HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: au109@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Craig Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Amtrak - good idea to Denver?
Date: 4 Oct 1992 20:41:52 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


>I am thinking of traveling with my family by train from the east coast
>to Denver.  Is this is a good idea?  We have a four year old.  Has
>anybody taken a youngster on a long train ride?  What would you
>recommend?  Is one route more interesting?  Are sleeping cars worth
>the added expense?  Do they show movies on long train rides?

I think it's a great idea--even though most of the great scenery is
just west of Denver.  Note that the routes east of the Mississippi
are much less enjoyable than those west of the river.  Also--take
a blanket for each rider.  Amtrak will hand out free pillows, but
if you get cold, they'll sell you a blanket for the coach seat
riders.  It'll be a long trip with a several hour layover for lunch
in Chicago.  You'll have to decide for yourself about the four year old.
The good news is that the coach seats have lotsa room and you can wander
the aisles at will which should make the kid less cranky.  The route from
Chicago to Denver is fixed--no real choices.  I'm not sure of the choices
on the east coast, as you don't say where you're starting.  Yes, they
show 'movies'.  Actually, they're videos shown in the snack car.  Seating
is very limited, and as the only area in which smoking is allowed, the
snack car is blue with smoke.  In other words, don't count on the 'movies'
being of any use for the family.  A sleeper may be of use to the
family  if you don't want to be in a large coach.  Note that sleepers 
add a lot to the overall price (but include 3 meals a day, gratis) and
many folks enjoy the comraderie of being in a coach.  Again, you decide.
There is a difference in the style of sleepers east and west of the river.
Check with Amtrak for details.  Are you going round trip or just one way?
If round trip, Amtrak also offers packages with Amtrak one way and flying
the other.

	=Craig=
Newsgroups: rec.travel,nyc.general
From: chetal@is.morgan.com (Pradeep Chetal)
Subject: Manhattan's costly car rental rates. Any alternatives?
Organization: Information Services, Morgan Stanley, NYC
Distribution: ny
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 08:14:24 GMT


Besides buying a car or going REALLY far to pick one!

I am planning to rent a car a few times for rest of the year. Are there
any economical alternatives to big names, which provide decent cars, 
and are NOT way out? What do other Manhattanites w/o cars do?

/Pradeep
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pradeep Chetal		UUCP:	...!uunet!is.morgan.com!chetal
Morgan Stanley		Internet: 	chetal@is.morgan.com
1633 Broadway,		Phone:		(212) 703-2220 (O)
NY, NY 10019				(212) 703-2371 (FAX)
            _______________    __o
        _________________     -\<,
                        ......O/ O
From: leej@sgi.com (Lee Jones)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: South Pacific in December
Date: 2 Oct 1992 22:00:01 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: diver.asd.sgi.com

In article <BvG7A5.3DC@apollo.hp.com> nelson_p@apollo.hp.com (Peter Nelson) writes:
>
>
>  Both my company and that of my wife will have a December shutdown so 
>  we want to go on vacation then.
>
>  We would like to consider the South Pacific, either French Polynesia
>  /Society Islands or maybe Bali (and we were even looking at a nature
>  tour in Borneo).  We have already been to the Great Barrier Reef but
>  we might consider a return.
>
>  We want a relaxing vacation (i.e., not too strenuous or hectic) but
>  some hiking or opportunities for nature-study (birdwatching, marine
>  life etc) or cultural tourism would be good.   A plus would be access
>  to a trained naturalist, anthropologist, for interpretive purposes
>  but this is not a requirement.  
>
>  We were looking for recommendations for *small vessel* (NOT big cruise
>  ships) visits to these places, OR resorts near places of interest to
>  nature or culture study.  
>
>  Thanks very much in advance,
>
Ah!  What you're looking for is CEDAM, in Croton-On-Hudson, NY.  Call
914 information.  They run field trips/vacations for folks that go to 
interesting places (including the South Pacific) and do field work for a 
professional, with professional guidance.  Their list of available trips is
quite fascinating.  I've never done one, but I've talked to people that 
have (mapping the coast of Scotland, doing lemon shark research in the 
Bahamas, chasing fish around a reef in Bonaire) and they also said it was 
a extremely fun and rewarding experience.  

Depending on your moxie and financial status, you can deduct portions of 
your cost from your taxes on account of you're supporting non-profit research.

There are actually a number of organizations that do these things - 
Earthwatch is another, but I don't remember where they are.

Regards, Lee
From: smss@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Syed-Mustaffa SMS)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Exchanging money in Europe
Date: 6 Oct 92 11:06:02 GMT
	<1992Oct2.020435.27910@news.acns.nwu.edu>
	<2ACC8994.29911@news.service.uci.edu>
	<1992Oct3.185051.14631@oz.plymouth.edu>
Organization: Southampton University Computer Science
In-reply-to: tos@oz.plymouth.edu's message of 3 Oct 92 18:50:51 GMT

It would seem that my experience of Amex is different from the US postings.
My regular Amex card will enable me to withdraw cash from any Amex ATM or
from any Credit Lyonnais ATM in France.   All that happens is that Amex
charges me 2 pounds per transaction, on top of the the other costs, for
using the card in this way.   It would seem that Amex operates somewhat
differently in the US?

I've also had successes in getting cash with a Eurocheque card in Spain,
Denmark and Germany.   However it would seem that I can only get cash that
way from banks which have ties with my own UK bank.   So, in Germany I was
only able to get my Eurocard to work in the ATMs of Deutsche Bank and no
other.   So my advice to all other Euronetters is that if your Eurocheque
card doesn't work in the ATMs of one bank it may be a good idea to try it
at a different bank.

As to the costs involved I think the Amex route is the most expensive
followed closely by Eurocheques.   I think that obtaining money via Visa or
MC works out cheaper than those two alternatives.

Salleh

===========================================================================
Salleh Syed-Mustaffa
Department of Electronics and Computer Science
Mountbatten Building
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton SO9 5NH
England
e-mail : smss@ecs.soton.ac.uk
phone  : +44 703 59 3122
fax    : +44 703 59 3045
===========================================================================
From: bakker@cs.uq.oz.au (Paultje Bakker)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Exchanging money in Europe
Date: 28 Sep 92 23:24:45 GMT
Reply-To: bakker@cs.uq.oz.au
Organization: Depts. of Computer Science & Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

In article <1a79r8INN3ac@network.ucsd.edu> nbeck@weber.ucsd.edu (Nathaniel Beck) writes:
>
>We never found a machine that allowed for simple cash withdrawals.
>We always just got a cash advance against our visa credit line.
>Hence the need to prepay.
>
>(We met several people who didn't have their visa pin. If you are
>like us, you never use them at home and have no idea what they are.
>If you travel, call up your bank and get the number, just in case.)

Could someone please explain to me:
- what kind of ATM's accept credit cards (are there Visa machines in
Europe or somesuch? Mastercard machines? These don't exist here in
Australia)
- How does the machine know your PIN? Is it encoded on your card,
or centrally stored on a worldwide computer?
- When you extract money for a cash advance and get it in the
local currency, does it tell you what exchange rate it is using?
Is there any way to find out this exchange rate in advance?
- How long does it take before the amount is actually debited from
your creditcard account?

It sounds like a great way to avoid bureau-de-change sharks!

paul


--
(paul) bakker@cs.uq.oz.au     >  "Although the Australian accent does
computer science/ psychology  >   not lend itself as a pointer to
university of qld 4072        >   intellect, ... "
terra australis               >   The (British) Sunday Telegraph, 1992
Newsgroups: rec.travel
From: ih@huey.udel.edu (Charlie Ih)
Subject: Re: Time Share Vacations
Followup-To: rec.travel
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 13:56:50 GMT

In article <1992Sep25.230655.10464@sharebase.com> ray@thyme.sharebase.com (Ray Gebbie) writes:
>In article <J.Newman.142.717220550@icarus.curtin.edu.au> J.Newman@icarus.curtin.edu.au (John Newman) writes:
>>You will need to join RCI to exchange with other timeshare resorts.
>>I think that there are now about 2500 resorts world wide.
>>
>
 >We are in Interval International, which I have not been particularly happy
 >with.  Can someone tell me what RCI stands for, so I can call 800 info to
 >see if they have a phone number.  Better yet, if someone has a phone number
 >that they can post, I would appreciate it.  Thanks.
 >--
 >Ray Gebbie, NCR Corporation, ShareBase Business Unit, Berkeley, California

The number is 800-338-7777 or 317-876-8899.  So far I have been
reasonablly happy with them.
Xref: sparky rec.travel:13721 rec.travel.air:4840
From: staggers@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Ken Staggers)
Newsgroups: rec.travel,rec.travel.air
Subject: Re: O'hare to Nortwestern Ground Transport?
Date: 27 Sep 92 21:33:59 GMT
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.

In article <1992Sep24.000654.10201@leland.Stanford.EDU> vijay@jessica.stanford.edu (vijay mehrotra) writes:
>from O'hare to Northwestern.  I've got the whole scoop now:
>either take the El (intodowntown and then back to Evanston)
>get a shuttle/cab company for about $15-20, or a regular city
>cab ($25 - 30).  

American Taxi- Flat fee - Door to door service - $18 one way.  Number is
available via 411.  And you dont have to share the cab with anyone.

--Ken
From: walker@Ingres.COM (Lynn Walker)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: ALGONQUIN PARK, N. ONTARIO
Keywords: camping, etc.
Date: 30 Sep 92 19:46:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: pony.1992Sep30.194631.2933
Distribution: na
Organization: ASK Computer Systems, Ingres Product Division
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1

Myself, and a group of friends are planning a camping trip to Algonquin Park
during Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct. 9-12th). I've never been there, but wondered
if anyone can recommend things to do in the area, preferred camping spots,
or any other useful information. Do you have to make reservations? Is it very
busy this time of year? There will be approx. 10-12 people in our group.

		Thanks,
			Lynn


	Lynn Walker		Toronto, Canada		walker@ingres.com
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.
Newsgroups: rec.travel
From: bhag@etn.ericsson.se (Boerge Haga 2634)
Subject: Re: Phuket
Organization: Ericsson Telecom AS, Oslo, Norway
	<BHAG.92Sep22124859@etn.etn.ericsson.se> <111.25534@okys.infoserv.com>
Date: 2 Oct 92 16:38:39


In article <111.25534@okys.infoserv.com> madsere@okys.infoserv.com (Rene Madsen) writes:

   >    How do you pronounce "Phuket", anyway?
   > 
   > If you go to Thailand most people will pronoune it like the word "pocket"
   > but with the "o" replaced by the "u" sound in e.g. "pull".

   sawatdee khrap, 

   You're close. Take the 'pu' from 'pull' and the 'ket' from 'rocket'. 
   Stress on the 'ket' part.

I'm sorry but I really can't see the difference in 'ket' in rocket and 'ket'
in pocket.

--
Boerge Haga
Ericsson Telecom AS, Norway
e-mail:bhag@etn.ericsson.se
From: au109@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Craig Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Baraboo, Wisconsin
Date: 2 Oct 1992 23:36:47 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


You may find additional help if you have access to the

alt.great-lakes  conference.

	=cw=
Newsgroups: rec.travel
From: erikstad@sdl.egr.uh.edu (  Erikstad. Stein Ove)
Subject: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 14:40:10 GMT

Heiiiiii

We are four norwegians who are going to travel in the nothern part in  
South America for four weeks this christmas.

And we know that four weeks is not to much.  Hence, it is important to see  
the best parts.  We would like to see a bit of everything - the rain  
forests, the mountains, and the coast.  And of course try to get an  
impression of the people and the culture.

Anyone out there which have something to recommend?

Also: Anyone who knows how easy/difficult it is to travel around in that  
area by bus?

Appreciate any help/comments/recommendations.

Stein Ove Erikstad,  erikstad@tree.egr.uh.edu
Houston, TX 9/31/92
From: gerthw@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu (William Gerth)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Traveling in Southeastern Europe ???
Date: 27 Sep 92 22:15:08 GMT
Organization: Biological Computing Consortium, OSU, Corvallis, OR.

Hello!

Some friends of mine are planning a trip to southeastern Europe
and asked me  to ask you folks what you know about visa requirements,
friendliness of the citizens toward western tourists, and any
must see places in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, and Eastern Turkey.
You can post this info or mail it to me directly at:
      gerthw@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu

Thanks in advance!

-Bill
From: johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Florida
Date: 6 Oct 92 19:05:29 GMT
Article-I.D.: iecc.1992Oct6.190529.8423
Organization: I.E.C.C.

>  Be aware that it's a four hour drive to Key West from Ft.
>  Lauderdale.  It can be longer if there is traffic on the
>  road going down there.

Also keep in mind that there's only one road to the keys, U.S. 1, and it is
also the main road to Homestead and Florida City.  It is my impression from
the newspaper that driving through that area is still very difficult and
there are road blocks at which you may be turned back unless you demonstrably
have legitimate business in the area.

-- 
John R. Levine, IECC, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869
johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {ima|spdcc|world}!iecc!johnl
Re-elect Vice President Potatoe-Head !
Newsgroups: rec.travel
From: jerry@ora.com (Jerry Peek)
Subject: Great on-line weather service
Organization: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 11:15:21 GMT

If you're on the Internet network (if you can use the "telnet" command
to reach hosts around North America), you should know about the great
on-line weather service from the University of Michigan.  It's free
(for private use; they don't want you to make money from their service).
Once you connect, type in a three-letter code for one of many US airports;
you'll get the latest forecast.  Or, you can go to a menu with all kinds
of choices: hurricane advisories, international weather observations,
earthquakes, etc. etc.  There's a lot more.  There's also on-line help.

To use it from UNIX, type:
	telnet madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000
(the 3000 on the end is important; it connects to port 3000 instead of
the standard telnet port).  From other operating systems, you need to
telnet to that host at port 3000; figure it out yourself :-).

If you like it too, I think you should send them e-mail to say thanks:
	sdm@madlab.sprl.umich.edu
This is the kind of free service that makes the Internet great.
-- 
Jerry Peek, O'Reilly & Associates, jerry@ora.com, (617)354-5800
From: spanga@yocomputo (Span Grad Asst)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Driving from San Fran to Las Vegas
Date: 29 Sep 1992 22:52:26 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: yocomputo.berkeley.edu

Re: 42096 writes  about driving from San Francisco to Las Vegas.
A very scenic way to do this would be to take Hwy 1. from San
Francisco through Santa Cruz down the Pacific Coast to San Luis
Obispo day one.  You will pass through a number of picturesque
beach towns - Santa Cruz (90 miles south of SF) has plenty of
counterculture and 60s types, Carmel (30 miles or so south of
Santa Cruz has Clint Eastwood's Bar and some interesting little
shops.  The drive from Carmel to San Luis Obispo takes about 3
hours (120 miles) and is slow but spectacular.

Day 2 (San Luis Obispo to Tehachapi). San Luis Obispo is a
quaint college town. Take Hwy 58 through the Coast Ranges.
Along the way is a homage point for James Dean fans where he
crashed and perished in an auto accident.  Bakersfield is worth
checking out for its country music clubs, and oil fields.
Tehachapi is one hour away nestled in the Sierra Foothills on
Hwy. 58.

Day 3 - Tehachapi to Las Vegas.  I haven't been this way, lots
of desert.  Edwards Air Force base (south of Mohave) was and
perhaps still is the site of Space Shuttle landings.  Day 3 is
about 5 hours of driving.  From Barstow to Las Vegas is now a
National Desert Parkland.

I omitted Southern California (Santa Barbara, LA, San Diego, is
worth another trip).

Happy travels.

Dan Landis spanga@athena.berkeley.edu  ___sig.alert_______

Newsgroups: rec.travel
From: maryd@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (M.Dugan)
Subject: Travel to England: Certify the camera????????
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 14:13:58 GMT


I'm considering travelling to England with my daughter on a
school-sponsored tour.

One of the things the teacher said we would need to do if we go is to
be sure we have a receipt or some other proof that our foreign-made
cameras were purchased here in the US.

This seems kind of screwy to me.  I mean, don't 99% of US tourists carry
foreign-made cameras?  And how in the heck am I supposed to prove
that a camera I bought 3 years ago was purchased here--I sure don't
keep receipts THAT long.
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Date: 28 Sep 92 17:00 PDT
Subject: Lodging in Vienna
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1460300119:000:199
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Sep 28 17:00:00 1992


I will be in Vienna for a week in November...can any one recommend
a good hostel/pension/hotel that is not expensive, is clean but
doesn't need any frills (tv, phone, etc.)?

Thanks very much,
Debra
From: volker@sfb256.iam.uni-bonn.de ( Volker A. Brandt )
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: London Subway Pass - Zone 1
Date: 28 Sep 92 00:31:07 GMT
Organization: Applied Math, University of Bonn, Germany

In article <RBS.92Sep25134113@mink.uk.ac.ed.aisb> rbs@aisb.ed.ac.uk writes:
>The one day Travelcard is more than the price of a return journey
>and so is ony cheaper if you anticipate making another journey.

That depends on the zone.  For example, going into the City from the southern
end of the Northern line (Morden) costs more than the price of one Travelcard.
(Can't remember, I think it was zone 4 -- everything except Heathrow :-)

>Also I think there are restrictions on Travelcards
>that they can't be used during morning rush hour

They are only valid after 9:30 -- ideal for lazy tourists.

>(or there are Peak and Off Peak tickets, can't remember).

The full name of the thing is "Off-Peak Travelcard" (at least that's what it
says on the ones I've kept as bookmarks :-)

-- Volker
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bitnet:   UNM409@DBNRHRZ1                              Volker A. Brandt
UUCP:     ...!unido!DBNRHRZ1.bitnet!unm409             Angewandte Mathematik
Internet: volker@sfb256.iam.uni-bonn.de                (Bonn, Germany)
From: birmingham@qut.edu.au
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Madrid Airport to city centre
Date: 29 Sep 92 09:01:42 EST
Organization: Queensland University of Technology

Has anyone been to Madrid lately!!!!!
Can anyone tell me how to get from the aitport to the centre of
the city.
Also here's one to test your imaginiation. I also need to find
Salud street/road or streets/roads are called in Spanish. So if
anyone has a Madrid street guide and could help I'd really appreciate
it
Cheers
Andrew Birmingham.
From: andywang@crown.berkeley.edu (Andrew Wang)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Wanted: Inexpensive room in Las Vegas for COMDEX
Date: 27 Sep 1992 04:08:34 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: crown.berkeley.edu

Hi!  I am planning to go to the COMDEX computer convention in Las
Vegas.  However, unfortunately, one zillion other people are planning
to go at the same time.  Therefore, all the hotels are either booked
or are charging at least $150 a night (which is kinda out of my reach)
This is true whether booked directly or through the convention planning
committee.  I have already called the Hilton, Excalibur, Circus Circus
and Mirage.  Does anyone know of a more reasonable accomodations for
the week of Nov 15th?  

Thanks for your help!!!  

Andrew


Newsgroups: rec.travel
From: marcia@virga.ucar.edu (Marcia Politovich)
Subject: Re: Keyna Safari Info Wanted
Organization: Research Applications Program/NCAR, Boulder, CO
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 17:03:29 GMT

For those folks who want safari info for Kenya and/or Tanzania - 
consider just going over there and renting a car, staying at 
the lodges in the parks. I did this in June '83 for three weeks, 
worked great. It is the "off season" for tourism and you could
just drive up to the lodges and there were plenty of rooms, in 
fact, in several of the lodges there were only 2 or 3 rooms 
being used! Most lodges are inexpensive (oh, around $35/night per
person) and the price included meals. We rented from Hertz 
at the Nairobi airport -- make reservations well ahead of 
time (several months as I recall). 

Advantages: You get to go where you want, when you want.  It
was somewhat amusing to see the "roundups" of tour buses
surrounding a poor, over-photographed lion/zebra/etc... You 
also get a bit close to "real life" - buying gas, asking for
directions, locking your keys in the car to the amusement 
of Maasai standing around.... (although some may not think
of these features as advantages!)

Disadvantages: A lot of driving (one of us was from Los Angeles
and really *wanted* to drive everywhere -- :^) !!!), some 
degree of planning needed, poor road signs and maps that 
were marginally useful. You also have to get used to driving
on the left side of the road - once you get the hang of it 
it's easy though!

Another disadvantage is the absence of a guide to whom you can 
address questions. But - we did our homework, read a lot 
prior to the trip, bought more books in Nairobi. And - the 
guides for the tours (which we weren't on -- but "shared"
the parks with ) were very friendly and helpful, they 
often stopped us on the road and told us where certain animals
may be found in the park. So I'd say we did get a "quality
experience " out of the trip. 

I can't say that I'd recommend doing this during the height of 
the tourist season which I understand to be the northern 
hemisphere winter (Nov through March or so). I hear it can 
be quite crowded then, it is a popular destination for 
Europeans. One of the resorts we stayed at on the coast 
had mostly Germans there, there was little English spoken! 
Ah, while on that topic, most people in Kenya speak English
well. It does help to know some basic Swahili - greetings, 
("Jambo"), please and thank you, numbers, etc.... 

I've already written more than the original email called for.
Have a good time in a wonderful place. 

-- M. Politovich
National Center for Atmospheric Research
standard disclaimers and all that jazz