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MARK ZDECHLIK: --to the Minnesota Public Radio studios. Catherine Watson, Star Tribune travel writer, thanks a lot for coming in this morning. Catherine. I know when you're in town, time is at a premium for you, and you make time for us more than once. I appreciate it.

CATHERINE WATSON: Well, thanks. It's fun to be back.

MARK ZDECHLIK: If you're trying to plan a trip somewhere, now would be a good time to get in on the discussion with Catherine Watson. As many of you know from her work in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, she has visited places all over the world. And she always returns to Minnesota full of information.

So we hope to hear from you this morning. If you're listening in the Twin Cities' metropolitan area and you have a question about vacation destination, whether it be near or far, you can join our conversation by calling 227-6000. That's 227-6000 in the Metropolitan area. Outside of the Twin Cities, you can ask a question of Star Tribune travel writer Catherine Watson by calling toll free. The toll free number is 1-800-242-2828. Once again, the toll free number, 1-800-242-2828.

Well, first off, I have to ask you, Catherine, because you go to so many interesting places all the time, where has your job taken you lately?

CATHERINE WATSON: Lately, I was in Crete in April and May. And I'm heading for Honduras in August. And at the moment, I'm in between doing laundry and cleaning up the house and the things that I've been putting off for the last six months.

MARK ZDECHLIK: What were you doing in Crete? What's going on in Crete?

CATHERINE WATSON: Wandering around. I went with a friend of mine that I had studied in the Middle East with about 30 years before, and we thought always that we'd go back to Crete because it was easy to get to. It's been 30 years, so we finally thought we'd better do it.

And we went just to really wander around and rest for a couple of weeks and got wrapped up in looking at Minoan ruins. And it turned into a kind of a how many palaces can we see in a day kind of tour. So we did a lot of walking around ruins and a lot of hiking and a little bit of resting.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And then off to Honduras.

CATHERINE WATSON: Mm-hmm.

MARK ZDECHLIK: What are you going to do there?

CATHERINE WATSON: Look at areas along the North Coast that I wrote about 20 years ago when I was covering the University of Minnesota program that was taking students into-- it was sort of a baby peace corps, but taking kids in to study areas that had not really had much development or much help from the West, the larger developed world. And the idea is to look at what's happened in the last 20 years, which way did it go.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And that's become, at least my understanding, is more of a vacation destination.

CATHERINE WATSON: Yeah, any place really-- any place with a good beach, I think, is becoming a vacation destination around the world. And Honduras has a lot of beautiful diving areas on the North Coast, Bay Islands, especially.

MARK ZDECHLIK: As you get around to some of these countries and some of these beaches and this sort of thing, you see them develop, do you, from your vantage point, see them as sort of being ruined?

CATHERINE WATSON: Oh, yeah, yeah. My own personal view is that it's better if there isn't any hotel there and if you just put your hammock up on a couple of palm trees. But that isn't the way the world is going. What I think I hope for personally is that you can have controlled development on some beaches, some areas and then keep some wild. Mexico has tried to do that in the area around the base of Huatulco, not far from Oaxaca.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, well, no doubt, we'll be talking more about that probably later in the program. 10 minutes now past 11 o'clock. You're listening to Midday on Minnesota Public Radio. Catherine Watson is here. You may know Catherine Watson from her work at the Star Tribune. She's the travel writer there. Let's go to the phone lines which are jammed. Arthur is listening in Minneapolis. Good morning.

AUDIENCE: Good morning.

CATHERINE WATSON: Hi.

AUDIENCE: I recently was out in Los Angeles and was enjoying Orange County, but ran into a problem using a frequent flyer award, found that Northwest had changed some things, and wondered-- this, I imagine, comes up occasionally in travel when you get to an airport and find that, gosh, that ticket that you thought you could use, they've changed it. What do you do?

CATHERINE WATSON: You pay the fare. You do what they tell you. There isn't really very much you can do, particularly if it's a frequent flyer. If they have-- whatever airline it is controls the rules. And you pretty much have to abide by theirs.

AUDIENCE: OK, and where do you like to go out in either Northern or Southern California? Any particular recommendations for fall or winter travel?

CATHERINE WATSON: I like Sonoma Valley. I like it better than Napa.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, well, let's try to get another call in here. Back to the phone lines. I think we have somebody there. Maybe not. Maybe so. Hello.

AUDIENCE: Hello.

MARK ZDECHLIK: You're on.

AUDIENCE: Thank you. My question to you is, have you ever been to Australia and specifically the Great Barrier Reef? And what locations on the reef you've been to and what places would you want to visit?

CATHERINE WATSON: OK, the answer is yes and no. I've been to Australia, and I've been to the part of Australia that's along the Great Barrier Reef. I've never been on the reef itself, so I can't help you with that.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Australia, we'll talk a little bit about Australia as a destination. How long does it take to fly to Australia? What is it?

CATHERINE WATSON: It seems like forever. I went via Fiji and stayed a couple three days in Fiji and then went on from there. And I think it was nine hours from Honolulu to Fiji. It seemed more like-- I may be wrong. It may be more like about 20, but it felt like half my life.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And Australia is a big popular place for people who dive and stuff, others.

CATHERINE WATSON: Yeah, the Great Barrier Reef is some of the best diving in the world. I'm not a diver. And when I was there, I was on assignment. When you're on assignment, you're always juggling between, boy, it would be neat for me to see that, but is that going to make a story? And in this case, I decided I'd better stay on land, on mainland.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, let's take another call. Robert is in Stillwater. Good morning. You're on with Catherine Watson.

AUDIENCE: Good morning. I lived abroad when I was in college, and I'd like to live abroad again. But I'd also like to work. And I'm interested in what she has any advice on working and traveling abroad through like teaching English abroad or something.

CATHERINE WATSON: There are some ways to do it. One of the things you will run into is rules that we also have against having non-citizens working full-time. You can get around that, but the paperwork is usually tremendous. And it depends on what country you're in. I would check the public library and research what you can on living abroad. There are a number of books on the subject.

You can live abroad pretty well. The catch is making a living abroad. Teaching abroad, if you can do it through the International Schools Network, is much easier. Getting hired depends on how good your qualifications are. But the International School System that has schools all over the world, diplomats' children often go to them. These teachers usually are American, certified or American citizens. So that's an option.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And maybe even in a situation like that, you wouldn't need to know the language of the host country you would be going.

CATHERINE WATSON: They're essentially American high schools.

MARK ZDECHLIK: If somebody is interested in that, how would they get a hold of people?

CATHERINE WATSON: Again, I'd check the library. The local school system, Minneapolis or Saint Paul Public Schools Central Office probably has some information on that. The Department of Education at the U certainly would.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, Catherine Watson is here this morning on Midday. She is the travel writer for the Star Tribune. And we are talking travel. If you have a question, we have a couple of lines open now. The number in the Twin Cities is 227-6000. Outside of the metropolitan area, anywhere you can hear the broadcast, you can call toll free with your question at 1-800-242-2828.

And if you get a busy signal, I encourage you to hang up and try again because we're going to try to get through as many calls in the next hour here as we can. Let's go back to the phones. Ed is in Malacca. Good morning.

AUDIENCE: Good morning. We're going to be in Monterrey, Mexico. And we're going to be going down to San Luis Potosi. And we're trying to decide whether to go through Ciudad Victoria or Zacatecas and Aguascalientes. Do you know either of those routes or which would be the most scenic for mountains and stuff?

MARK ZDECHLIK: You start out by giving us an idea of where he's talking about in Mexico.

CATHERINE WATSON: Oh, Mexico. This is, well, sort of all over, actually. I've been through both routes, but I haven't been there in probably 30 years. My family did a lot of trailer camping. And we went into Mexico twice. I went down one way and came back the other way.

I would go inland for mountains. A good topographical map will show you that. You might also want to talk to Sanborns, which you probably know about. Sanborns does insurance for people entering Mexico, but they also put together a kind of a-- not exactly road map, but a road guide for Mexico.

When you drive in, your US insurance stops being good. So you need to buy Mexican insurance. And Sanborns is one of the brokers that has places along the border that you can buy Mexican insurance from. Sanborns puts together maps and driving instructions for wherever you want to go. And it will say things like, take the third dirt road on the left and drive 1.5 miles. I would give one of the Sanborns' offices a call and tell them exactly what you're looking for. Ask what they can recommend.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Mexico in general is a destination. Obviously, it's very popular with people who live in this part of the country during the winter. What's hot, for lack of a better term, in Mexico right now?

CATHERINE WATSON: I always kind of dread that question because any place is hot, depending on what you're looking for. Backpackers and budget travel people are probably going to beaches that none of us have ever heard of and finding tiny villages where you can't get a restaurant meal, just living off local people. The tip of Baja is big. Baja has been a lot in the news in the last few years. Desert camping has been big. Kayaking off that area in the waters between in the Gulf of California.

And Mexico has done some things like putting in oil stations, gas stations along the routes that you can actually drive in and have gasoline at necessary points. It's much less rugged, much less risky going in. They've developed, as I mentioned before, around Huatulco, the bays of Huatulco, south of Oaxaca, anywhere, actually, along the-- I think Mexico has something like 6,000 miles of beaches. And the government is timing when it will do developments. So there are plenty of places that have good beaches that just aren't developed yet.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Anything you'd recommend people stay away from if they're trying to plan a trip to Mexico because of overcrowding or whatever it might be?

CATHERINE WATSON: Well, the major resorts that you've heard of forever, Acapulco being probably the best known. If you like big cities, if you like, the sort of Waikiki atmosphere, they're fine. Cancun is pretty big and pretty busy, too. If you want something private, I'd pick one of the smaller ones, obviously. But the biggest warning for Mexico is probably water still. You still don't drink water even in really good hotels without some penalty. And--

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, Catherine Watson is here on Midday this morning. Coming up on 20 minutes past 11 o'clock-- 17 minutes actually past 11. If you have a question about travel, you can join the conversation by calling 227-6000 in the Twin Cities. Outside of the Twin Cities, anywhere you can hear the broadcast, you can call toll free with your question at 1-800-242-2828.

Lee is listening in. Baldwin, Wisconsin. Thanks for waiting. You're on now.

AUDIENCE: Yes, hello.

CATHERINE WATSON: Hello.

AUDIENCE: Yes, I'm going to England next month. And I want to take some traveler's checks with me in English pounds, because we're going to be staying on a lot of B and B's. Where's the best buy in Saint Paul for those kind of checks?

CATHERINE WATSON: I'm a Minneapolitan. I'm stuck. I would do some phoning, check with American Express, which, as I understand it, for about the last year has stopped charging fees on its foreign currency exchanges and its foreign traveler's checks. I would check what rate they can give you.

And a couple of-- you might check a couple of the banks. You might check teller ticket at the airport, which also does traveler's checks, I believe, for England. But when I-- I did some checking on this about two months ago. And the best rate seemed to be American Express, but they also have an enormous range of foreign checks available.

MARK ZDECHLIK: What do you recommend for people who are planning a trip? Should they bring a lot of traveler's checks, or is that now almost getting old that you can survive with a cash credit card or a cash card?

CATHERINE WATSON: A cash card seems to be everybody's favorite right at the moment. If you've got a cash card through your own bank and your bank-- or your system has a number of outlets overseas. Cash card is instant. Credit card is also good. And I use that one because I can never remember my cash card number. I'm sorry to say that.

But those are probably the quickest ways to get yourself foreign money at a pretty reasonable exchange rate without lots of standing in line and without paying a commission on top of it. Sometimes even with foreign traveler's checks, even with checks in English pounds or in French francs, sometimes if you're working-- if you're cashing them at a bank, you will still pay some kind of changing fee, simply for the convenience of the bank above and beyond whatever you've paid to get them the money into that form.

It's not supposed to work like that. But sometimes banks slap on their own fees that you have to figure in terms of what money you're actually walking away with.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Have cash machines basically made their way throughout the entire modern world--

CATHERINE WATSON: The modern world, the developed world, you bet. Yeah. I don't know that I'd try it in the third world, but.

MARK ZDECHLIK: All right, let's go back to the phones. Bill is listening in Saint Louis Park. Good morning.

AUDIENCE: Cathy, can you comment on after the hurricane in Hawaii, whether it's worth going back, or should we wait a while?

CATHERINE WATSON: Oh, I think can go back now. Kauai was the one that was the hardest hit. And they had a hurricane action line that you could call for updates on what was going on with hotels and so on. And that went out of business, I think, about six months ago. They had it running for about a year or 15 months. One of our staffers was back in the winter. And there are still some things that are down, and some things that aren't open. But yeah, foliage grows back pretty fast. And virtually, all the hotels are open.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Hurricane Hugo was big in the news a couple of years ago, maybe even more than that. Some of those countries-- I think Jamaica, are they still hurting from that?

CATHERINE WATSON: Not that I've read lately. Not that I've read lately. What hurts the Caribbean countries the most is political stuff, especially Jamaica. Lots more-- I mean, for the year after hurricane, yeah. But if it's being hurt now, it's political and also reports of attacks on Western tourists, particularly those staying in villas, where they've had villas broken into. We've had, I think, three or four Minnesotans in the last two years had different parties attacked while they were sleeping.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Are there any places-- and maybe you're making the recommendation right now, but are there any places you just recommend people do not go?

CATHERINE WATSON: War zones. Amazingly enough, we would get questions when there were problems in Nicaragua and Salvador. They're still temporarily-- still are, realistically. But when things were really, really hot in those countries, we'd get calls from people wanting to drive across all of Central America. And was that going to be a problem?

And the answer is maybe, probably. We don't know. But there are areas that are just too hot. Rwanda, you don't want-- there are places you don't want to go. But there are plenty of places that Americans get scared off of. Tourism to Central America as a whole will drop if there's any kind of political problem in one of the countries. So we tend to think a lot of things are contagious when they're not.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Is there some state agency or government agency?

CATHERINE WATSON: Yeah.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Why don't you give that information on?

CATHERINE WATSON: I can't give you the phone number off the top of my head. But it's the Citizens Emergency Center in Washington, DC. It's run by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, which is part of the State Department. And it puts out an updates periodically a couple times a year, reports called Travel Advisories on all countries of the world.

So when you call, you go through a really elaborate menu keying in the countries you want to hear about. And I think you can hear up to three at a time per phone call. And they will tell you what the health risks are, what the political risks are, even what kinds of conventions are likely to happen that will make hotels crowded at different times.

They aren't perfect. Sometimes there will be-- the Jamaica ones, for example, were getting complaints from Minnesotans who had had problems in Jamaica. And the Jamaica Travel Advisory didn't mention that kind of thing. So they've got loopholes. But that's a real good, cheap way to get up-to-date information.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, I think that same information, too, is available through the internet on the computer. So you can access it.

CATHERINE WATSON: And you can also get the stuff faxed to you.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, let's go back to the phones. Marvin, you're on with Catherine Watson. Good morning.

AUDIENCE: Good morning. We're going to Aruba in August. And I was just wondering if you'd have any information that would be valuable to us.

CATHERINE WATSON: Nothing specific. That's an island I've not been to. And I don't know about summer travel in the Caribbean, except that it's cheaper. Minnesotans tend to go everyplace in the winter. And people in other parts of the country have figured out that the bargains are there in the summertime, and the weather's still lovely.

I would check with your travel agent, check a couple of good guidebooks. There is a Caribbean tourism office. A number of nations have joined together to run one office in New York, but I don't have that address in my head.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, Jane in Saint Paul, you're on with Catherine Watson.

AUDIENCE: Yes, I've been abroad several times. And I prefer going on smaller tours and not the ones that have 40 people to a bus. I used to find these smaller tours and travel notes on Sunday, but I see you've decided not to put them anymore. So I've had to buy the Pioneer Press and other major cities' newspapers. And I was wondering why you don't do that.

CATHERINE WATSON: It's real simple. The last time I did a look at the number of tours available in adventure travel alone, there was something like 30,000. We were being bombarded with requests that we print announcements of tours. And they were essentially free ads. And our decision, which has annoyed some readers, was that we would print anything in travel notes, which are little squibs telling you what you can do on your own. We used to run things like historical society tours, which I think are really wonderful.

But we decided that we would stop running tours in general and would run only information on slideshows, informational things, courses you could take, and how to travel, how to go on a budget, that kind of thing, things that were either very, very inexpensive or free to the public that would help them travel better, but that would not promote commercial interests for a particular tour operator. And it was kind of a hard decision because there are a lot of small tours that fall in between or non-profit group tours, but we had to lose those in order to put the lid on the commercial ones.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Is it true that right now, basically, there's a tour for any type of group that you want to be associated with to almost any place? People like to see orange buildings in California will be leaving in a month for that. I mean, very specific.

CATHERINE WATSON: Very specific. And you also put together your own if you get enough people together. There's a wonderful publication called the Specialty Travel Index that you can get through-- you can find a copy at the public libraries and take a look at it. It comes out twice a year. And I think it's $10 a year. It's something really cheap. And it lists thousands of tours, usually small ones, on specific interests. Like, if you want to go water coloring somewhere, if you want to try archeology, you can find a tour that is dovetailed to that.

MARK ZDECHLIK: As the population shifts and more and more-- a greater percentage of the population is older, senior citizens, people who are just starting to retire. Are there more opportunities in terms of travel for these folks, too, and more programs geared specifically to their needs?

CATHERINE WATSON: Yes, older travel, for lack of a better word-- we used to call it senior travel. And then it dawned on me that I was writing about my own age group, which sort of shook me up. Travel by people whose kids are grown is probably the best way to put it. People who are either still working or are newly retired and in good health is a huge, huge chunk of the travel industry and growing.

A lot of these soft adventure trips that you read about, anything from rafting the Grand Canyon to group hikes in the Andes, there are many, many guided adventure tours that are really aimed at that market because they're extremely expensive. That group has money and health. And the whole soft adventure trend is part of-- is a response to that.

The tough adventure travel is done by 18- and 20-year-olds. And they don't need any guides. They're out there mountain biking on their own. But yeah, you'll see more of that.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Given the cost and the commitment associated with going on-- I mean, if you're going to go hiking in the Andes, it's going to-- you're going to pay for it. And also, you're going to spend a lot of time. And you're probably putting yourself in a situation that you're not familiar with. Is there some group to call to find out whether the tour group you're using is reputable and they know what they're doing and you're getting your money's worth?

CATHERINE WATSON: That's trickier. You can call the Better Business Bureau in the state where the tour operator is located. And that's a good bit of advice, even if it's-- especially if it's a deal that sounds unbelievably good. The travel scam industry is also growing because vacations are popular. People will invest money in a vacation when they would do tons of research if they were investing in anything else. But they'll do it because the deal sounds good or the airfare sounds low.

So if you're in doubt about anything, check the BBB for the home state of the organization that's offering what you're talking about. You can also check travel agencies locally. Usually, we live in an extremely clean part of the country, and travel agencies are responsible here and very good.

So if you take a tour and it works out badly, you usually can get some help from your travel agency. You can also check with the American Society of Travel Agents, ASTA, which has an office in the Washington, DC, area. They have a consumer affairs department. And you can ask them if they've had any problems or complaints--

MARK ZDECHLIK: As is--

CATHERINE WATSON: --about what you're looking at.

MARK ZDECHLIK: As is the case with any big purchase, it doesn't hurt to put it on a credit card, and that's going to back you up a little bit. Catherine Watson is here on Midday this morning, and we're talking travel. Triss Is listening in Minneapolis. Good morning. You're on.

AUDIENCE: Good morning.

CATHERINE WATSON: Hello.

AUDIENCE: Hello?

CATHERINE WATSON: Hello.

AUDIENCE: Yes, I would like to know what the precautions and the kind of shots you need to travel to Ethiopia.

CATHERINE WATSON: I don't know them off the top of my head. You can find that out-- probably the easiest way is to call a travel clinic in the Twin Cities' area. If you have a health care provider that has a travel clinic of its own, call there first. You can also call the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. It's a federal organization, and there is a hotline. Again, I don't have the number memorized, but you can get that number from the phone book.

MARK ZDECHLIK: What is a travel clinic?

CATHERINE WATSON: A travel clinic is aimed at providing good health care, preventative health care for people going overseas, whether it's to Western Europe or Ethiopia or, you name it, Timbuktu.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And presumably, they know what diseases are there and--

CATHERINE WATSON: They're up to date on every single thing you're going to need-- what inoculations; whether you need malaria, which is needed in a lot more places than most Americans think; what kind of precautions to take in terms of accidents; are they having particular kinds of problems; rabies; you name it. And they can provide not only the information, but also all of the necessary prescriptions and shots.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, let's go back to the phones. Fran is in Longville. You're on Minnesota Public Radio with Catherine Watson.

AUDIENCE: OK, we have grandchildren who are going to be going to school in Salzburg and Prague next fall. And we want to visit them probably in October and then go down to the Greek islands. Now we've been to Athens and Crete, but could you suggest a couple of other islands where we could spend several days and just kind of relax?

CATHERINE WATSON: I'm not sure if you can relax in a lot of the Greek islands now. They're so popular, especially with Europeans. One that I would recommend you see if you haven't seen it, is Santorini, which is the widely believed to be the source of the legend of Atlantis. The island is the remains of an old volcano. And it's really the outer ring of a sort of donut-shaped island. And it is fascinating to read about, interesting to be at, very beautiful, and by October should be pretty quiet, relatively quiet.

MARK ZDECHLIK: What's the best way to get around Europe right now? Is it still--

CATHERINE WATSON: Eurail pass. I think, yeah.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And how about traveling the former Eastern Europe? How is that working out? Have you been over there recently?

CATHERINE WATSON: Not since '89. I was there right before the various pieces of the Iron Curtain finally frayed and blew away. I think if you haven't traveled there before, I would say rail, again. But driving is perfectly fine, too.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And maybe in some of the former Eastern Bloc countries, the infrastructure might not be what you would see in Munich or something or Vienna being prepared for that.

CATHERINE WATSON: Even East Berlin is not the same as West Berlin still. But it's there. They're trying to modernize quickly. Even Romania has terrific roads. Doesn't necessarily have terrific places to stay or, when I was there, food in the restaurants. But the roads were great.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Do you recommend a specific line of guidebooks or any specific travel books right now for people who want more information about someplace?

CATHERINE WATSON: I have two favorites, although there are a ton of real good ones and more coming out. It's a real hot corner of the publishing industry. But my two favorites are Lonely Planet, which is aimed at budget travelers in really exotic places. I mean, every corner of the globe literally has a Lonely Planet guide. And they're small, and they're portable.

And then for background reading, before you go somewhere, look at the Insight Guide series. These are large format paperbacks with terrific information on culture, history, background, as well as some nitty-gritty modern stuff.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, it's 29 minutes before 12:00 noon. You're listening to Midday on Minnesota Public Radio. Catherine Watson is here. She is a travel writer for the Star Tribune newspaper. Jo is listening in Horton, Minnesota. You're on the air with Catherine Watson. Thanks for calling.

AUDIENCE: Sure. It's hot in Michigan, by the way.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Houghton, Michigan.

AUDIENCE: Yes. Catherine, I have a chance to go to Venice in November, and I have two questions about it. What's the weather going to be like then, do you think? And how about the money exchange? I'll shut off and listen on the radio.

CATHERINE WATSON: OK, there's no way to predict what the US dollar is going to do. Even when there is, I'm not the person to do it. I would simply check with banks or check with your travel agent or the Italian government tourist office in Chicago before you go to find out what the exchange rate. That probably shouldn't be a condition of deciding to go or not.

I think the weather can be rainy and chill. On the other hand, there will be very few tourists there in November. And it's a beautiful city, even in the absolute dead of winter and pouring rain. But again, a travel agency, a good guidebook-- there's a fine Insight Guide on Venice alone. And the Italian government tourist office should be able to help you.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, I'm going to give that phone number out again. We have some lines opening up if you have a question for Catherine Watson. If you're listening to the Twin Cities, you can call in at 227-6000. That's 227-6000 if you're listening in the Twin Cities. Outside of the metro area, anywhere you can hear the broadcast, you can call Catherine Watson toll free with your question at 1-800-242-2828.

Pat in Belle Plaine, good morning. You're on.

AUDIENCE: Good morning. First, I want to tell Ms. Watson how much I enjoy all of her travel articles.

CATHERINE WATSON: Thank you.

AUDIENCE: And I'm wondering if she has any plans to update her travel book.

CATHERINE WATSON: Oh, the basics book. Sometimes I have plans to do that, actually. But we have nothing formal right now. The book that the caller is referring to came out in 1986 and was a collection of tips to beginning travelers that we put together about two years before that. We have talked about coming up with another kind of series that would meet the same needs. So in a way, we think it will be back in some form. Whether it will be book form or not, I'm not sure.

MARK ZDECHLIK: I think--

CATHERINE WATSON: Thank you.

MARK ZDECHLIK: --anybody would agree that you have a very, very interesting job. How did you get involved? How did you become a travel writer?

CATHERINE WATSON: I started by being very dissatisfied little kid. I wanted to go to exotic places from the time I could read. And my best friend and I spent our childhoods acting out the Tarzan books, not the movies. We had to be very specific about that with adults. We were using the original books. And planning to go to Africa. We never, ever did get to Central Africa. It's a place I'd like to go still.

And I simply traveled all my childhood and life with my folks. I was an exchange student in high school and in college and ended up in journalism and kept traveling. When the travel section started about 15 years ago, applied for the job.

MARK ZDECHLIK: I wanted to ask you, how did the travel section of the newspaper evolve? For a lot of people, including myself, that's a real highlight of the Sunday paper. To pull that section out and read about some exotic place far away and look at the pictures and then maybe check out some ticket prices and this sort of thing. Has it always been as popular as it is now and--

CATHERINE WATSON: Almost from the beginning. It was started in '78, I think, or '79, late '78. And the idea behind it was advertising driven, like most things are in this world. The advertising department said they felt they had enough support from the travel community to support a separate section. And it was true from the beginning. It sort of took off and has remained well supported by advertising right through the various recessions we've had.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Any thumbnail rules of what can and can't appear in the travel section when you-- what will make the paper and what won't make it in terms of travel articles, that sort of thing?

CATHERINE WATSON: Well, we debate that a lot. We have an ongoing debate-- and this is true in every paper I know of with the travel section-- between whether you emphasize utility, which is exactly what you need to know to get on the bus going from Heathrow into London, or whether you emphasize armchair travel, which lots and lots of readers like, even if they might not go to the place you're writing about. They will do exactly what you said, read the dream story, and then check out the ads for what they can do that weekend.

We're trying to do both of those things now. We've got standing features that are done by another staffer on Midwestern and USA getaways every week that are very, very specific to the trip. And then we're doing a range of other kinds of stories, including the one that is simply a good read in the tradition of old-fashioned travel writing.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, Randall in-- or Mardell in Randall, Minnesota, you're on Minnesota Public Radio with Catherine Watson.

AUDIENCE: Ms Watson, I was just going to say, too, that I have enjoyed your travel pieces for many years in the paper. But we were recently-- I was recently with a travel tour group in Spain. And we found the people rather rude to us. Is that the generally thought? Is that true, or was it just our group or--

CATHERINE WATSON: Well, it's always hard to generalize on rudeness overseas. Paris has the worst reputation probably of any in Europe in terms of the French weren't nice to us, which is the complaint we get a lot. The problem is that in any tourist town-- and this is true in the States as well-- people get darn tired of tourists.

And sometimes a perfectly nice tourist gets the reaction that somebody else actually caused. If a waiter is very, very tired and the last person he waited on was an American who was rude to him, the next American who sits down is probably not going to get really great treatment. But that's true in Northern Minnesota resort towns. That's true in Illinois. That's true every place I've ever been where there's a mass of tourists. Hawaii, for that matter. You get service people who are tired.

So I would say it's generally not true. If you're away from places that are crowded with tourists, most people, most places are nice.

MARK ZDECHLIK: What kind of responsibilities do people have as tourists?

CATHERINE WATSON: Trying not to make judgments, try not to get angry. If something doesn't go your way, if something isn't what you expected, take it as slowly and easily as you can. If you didn't get the room you thought you were promised, don't throw an American fit.

The Minnesotans have a slight advantage here because we have this reputation for being so Minnesota nice. Be as sweet as you can. You usually do get farther. There are things like the frequent flier call before where being nice isn't going to help you. Sometimes if there is a way to bend a rule, being nice is going to get it bent quicker.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And just don't have expectations of something you don't understand.

CATHERINE WATSON: Right, don't make great conclusions based on a single event. There's an old tip from cross-cultural communication. It's sort of like the advice where if you're lost in the forest, the first thing you should do is hug a tree to calm yourself down. If you find yourself getting overly emotional, whether it's wildly angry or madly in love, quite often, there's a cross-cultural misunderstanding going on.

Usually, it's the anger one that is the big problem. But if you find yourself getting horribly frustrated and angry in a situation overseas, stop and think about whether there's another interpretation for the cause. Because you may be caught in a cross-cultural glitch, where your behavior signals something, and they're signal something to you, and they don't match.

MARK ZDECHLIK: You're listening to Midday on Minnesota Public Radio. 21 minutes now before 12:00 noon. Catherine Watson is here. She is the travel writer for the Star Tribune newspaper. And we are talking about travel and vacations. If you have a question and you're listening in the Twin Cities, 227-6000 is the number to dial. If you're outside of the metropolitan area and you have a question, anywhere you can hear the broadcast, you can call toll free with your question at 1-800-242-2828.

Martha in Minneapolis, thanks for waiting. You're on Minnesota Public Radio.

AUDIENCE: Hi. I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for travel, especially outside the United States for people with disabilities, especially wheelchair users.

CATHERINE WATSON: In terms of specific places, my hunch would be Britain, which has done a great deal to make its sites accessible. But what you really should be doing is contacting one of the organizations that specializes in handicapped travel. There is m, Flying Wheels in Owatonna, Minnesota, which is known nationally. And there are several others. Wilderness Inquiry does wilderness trips for all sorts of ability levels. And there are several others in town. Flying Wheels can put you in touch with them.

MARK ZDECHLIK: I just got a book the other day, too. I wish I remember. It was one of the big travel guides. It was a whole inch and a half book full of information about travel for people with disabilities. That's probably a growing market as well.

CATHERINE WATSON: Definitely, yeah. There is another organization, and the name absolutely escapes me that is also Minneapolis based that does a great deal of tailor-made travel for people with disabilities. And if you want to give me a call at the Star Tribune office next week, then I'll look it up for you.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Another good place to start probably once again, right at the library. Find all that information. Let's go back to the phones. Joan is listening somewhere in Northern Minnesota in an undisclosed location.

AUDIENCE: Hi.

CATHERINE WATSON: Hi.

AUDIENCE: I'm interested in volunteer teaching. I'm a teacher summer teaching. I saw an article in the travel a few years back, and I haven't been able to contact that place. I don't know how to get to the information.

CATHERINE WATSON: If you're looking for an all-summer kind of thing, I probably can't help you, but I would try the Department of Education at the U and see what they know. There are a number of short-term volunteer programs, including-- there are a couple locally based. The best known is Global Volunteers, which is based in Saint Paul-- that takes people to developing countries for two-week stints, building schools, doing whatever a particular community needs.

They're, again, sort of like maybe Peace Corps, short-term Peace Corps projects. And those are volunteers. Anybody can do those sorts of things with, I think, even a minimum number of skills. Volunteer teaching for a full summer would be a different deal. And you'd need to be in touch with school systems.

MARK ZDECHLIK: These many Peace Corps, as you refer to, do they fly you down to these countries?

CATHERINE WATSON: Yep.

MARK ZDECHLIK: They do?

CATHERINE WATSON: Yep, you essentially are spending your vacation helping somebody. You pay a fee the way you would to any tour group. And it includes airfare and your living costs. And it's usually very cheap. And because they're doing public service work, they're tax deductible. The similar thing is the Earthwatch study tour kind of thing where you help a researcher for two-week stints or longer, and those are also tax deductible.

MARK ZDECHLIK: The educational vacation, so to speak. OK, let's go back to the phones. Dick is listening in Wayzata. You're on Minnesota Public Radio with Catherine Watson. Hello?

CATHERINE WATSON: Hello.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Well, maybe Dick is not listening in Wayzata. Let's take another call, see if we can get somebody on here.

AUDIENCE: Hi.

CATHERINE WATSON: Hi.

MARK ZDECHLIK: You're on the air.

AUDIENCE: Thank you. Catherine, love your columns.

CATHERINE WATSON: Thank you.

AUDIENCE: You're a great storyteller.

CATHERINE WATSON: Thank you.

AUDIENCE: You take us along on the journey. We're going to London for the first time, coming up in a couple of months. And I don't really understand that tax, VAT, what is it? Value-added tax.

CATHERINE WATSON: Value-added tax, you run into that all over Europe.

AUDIENCE: They indicated there was a way to bypass it. I don't know what that means.

CATHERINE WATSON: There is, and it's complicated. And if you're doing a lot of shopping, if you spend a lot of money, it's worth doing. It's worth trying to bypass it. The British tourist authority in Chicago can give you the details on it and probably send you a form.

I use this once in Italy about a year ago, where I'd made a large purchase. You fill out forms at the time of purchase, or you get statements on particular forms that verify that you are not a citizen of the country. And months later, I think it was six months, in this case, you get a check for the difference, for the refund on the taxes that you've paid.

MARK ZDECHLIK: What percentages are these valued at?

CATHERINE WATSON: I think about 18%. It's high. And you pay it on rental cars as well, which is sort of a shock when you come to pay your rental car bill.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, let's go back to the phones. Jim is listening in Saint Paul. You're on Minnesota Public Radio with Catherine Watson.

AUDIENCE: Yes, Catherine, we'd like to take a golf vacation after Labor Day. And the trouble is, if you go north, a lot of the resorts are either shut down or cold. And we're looking for information south of the Twin Cities.

CATHERINE WATSON: In Minnesota, though, or in-- how far south do you want to go?

AUDIENCE: Well, probably not south of Des Moines.

CATHERINE WATSON: OK, your best bet really is to talk to the state tourism offices in Minnesota and Iowa. Both are well set up to answer that question. They can probably give you a list of golf courses and what their opening dates are. But I would go that route, or check golfing magazines.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, let's take another call. Virginia is listening in Brooklyn Center. Good morning.

AUDIENCE: Good morning. And my question is, I have traveled quite a bit, but I do know that there are customs in different countries that you can make a gesture or say something that is offensive to the person. And I wonder if you have any information on a book or where I could get information so that I would be correct in the country that I'm visiting.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Can I ask, could you travel a lot?

AUDIENCE: Yes, I have.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And why did you-- how was your interest piqued in particular, just out of curiosity?

AUDIENCE: Well, in China, I know that they don't like you to touch them. And in some countries, they don't like you to smile at them because it's too personal. And I just would like to be correct wherever I go.

CATHERINE WATSON: This is a really good question. And a piece that I think a lot of us don't think of when we're traveling, it's the old advice to Americans used to be-- just be natural. Just be yourself. When we're ourselves, we make a lot of mistakes as this listener is correctly pointing out.

The most recent book on this topic that will answer the most of your questions about the greatest number of places is called Do's and Don'ts Around the World. It's by Roger T. Axtell, A-X-T-E-L-L. It's paperback, and I believe it's available in most bookstores or at least could be ordered. And it covers exactly the kind of taboo you're talking about, things like you don't point the bottoms of your feet at people in certain Middle Eastern cultures because it's insulting. You don't use your left hand to eat with in India, that kind of thing.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And knowing this stuff could really make the difference between having a nice experience in a country. And--

CATHERINE WATSON: We should go back for a second to the question of rudeness. I ran into that a lot in Paris on the first few times I was there. And then was there with my husband, who had lived there for a while before I got there. And I was having trouble in shops. Because I would be as polite as I could, and people were still being really obnoxious to me when I would walk out, even after I'd made a purchase.

And what he pointed out to me was that I was doing the American thing, which is to focus the entire transaction at the cash register. That's where I said hello. That's where I was polite. That's where I said thank you and goodbye. And in French shops and Parisian shops, you say hello when you come in the door, and you say goodbye when you leave at the door.

So I was being rude as I walked away from the cash register because I was silent when I left the door. And I started to do that. And shops that I was visiting regularly, food shops and a couple of clothing stores suddenly were wonderfully polite to me.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Coming up on--

CATHERINE WATSON: So that's a cross cultural.

MARK ZDECHLIK: --12 minutes now before noon on Midday on Minnesota Public Radio. Catherine Watson is here from the Star Tribune. And we're talking about travel and vacationing. Julie's listening in Saint Paul. You're on Minnesota Public Radio.

AUDIENCE: I'll be traveling to Asia, and I'll be traveling about three weeks by myself. I've never been there. I don't speak the language. And I was wondering if you had any suggestions for a first timer.

CATHERINE WATSON: What parts of Asia? Where will you be?

AUDIENCE: No idea. I don't know much about it, but I want to try something new.

CATHERINE WATSON: OK, there--

AUDIENCE: Been to Europe a whole bunch of times, so I thought I'd try out Asia's there.

CATHERINE WATSON: OK, I would start at the library or a very good travel bookstore and take a look at the Lonely Planet series. They are written by people who have traveled in the remoter parts of any-- any title has people who've been to places almost no one will go. They have extremely good outlines of what the culture is like, what kinds of things you can see, what to watch out for. Browse those books.

And when you've got your places pinned down, then you can talk to individual tourist offices. You can talk to a travel agent. You can ask specific questions if you call or get specific information from the Citizens Emergency Center.

The biggest problem for women traveling alone in third-world countries is that we're perceived then as sexually loose. Part of that is American movies, and part of that is that we're traveling alone when women of good repute in that country don't. So simply by traveling alone, you've broken some rules. And you have sent a cross-cultural message. So a lot of your behavior needs to be modified so that you don't add to that message.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, let's take another call. Stuart is listening in Minneapolis. You're on Minnesota Public Radio with Catherine Watson.

AUDIENCE: Hi. I had a question about a train trip to Vancouver. I'm going to be traveling, not in a sleeper car. And I was wondering if you had any tips. Thanks.

CATHERINE WATSON: Bring a pillow. It's long. I'm assuming you're going not from Seattle to Vancouver, but across the plains. Is this--

AUDIENCE: Minneapolis, yeah.

CATHERINE WATSON: Yeah, OK. Yeah, it'll be long-- it'll be a lot more comfortable in an airplane, because the seats are reclined better, both on US trains and via rail in Canada. But be prepared. You might want to bring a blanket, too. You can check with the train company, whichever one you're using, to find out if any of that stuff is available on board. I don't think it is in coach, but bring some way of staying warm and your favorite pillow and a lot of books.

MARK ZDECHLIK: How would you rate the popularity of rail travel in this part of the world right now?

CATHERINE WATSON: It's not very popular because there isn't enough of it, I think. But there are some wonderful train trips in this part of the world. I took a trip via rail in Canada from Winnipeg to Churchill, Manitoba, to look at polar bears. It's a wonderful trip. I love trains. There's a bias. I ran into some tourists who hated the same trip because they thought it was boring. But I liked trains, and I like being on them.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Talk about that. I was thinking about that. I had that in mind because I think we had spoken about that the last time you were on. But talk a little bit about that trip and how people find out more information about that. That sounds like a really neat trip.

CATHERINE WATSON: It is. The train trip is good. And the polar bears, which migrate through Churchill, Manitoba, in the fall, usually in October, are fascinating. There's a whole polar bear industry up there in this little town of about 1,000 people. Canadian consulate in Minneapolis has information and can put you in touch with-- can give you the addresses that you can use to contact people in Churchill to get more information.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And that's a popular fall tour than-- pretty much, that's how they do it. OK, all right, nine minutes before 12:00 noon. You're listening to Midday on Minnesota Public Radio. Let's go back to the phones. Joan is in Saint Paul. Good morning.

AUDIENCE: Good morning. Hi. Several weeks ago in the paper, there was an address given in Laguna Beach, California. They gave information on campus travel in Europe. I wrote and sent them--

CATHERINE WATSON: I know the story. It's an old address. The correct one runs Sunday. This is for a book that is put together by a California travel agency that lists free accommodation-- or very cheap accommodations, I should say, in dormitories around the world, mostly in the US, some in Canada, and some elsewhere. The address was simply their old one. So the correct address runs this Sunday.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, well, look for that a reason to buy a copy of the Star Tribune.

CATHERINE WATSON: Indeed.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Let's go back to the phones. John is listening somewhere.

AUDIENCE: Yes. Wanted to ask a question about Jamaica. We're going to be getting married hopefully sometime in the fall of next year. And just wondering first about Jamaica as a first thing. And then second of all, what do you think of the all-inclusive tours as opposed to just getting a hotel and doing our own thing?

CATHERINE WATSON: Let me try the last one first. It depends really on what you want. One of the advantages of an all-inclusive tour is essentially that you're paying a fixed rate and you pay it up front so that if the dollar goes through the floor or prices rise, you're protected. The catch with that is if you really like to get off on your own, you may be limited because you're going to be going with a number of other people, and you're on somebody else's itinerary.

If you really love exploring on your own, I would see if you can get an air hotel package, maybe an air hotel car package and then take off. Those packages do exist in season when the destination is really popular.

Going back to Jamaica, the main concern I have with Jamaica comes from incidents where people staying at remote villas, even guarded ones, ones with their own guards, have had break-ins, which are frightening and costly. In terms of staying in a resort community that is larger and not remote, we haven't heard any problems there. But again, I would check I would check with the State Department Citizens Emergency Line to see what the latest stuff is.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Do you recommend any Caribbean countries right now that maybe are not as popular as the Jamaica's and Grand Cayman and some of these places?

CATHERINE WATSON: I hear a lot about Trinidad and Tobago as a sort of alternative.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And if you're going to someplace like Trinidad, you're not going to find an airfare to Trinidad in the back pages.

CATHERINE WATSON: You might. You might. The ideal is to just to find a destination that is just being developed and does have charter fares. Then you get a break.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, let's take another call. Darlene, you're on Minnesota Public Radio with Catherine Watson.

AUDIENCE: Hi. I have two questions about the cost of airline tickets. Is the best price available through a travel agency or directly through an airline? And secondly, do travel agencies make commissions on every sale? So the more the ticket costs, the more they make?

CATHERINE WATSON: Yes, in answer to the latter one. Travel agencies make their money in commissions that are paid by the airline or by the hotel or by the car rental line. The thing that people tend not to understand is that that is built in.

If you call an airline, by and large, unless there's a very unusual deal and the airline hears about it before the travel agent does, which I don't know of any cases where that's happened, your ticket is going to cost you the same, whether you buy that ticket from the airline or from a travel agent. The airline simply pays the travel agent a portion of the price if they sell the ticket.

The reason for that is that it allows the airlines not to be in the business of selling tickets. They do it, but they don't maintain separate ticket offices. Travel agencies are ticket offices, essentially, for airlines, although they do many, many other services.

There are peculiar airlines and peculiar deals that you can sometimes find out about through other sources. But I have never found that a call directly to the airline got me a better ticket price than my travel agent could get me. And in some cases, my travel agent has quoted me a price that I can't get the person working for airline x to find in her computer.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Charter airlines are popular around here in the winter time, filling up a big old 727 with a bunch of dipped in milk white Minnesotans on their way down to get sunburned in Cancun or something like that. The charters also run in the summer around here?

CATHERINE WATSON: They do. They do. They run to Europe, though. The charters go where the demand is. And it's Europe in the summer and hot places in the winter. And they're very good deals. There are some drawbacks.

They are not regularly scheduled airlines. You usually have to show up at the airline terminal about twice as long in advance as you would for a regularly scheduled carrier. Sometimes it's like four hours in advance of the flight. They can be bumped. They can be postponed. You can waste a day waiting for it to take off. But I've used travel, charter travel to go to Mexico in the winter, probably 10 years in a row, and had trouble maybe only once.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And it can be very affordable if you compare it to--

CATHERINE WATSON: Very.

MARK ZDECHLIK: --the major airlines. Let's take one more call. Barbara, thanks for waiting.

AUDIENCE: Hi. I often travel alone or with other women. And unlike other people who like to be off the beaten path, we like to be in the heart of the city. When selecting a hotel, how can we determine the relative safety of the neighborhood?

CATHERINE WATSON: That's a real tricky one. If you really want to be safe, I guess you could call the main police station and ask them. And I think that sounds far fetched, but I don't think it really is. I think anything a woman can do to keep herself safe is worth doing.

Quite often, good guidebooks, most guidebooks will tell you, when they list hotels, they're going to list the ones that are the best known. There's that problem, and they're going to list ones that cost a little more than you might be able to get on your own. But they will be listing hotels in areas that are safe for tourists or relatively safe.

So I would take a look at the guidebooks for the areas that you want. You can also look at guidebooks that are aimed at women. There's a series-- there is also a series-- it's usable by anybody-- put out by Virago Press that has a series on cities. They've got a new one on New York, and that will be a little more to the point. Travel agents can also help you there.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, well, Catherine Watson, thank you so much for coming in. We really appreciate it. It's always a pleasure to have you here. And I know the listeners like it. You can judge that by the phones lighting up whenever we say you're available to answer travel questions. And you're off to Honduras.

CATHERINE WATSON: Honduras in August.

MARK ZDECHLIK: And then where next?

CATHERINE WATSON: I don't know. After that, I'd like to do French Canada in the fall.

MARK ZDECHLIK: OK, Catherine Watson is the travel writer for the Star Tribune newspaper. And you probably know her work from paging through her articles every Sunday. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it. And thanks to all of you who called in with your questions and to those of you who listened. Sorry about the people who are left on the line as the hour has ended here.

The technical directors for the broadcast have been David Schliep and Clifford Bentley. Kitty Eisele produced the program. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Mark Zdechlik. Midday on Saturday is supported by the Oriental Rug Company, specializing in the sales and service of handmade oriental rugs and located in Minneapolis at 50th and Bryant.