) General. Yes. I think you ought to check with either a travel agent or the tourist board for the countries that you want to visit because fall in general to us is usually something after Labor Day and the impression I've From my own travels in Europe is that the peak season actually drops later than that closer to October so that you'd want to cross check when the rates actually do change but yeah airfares usually are lower and many hotels also charge lower rates in the winter. It's also less crowded just because of fewer Americans are traveling and fewer Europeans are on the road travel editor Katherine Watson for the Star Tribune is with us today as we talk about travel ideas and travel plans. You're on the air now. Hello there (00:08:29) in addition to Paris. The concern I have is traveling is one or as a Duo and the variation between male and female. Well, from what I read about your guest she's gone from the single status to the married State and so she's had a lot of experience traveling as a single female. I think my observation is easier for a male traveling singly. But it's nice to have your traveling companion to compare notes with and all of that. But then if you're looking for someone who has similar interest and budget and those kinds of things I've been tossed in with strangers crossing the British Channel just put two in a room on a ferry boat. That's my major concern. And how did you find the neighborhood of Paris? That seems to be your favorite? Did somebody pointed out to you? (00:09:37) Okay, I'll let me answer the last one first because it kind of ties into the first one the neighborhood that I've become enamored of him in Paris is oh toy which is in the 16th are going to be small and it's where my husband lived before. I married him. He's the person who put me in touch with that that area I went to visit once and he introduced me to a whole side of Paris. I hadn't seen because until then I had stayed the way most tourists. On the Left Bank or if you're a little richer on the right bank, but in the in that sort of Heart of traditional heart of Paris where you're closer to more of the sites and and where people are much less thrilled about seeing terrorists because they see them all the time out in out in neighborhoods of not just Paris but really any large city you tend and I think this is true in our country as well you tend to meet Ordinary People in ordinary. People are what is what any country is about in terms of traveling alone or with people. I generally travel alone. I did get married about eight months ago and that's changed my status at home. But because I travel for a living I'm still doing all of my work trips alone. I think it is a lot easier for a man to travel alone and for a woman your as a woman a little more wide open to questions, especially if you're traveling in cultures where women normally don't go out alone or don't let alone travel for months on end alone. It just raises a lot of questions in the in the minds of the people who are in the cultures you Sitting and in terms of finding good traveling companions. I think that's always hard. I know people who have taken out personal ads and people who've used single dating services. There are some a couple of around the country a couple of matching services that claim to in fact, there's one locally there they claim to match you with people going to the same destination and some some tour operators will attempt to do that. Also what you usually run into though. If you're taking a group tour is a setup where the you pay a single supplement. If you're traveling alone, sometimes you can avoid that if you're willing to share a room with a total stranger, but generally a single person traveling alone is penalized if you're on a group tour because it costs more they just charge you more. We began the are talking Catherine about changing travel patterns in this country the trend toward shorter more action-oriented vacations. How have you respond to that yourself? Do you like that or would you rather take the Take a trip. Oh, I'm torn because this summer I've been doing so many small shorter trips, which is not quite the American pattern. Most people would be taking 1/2. There's a an estimate that above about an income level of 40 45 thousand per household. There is an average of four of these trips a year, but not too many people are doing them every other week. So this Summer's been a little hard on me and right now ten week trip around the world looks real good because we would only have to pack once so personally I'm getting kind of tired but I'm having a good time. Hmm. All right, let's move on to your question now for Katherine Watson. Hello there. (00:12:35) Hi, this is a question. Perhaps a more personal vein as well. When you pack for your trip around the world your husband wears a pretty wild time in the picture in the magazine. Let him pick out his own ties when you travel (00:12:48) together. Don't let him pick out his own ties any chance at any time I can help it but he has a collection of a couple of hundred and and he's hard to stop when he's in a wild time mood. Just not much you can do about that know you got a couple hundred of them there. They said all right, interesting enough. Let's move on to your question a little Katherine Watson is listening. (00:13:08) Yes, my wife and I are thinking of going to South America in November. I would just I think two weeks would be enough I over Brazil in Rio are the number one focal point whereas two weeks too long and Brazil to be straighten it out with some other country, maybe visit Argentina also or spending more time in Brazil or what would you recommend (00:13:30) last time? I was in South America. I stayed seven months. So I may not be the right person to ask. I think Brazil is a gigantic country and there'd be enough to keep you busy. I would think for at least two weeks just in Brazil depending on how much time and interest you had my own feeling about South America. Is that the area so little known for most Travelers that once you've spent the money to get there because the airfare is not cheap. It's worth it to spend a little more time and see a few other countries to get a variety a sense of Argentina because it's Spanish and is quite different from Brazil with its Portuguese backgrounds. And the the jungle climate versus sort of temperate prairie-like climate in much of Argentina would also be a good contrast for you. And I think the Andes are wonderful you could do a sort of three-pronged thing go to Peru as well or one of the other Andean countries and get a real range of what lifestyle is like, what do you find for prices? Once you're down there thoroughfares a high? What what is it like to have to stay there and eat they're relatively cheap although my own experiences out of date but the but South America and Central America as well are still some of the bargain destinations a lot of the countries that are more exotic that we normally don't think of it as sort of the first wave of foreign travel choices are once you're there once you once you pass the airfare hurdle quite cheap to live in and how's the food down there? What's it like, let's see we gave a dinner party once in Oneness are he's invited for people and had steaks. This is this is Out of date, but relatively at the time we would have been paying. Oh ten dollars for the meat here. We paid a dollar 25 so far wonderful stick good stick it. Yeah, they raised beef and it's a staple of the diet. There are no concerns so far about cholesterol use least not the to the extent that we have. Hmm and maybe they're honest because the same Costa Rica also raises beef with super beef and food is relatively cheap Katherine Watson is with us our telephone number two two seven six thousand. We have a couple of lines open again. If you have a travel question for her 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities and one 865 29700 elsewhere with in Minnesota. Okay. Thanks for waiting. You're on the air now. Go ahead (00:15:41) Catherine. I'm enjoying your program this question relates to travel much closer to home. If I'm calling from outstate Minnesota. He's like just naturally were inclined to go north for every. Oh, yeah. I'm wondering I'm kind of bleeding this fall traveling down state in Minnesota around fatal. Only area along the mmmm. Tell me why tell me with waiting for me there and know why I write worth my while to travel as well. (00:16:08) I think I think what's waiting for you some great scenery the river corridor from the Twin Cities Southeast to really down toward the Dubuque area is stunning The River Bluffs in the starting around Lake Pepin. When you when you head south of there the River Bluffs are wonderful scenery is good. There are lots and lots of bed and breakfasts now that's sort of a sort of antique in Corridor running a Southeast and I think it enjoyed a lot and the Fall colors good lots of fun to do it by boat. If you can do it that way. I've done a little bit of that in my golly some of those little towns are just fascinating down there. Yeah, and they're the sorts of little towns. You wouldn't find on the main roads there quite often like like Guttenberg, Iowa, their main mayor main street is the river and it's a different orientation than you'd have up north. All right. Now on to you and your travel question hello. (00:16:59) Hello. I'm a trip to Europe and in four years ago. Our biggest problem was the money we went it was our first trip. We made nine countries and 22 days whoops too much and we knew nothing of the exchange rate in our tour guide spoke five languages, but he was never around tell us about money. Is there a book of any kind I will be making a trip to three German countries in Italy next year and I'd like to know if I can get some basic something basic about the coins particularly. We never knew whether we had honest people that waited on real not bills me old outgoings and they took what they wanted. (00:17:47) Yes, and when you're doing that many countries in that little time, there's no time really to settle down and get to know a currency the catch with the books. Is that by the time they're in Print are usually out of date at least on values and I found that most guidebooks don't show you pictures of the coins a few will but that takes usually glossy Printing and most guidebooks. Don't do that. I'd say that your best bet is to to talk to either Travel Agency in advance or talk to the Embassy or foreign tourist Office of the countries that you're going to be visiting and ask them if they've got information on on exactly that coins currency, whatever failing that you can order some in advance through a couple of banks at least the major banks with International currency departments can order you some some money in advance. You need to give them at least two weeks notice if it's remotely exotic but you can order say $50 and you don't have to change it at the airport under any kind of pressure. You don't get the same exchange rate. It will cost you a little bit more to do that in some some charge a fee for for ordering the money, but you can at least have the money in your Before you leave home and get familiar with it. Well, as long as we're talking about money, we all know the dollar has dropped substantially or it's it's high as of a couple of three years ago. What is that done to prices that Americans pay in Europe Japan elsewhere. I've read that. It's made the melons cost ten dollars in Japan. The answer is real simple are the prices are way up at you don't buy melons in Japan and if I'm going to Europe this fall and I'm not anticipating having any real problem with money, but I don't plan to buy any souvenirs the way of coping with with high prices anywhere really is this is to sort of scale back on your expenses. You don't have to eat in fancy restaurants. If you want to eat a in a famous one you've heard about eat lunch there instead of dinner, which will cut your costs. What are you going to pay for a hotel in Europe now? I don't know I was there last time I was there but it was about 18 months ago and very small crummy hotel rooms were running $50 a night in Paris and up European hotel rooms tend to be smaller and a little less. Each than what we're used to for the money and do that sort of a given so that it's hard to judge. Whether it's just the decline in the dollar the fact that standards are different for what a hotel room cause I usually figure I usually estimate for my own costs about a hundred hundred and twenty five dollars a day for all expenses unless I'm running a car and then I'll add some to that and that's usually more than enough even in high high priced periods. And it allows you to build in a question. I usually come home with money left over a hundred to a hundred and a quarter a day. Uh, and that's not incontinent not glue your airfare. No, no, no, you can do it from vastly less than that. That's for a working trip right now. I'm going to be running around and may not be able to spend lots of time looking for the cheapest pensione and some small town Europe on five dollars a day is sort of been Rewritten as yes. Yeah, you can't even camp for that. Okay, let's move on to do that at home either sofa. That's true. Let's move on to your question either. (00:20:50) You talking to me? Yes, sir. All right. Thank you. We're going to Costa Rica and December and we've received conflicting reports as to whether we can get by on a Visa or whether we need a (00:21:00) passport. I would I don't know off the top of my head. I would take a passport. I think it's a good idea. But you can check that by calling the the Costa Rica tourism office, which if you'll allow me the book, I can't even tell you. Oh, is that right? Okay, Captain Watson's book is called travel Basics. It's I don't know if it's still even in print and Print in France and credits and storage. We have lots of copies left. Okay, I have I have seen it in the bookstores in the past. Although I haven't the past recent little while I'm not I won't give the phone number over the over the phone here because I'm not sure its current but the Costa Rican tourist board as we have it listed here is in Miami Florida and you can call information and get their number in Miami failing that if they've some sometimes offices change or go out of business if it's not paying off for them to maintain a u.s. Office. Check the Costa Rican Embassy. In Washington, they should be able to tell you okay, 27 minutes now before 12 o'clock as we continue with Katherine Watson travel editor for the star and tribune. Hello. You're on the air (00:22:03) morning. Could you give me any information on travel to The Gambia West Africa? (00:22:10) No, I can't because I've never been there again. I try there isn't I try either their their Embassy in Washington, I'd start actually with a local travel agency and see what they've got handy, but they can tell you but the Embassy in Washington most embassies have a press section if they don't also maintained a separate tourism information office and there's an organization called the African travel Association in New York. And I believe that it's president is from The Gambia, but any case they have information on African countries. I'm a little surprised. We haven't had any questions about this new travel trend of short action-oriented trips people may not be trendy yet. We may we may be on the on the early part of the wave here you are on The Cutting Edge Let's put it that way. That's that's what's going on. And those kinds of trips in in what kind of condition do you need to be? And I mean you need to go out and Jog a couple of miles a day in order to get in shape for these things. They're going to a slob in poor condition like me go and do it or me. Yes. You don't have to you don't have to work out. I think if you're doing anything in High Country where you're above say the height of Denver, which is five thousand. Something's a mile high. If you're if you're up that high it helps to take it easy the first few days while your body gets used to the fact that it's not getting quite as much oxygen. Do they push you on these trips? No, they don't the it on the Llama trip. We flew in to Steamboat Springs and then overnighted there and we're taking out to a Trailhead the next day and then hiked in about seven miles, but it was more like walking on regular kind of Farmland. It was not taxing. It was simply the height for people who were not who had not already spent some time in Colorado. It would be tiring, but it was not appalled. And nobody was in good shape and take the whole point of doing this llama trip for most of the people on it was that they hadn't either weren't in shape or they had bad knees or bad backs and they couldn't carry heavy backpacks anymore. So it was a way to get out and walk and High Country while somebody else chiefly these animals did the packing work. I will take another question is a half a second but I got to ask you why did they use llamas? They are less disruptive to the trail. They are cheaper to keep the horses. They're easier to handle for novices it sort of inbred in them. They've been pack animals for something like 4,000 years in South America and it's in their blood. So instead of having to learn to ride them which cause you don't ride them. We got to the trailhead. Somebody handed us each a rope with a llama attached to the other end and we just set out as you get to know your llama. It's hard to get to know a llama. They don't seem to Lama owners say that they have wonderful personalities, but they sort of look at you and they um, they go hmm at you and that's it and you can't tell if they're happy angry sad. Well, of course same thing is true. The trail horse to I guess yeah, I guess moving on to your question, please Katherine Watson is here. Go ahead. (00:24:57) Hi husband and I are anticipating moving to Cardiff Wales for a year of and medical training and we'd be glad for any advice. You could give us on what to take or what we can expect when we arrived there. Also, we've been quoted a salary range and know what that would be in dollars, but don't know what that will get us over there. What housing would cost (00:25:18) that I can't tell you again. I again I would I would check with and you're fortunate here because the British tourist Authority is probably the best organized of any I know they have a base they have an office in Chicago and have a main office in New York and they can give you that kind of information or at least put you in touch with people who would who would be able to tell you what rentals will cost in terms of what to take you will be. It's sort of the cool side of Minnesota. If you if you plan for an extremely long fall a mild winter and a real long damp spring you would Will you be taking the right kind of clothing it expect more rain in the winter than snow and generally cooler damper weather. So you'd want more wolves you want my sweaters minnesotans are wonderfully. If you were from Miami, you'd have some trouble planning this trip. But all you've to do is take your winter and spring clothes and you'll be okay. Okay. Well good luck to you. Let's move on now to your question for Katherine Watson. Hi. (00:26:15) Hi, I'm planning on doing some traveling in the near future. I'm single and I was wondering if what alternatives are might be to just going on a tour there any singles traveling clubs that you (00:26:27) know, there are a few I can't give them to you off the top of my head there are and and then a number of these Adventure travel Outfitters do single strips the trip. I was on in the Llama trip. I've just been talking about was a singles trip so that the other guests had had come partly cuz they wanted the Llama experience and partly because they knew they'd meet other people who are single. Except for the travel writer but but there is that option quite often and also the adventure oriented trips and they're offered by a number of companies large and small tend to attract a younger and generally generally more likely to be single crowd. I would recommend that you look at that kind of thing. And I found also that if you set out to do something that really interests you and you set out alone, you're generally run across lots of other people who are doing the same thing so that you a single traveled doesn't stay isolated very long because you're usually run into other Travelers usually on their own or traveling with just one other person who we're going in the same direction doesn't sound like something to be too terribly afraid of no. Okay. In fact, I've had friends complain that they went for peace and quiet and kept running into people who want peace and quiet with them. I am so you're all 12 people suddenly join up and go in the same direction in a In the bus and there's the peace and quiet. Well, let's move on to your question. Neither. (00:27:52) I don't have a trendy travel question. It's okay. Nobody traveling Indonesia Bali Java, but (00:27:59) that's pretty trendy. That's one. I haven't been to want to want to get there again check travel agency check the Indonesian tourist board and I believe that their office in is in New York. You have any plans to go there in the near future? No, I have hopes hopes hopes with like within the next year. I want to get back to to Asia. I was in Asia and India last year and have a good friend living in Indian would like to go back and sort of get the Insiders eye view. Yeah, that could be very interesting. Let's move on to your question now for Katherine Watson. Hello. (00:28:36) I'm interested in sort of the oft or travel and Southeast Asia inter-island transportation and just generally what you consider the Allegations and character of traveled that area (00:28:49) varies widely because you're talking about an area with really sophisticated cities and sort of peasant culture and a lot of a lot of rural areas so it can it can vary from you know, really top-ranked four-star hotels down to Huts again. I would I would write to the individual countries and see what information they can give give you most countries with tourist offices can give you a hotel price range and we'll have prepared materials that will tell you what to expect to pay. What what methods you can use to get around with the ferry schedules are what the weather train travel is like if it exists and can serve as a starting point and then I would with with specific questions go back either by letter preferably by phone. I think sometimes you get farther by phone, I'd call those offices and then ask them some specific specific questions do most Southeast Asian countries. Welcome tourists. I think so most countries. Most tourism is something like the depending on who you talk to the either the second or third. Largest industry in the world and it's supposed to be the first largest in terms of money and employees and of people affected by the end of the century and most countries if they don't welcome tourists now are looking pretty hard at why not because it's an enormous source of dollars of income from sure moving on now your question, please you're on the air with Katherine Watson. (00:30:08) Yes. Hi. Hi. I was in Cuba several years ago and it wasn't authorized by the US government went to Europe after that and we had little bit of problem at several countries with the Cuban stamp in your passport. We were on a Soviet visa to the Cuban government. I'm just wondering is there any we plan on going to Europe possibly and maybe Africa this winter? Is there any countries to avoid or what? Would you recommend we doing to maybe get rid of that standpoint of a pest order a new passport or a new passport? But the thing is I've got to be turn that. (00:30:46) Yo, yo the passport the new passport you would get just you can even write and ask we think our passports are all processed by a passport agency in Seattle and you can write or call them and ask them that but I think I think you wouldn't have any problem getting another one but you can't keep your owns a souvenir. Okay? Well, I'm not sure what that I have a couple I think if you ask they sent him back all right, but but if you can explain that this is that this is causing problems for you. Can you simply order another one? You'd have to pay the new fee, but but that shouldn't be a big problem. All right. Thanks for waiting. You're on with Katherine Watson. Oh, go ahead please. (00:31:23) Hello, Kathryn. I enjoy your columns very much. And I hope of course. I wonder if you can tell me the current condition of Stormy Greener who was injured in (00:31:31) Jerusalem. She's getting better. Sorry at lunch midweek, and she's looking and sounding and feeling better, but it's slow. Okay. Well, let's hope she continues to recover well and you're on with Kathryn. Oh, hello (00:31:45) there. Hi. Wonder if you can tell me anything about rail travel in India either trips that are either scenically interesting or interesting in terms of the country and people, you know go through the area as we go through and any places that you might want to avoid because of the difficulties. (00:32:06) That's a tricky one because that's country is so huge. They have an extensive rail system and the the times I've tried it it managed to go on strike halfway through the day which made for a real and we went to a very dull spot and when we came to come back the trains were on strike and we took a bus back and it was an instant Adventure. I don't think there's any place in going Indian be bored just because the people in the culture in the numbers of just the sort of coping with daily life is so much different from what we have here. The rail system is extensive. And there are a number of outfits that are running luxury rail travel using I think I'm not sure if the car is really belong to mirages, but they are treated as if they did they look as if they did and you can take everything from from the cheapest day train where I think you're paying a matter of a few dollars if that on up to these very Posh level organized kind of Orient Express kinds of Tours that you can book your travel agencies here. And what I recommend you do is India also has some pretty good tourist materials available is check with their tourist board there the the tourist boards. I keep referring to are maintained in this country by countries who are promoting travel to from by Americans to their their homelands. So they're geared for answering that kind of question. A travel agent should also be able to help you with that because they'll have timetables and schedules if you've read about enough about India to know where you want to go. I'd go at it that way rather than looking at the rails go out the areas that you think would be most interesting and then find out how much you can actually see by rail. Anything you would avoid in India by rail? No, India's hard for people who haven't traveled in who haven't traveled and it's hard for people who've only traveled in Europe because it's such it's the numbers the poverty the heat the food a lot of things are shocks in India. When you kind of get past the shock point or decide that you decide to quit fighting in your mind. I think that's the key to culture shock. It's fascinating and I've the only trouble I've had in India is is the sort of peculiar hassle you get if you are traveling as a woman alone, that's not a culture where women normally travel on their own in any country where it's where it's poor. You have to watch out for a personal property and in crowds train stations all over the world are kind of a problem for pickpockets. Yeah, but but by and large, it's not a personally violent culture and it's possible to in fact the train to me is the ideal way to see almost any country, but in India especially would get a real Slice of Life on the training. And passing by it's about 15 minutes before twelve o'clock as we continue chatting with travel under Katherine Watson from the Star Tribune who's talking about some of these new short action oriented Adventure oriented trips that people are taking these days. She certainly had I think she might almost say her fill of them this on to your question, please hello there. (00:35:05) Hello. I just wondering if he had been to New Zealand and what she thought of it in I know it. I understand. It's a very beautiful scenery and good for hiking and it's or thing is there are things to do there too. (00:35:21) Yes. Yes, it's gorgeous. It's all so quiet. If you've if you are familiar with the England English Countryside small village kind of Countryside. It's more like that and feeling than I think any place else. I've been except little pieces of Eastern Canada. It's quiet. It's beautiful. It's got wonderful mountains. Lots of sheep. Nice people prices are Not bad and but it is quiet. They're the kinds of things there are to do tend to be quieter kinds of things. You can you can do some hiking you can do some trout fishing. You can do a whole lot of outdoor things skiing in the winter, but by and large it's a real relaxing kind of low-key Place. Australia is more low key than we are but it's more like California Southern Southern California lifestyle compared to New Zealand. Hmm. All right your question, please for Katherine Watson. Thanks for waiting. (00:36:16) Yes. I wanted to ask about exchanging money. Is it better to trade your money in at the country your destination country for getting foreign currency or here should you exchange any foreign currency back before you leave for what advantage one place or another? (00:36:41) Okay, most of The answer to that question depends on what the dollars doing at a given time. If and it's sort of like a game of Pick-up sticks. There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. What I normally do is if I'm going to arrive at a time when I think banks might not be open around. I'm not sure that the airport exchange currency exchange office will be open. I'll get twenty five or fifty dollars worth of US Dollars exchanged here. I'll go to one of our International Bank departments and get however many Yen or escudos or whatever. I figure I'm going to need so that I have a little foreign cash on hand. That is not we're going to get your best rate. You know, it's always going to be better in the country that you're going to it will it will be better at an exchange Booth or a bank than it generally will be in a hotel or a restaurant. So it's better to do you exchanging in a formal place? It's depends on where but sometimes it's cheaper to do it it sometimes doesn't matter if you do it at the airport when you come in, sometimes you get a better rate in town. The thing to watch out for is an awful lot of Banks and other exchange outfits charge you a commission when you're changing either US dollars or us traveler's checks in the commission's aren't the same. I've generally found it's safer to carry traveler's checks. It's generally cheaper as well. I believe although I might may be misremembering that kind of depends. What I what I would suggest to you is that you take a look at if especially the dollar is falling at the time you're leaving it sometimes wise to buy traveler's checks here in foreign currency. It locks your exchange rate in it isn't necessarily as good as you'd get a broad but it means that you don't have to pay a commission because you're already in Frank's or in marks or whatever. You can simply write sign your name and use it exactly as money that eliminates a lot of standing in line as well on the way back. However, you've exchanged your money exchange the currency before you leave that country if the rate is always better and always either exchange or spend up your coins because US banks will exchange bills. Notes, but they will not exchange coins. So if you come home with a handful of coins, especially from Britain these days because they're now using one-pound coins instead of notes. You can come home with a handful of stuff that is worth a lot of money and you can't exchange the here. Well, that's kind of unfair. Yeah, it's there better ways to start coin collections. Sure 10 minutes before twelve o'clock Katherine Watson is with us. Thank you for calling you're on the air with you now. (00:39:05) Hello Katherine. Yes, my husband and I and our two children are leaving next week for a trip to Washington DC and New York. And this is the first time we've taken a large trip like this with our children their ages are 9 and 13 and my question is first of all, if you just have some general guidelines in visiting these two cities with children that we should keep in mind and then also in New York, we'd like to go to some kind of a stage player show. Is there anything you're aware of that's on there? No, that would be appropriate for children. (00:39:40) I don't follow theater out. The Twin Cities just because I'm seldom there long enough to do much with it. I guess I would recommend you call the tourism office the city of New York's convention and visitors bureau. They have among other they can tell you how to find out what's on in the theaters, but they also have material prepared on how to travel with kids in general. I would I would recommend that you keep visits to anything anything you're doing fairly short. If you're going to spend, you know all day in the Smithsonian. It's going to get tiring break things up so that you go into a museum for a while do something there and then go back outside go to, you know, go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the go back to Central Park so that the the children aren't locked into one single thing and try and break up your days that way. Well, you can also find out what's playing in New York picking up tomorrow's times. There's that hmm and a lot of other things too. Yes, very good recommendation eight minutes before twelve o'clock and you're on with Katherine Watson. Hello there. (00:40:38) Hello? Hello. Thank you. Enjoy all your your good observations, especially the facts. Information you bring Catherine but thought you might like an opinion question great, especially since you've returned from llama camping with steak and lobster in the mountains. I had severe back surgery about two and a half years ago. I worked for two years to build up my back so I could go backpacking not allow more a horse and wonder what you feel about restrictions on Wilderness areas. So they could remain Wilderness and also maybe an ethical question about what you feel as a travel editor about popularizing areas. When I was out there. I would that some places in Idaho have to have lotteries. Right? Well the raft on the rivers and we have reservations systems here in Minnesota for our Boundary Waters and so (00:41:27) forth. Yeah, I'll hang up now. Okay, it's a big question and and what how I'm hearing that I guess is is the whole question of whether its moral really to travel and I've concluded for a whole lot of personal reasons that it is, but it's a real big Stan among among travel writers and travel editors if we if you write about a place to what extent are you contributing to its change and is that change good to the extent the tourism brings money into impoverished countries. I think it's a good thing. It's a pretty clean industry compared to building chemical plants or something and and the money does percolate out to a whole lot of people but but any any changes a loss and I think that that's what you're up against any time you get large volumes of people going anywhere one thing that's been striking me lately particularly about two weeks ago. When I did an archaeological project as an amateur, you can sign up at a number of digs now through different programs. This one was in Colorado at a study center and spend a week or two helping archaeologists dig they'll train you. You're not going to dig anything big because that's because you're not that trained but it occurred to me that years ago. I was reading about we all were I think about the great kind of cultural and revolution in that was going to come about as a result of lie. Time and I'd been looking for it in the Arts and in literature and whatever. I think I think it's travel. I've been amazed in the last couple of years at the amount of learning vacations experiential vacations that that have cropped up beyond the traditional sightseeing and people do have more leisure time. We do have if we don't have lots more money to spend on travel. We have more disposable income and more of us are willing to spend it on travel and I think that all of that adds to pressure on everything from sightseeing tours to to well backpacking as you said, I'll give you an example it's close to home Galena, Illinois, which is a sort of pet town for me topped 1 million tourists last year in the town is 4,000 people and they're struggling this year to decide. How do you decide what how many is too many do you build more hotels and motels to match that demand but building them changes what they came for it's a real complicated question, and I think it's going to be discussed more and As because it's hard to strike a balance. I think that's what we got to do between the way it is that attracts people and the problems that come on. The people are attracted. We have just about five minutes left with Katherine Watson and let's get to the rest of the people that are waiting. Go ahead and you're on the air. (00:44:00) Thank you. We're going to be taking a trip to the country of Turkey and we were wondering what kind of tips you might give us on what sites to see and so forth. (00:44:11) I don't know turkey as a whole I've spent some time in Istanbul, which I loved again. I would read I would read good books on that and see if we can get a sense for what you want to see I found well, I found this Temple a fascinating blend they always talk about it being the gateway to the Orient, but I think it is. I also found the Turks to be in general fairly Bluff. It can have a sort of off-putting almost Russian quality. But as with as with the Russians some of the warmest most accommodating people Ever met were in turkey and I would I wouldn't hesitate to go back if it's a country where I wasn't in the place long enough and would love another chance to go back. All right now to your question Katherine Watson is listening. Go ahead. (00:44:56) Yes. I have two short questions for Catherine. The first one is she could say a word about carrier flights if they are career flights if there are real option and how could you find out about real options? And the second piece is I spent about a year ago. I spent about a month in Hong Kong in about a week and Guangdong Province. I like to do more traveling in China don't think Paul throws strategy of getting in contact with people seems very real. Yeah, it seems good. But he doesn't seem to have manufactured a strategy to have real contact with real folk tunes. I should've had you had two answers to those two questions. Okay, (00:45:44) that's a pull-through rose attitude lately is one of my pet peeves. I don't think it's practical on think it's as open as it was at least in his first book in terms of China's more and more open as you as you probably know to Independent Travelers and I was there about a year ago and met probably a dozen Young Americans. They tend to be the sort of student Backpacker that we saw all over Europe, you know, every summer for 20 years the the younger more adventurous more willing to put up with inconvenience and people with enough time to be able to take a risk on finding a place to stay or not. Give me a seat on a train people who are willing to deal with the hassles that come if you don't speak the language and you're trying to get into an area where few people are going to speak English, but you can do China as an independent Traveler. And I think if I had a if I had the time to do it, I would do it that way in terms of Courier flights. I read a lot about that. I don't know very much about it myself. Where were you would be a Diplomatic Courier and carry presumably secret messages or bank bank matters back and forth free some people do do that how they set it up. I don't know. And I don't gather from the from the what I've seen about it that there are very many options for it. Certainly not as many as there Adam and I would wreck if I were going to check into what I would call some of the major Western Europe and European embassies and ask them. All right, we're almost out of time and we're almost out of college. We've got one more left. Go ahead with your question. (00:47:17) My wife and I already experienced Travelers and we're thinking of taking a week or two vacation to San Francisco. And we like to get any advice you have about where to stay what to do how to plan it (00:47:28) things like that. There are tons of guide books on California and on specific cities there. I'd start with the public library, which is as we know free check out their travel shelf and borrow books. If there are some that really appeal to you check local bookstores some have very good in the house already their stocks of travel books that they don't have to order in advance, but the library is always a good place to start San Francisco also had its has its own tourist office. And you could get the phone number for that by calling information there and asking for The Visitors and Convention Bureau. All right. Well Catherine we didn't get very many questions about your about your new theory of travel Trends, but we'll see what happens in the coming months as people continue on this fashion. You just finished the Llama trip what you got coming next Monday I leave for the Grand Canyon for raft trip a raft ripped my golly another one. It's billed as a you said in the raft and somebody else does the work. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. How does the cost of these things compared with your traditional go sightseeing and sit around type vacation there. I think so far at least they seem a little bit higher because your airfare is for a 1 week or two at most two week trip. Usually these are all one weekers. So that automatically makes that week more expensive than If you flew to Washington say and spent three weeks, they all of the ones I've done have concluded food and lodging as well. And so that the lump sum of about 600 $700 seems high at first for a week, but when you add the rest of it and it's not too bad Can watch the thanks a lot travel editor for the Star Tribune. Thank you. Today is made possible by Ecolab Incorporated. And it's Chemlawn subsidiary twelve o'clock is the time. This is Bob Potter speaking.