Gallagher's Travels: Letter From the Editor: February 2007

Letter from the Editor

February 2007

Dear Friends,

As we all live longer and longer through advancements in medicine along with our own tenacity one experiences all kinds of body and mental changes that add to the already challenging prospect of traveling.

I’ve been airlifted with severe injuries out of a Caribbean hospital that had less sanitation and features than your garage, another time laid across three commercial airline seats returning from Europe with back injuries, traveled alone after eye issues reduced my vision to less than 20 percent, broken ankles, etc.

Sometimes it goes smoothly, sometimes not but it’s always an eye-opening experience especially if your situation is temporary and you can look back and laugh…sort of.

Nate and Nancy Rogers have put together over twenty years of worldwide travel experiences as a disabled couple. You’ll enjoy reading their story at http://www.disabledtravelersguide.com and pick up tips for both able and disabled travelers the full book is also for sale on their site.

One of my favorite times (that is meant to be facetious) was a very nice but clueless airline employee who was taking me from a cab driver to the departure gate and onto the plane via wheel chair. My orthopedic surgeons parting words were "if you fall in the next six months you’ll be in a body cast for a year." As we approached the plane the airline attendant said can you walk onto the plane? I said sorry you’ll need a transfer chair, we sort of made it into that without incident and then he proceeded to strap me in with such force that it almost re-broke all my bones! Then (and the airlines had been clued in many times) they had assigned me a center seat on a fully booked plane! I was using a transfer board in and out of cars and if you’re familiar with that situation you’ll understand the amazing thought process of my getting into a center aisle seat. All this from one flight will give you great admiration for how Nate and Nancy have persevered to continue traveling.

Don’t forget the U.S. passport regulations changed as of January 23, 2007 and ALL persons including children and U.S. citizens, traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be REQUIRED to present a valid passport, Air NEXUS card, or U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Document, or an Alien Registration Card, Form I-551, if applicable.

There has been discussion regarding a passport card for land and sea travel but the regulations have not been implemented. The best advice is to get your passport, good in all situations.

The passport requirement does NOT apply to U.S. citizens traveling to or returning directly from a U.S. territory. U.S. citizens returning directly from a U.S. territory are not considered to have left the United States and do not need to present a passport. U.S. territories include the following: Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

This means if you want to take an island vacation without a passport these destinations are your choice plus the state of Hawaii.

Only a quarter of the U.S. currently has passports at this time so apply for yours now and hope the wait won’t interfere with your plans.

Check http://travel.state.gov/travel for advice and a helpful Q & A section.

I went for the happy face look on my renewal in 2006 and wore a lot of makeup! Plus make sure they shoot down on you, not up at our double chins. After all these photos will be with you for at least ten years!

Anytime a visit to Puerto Rico, one of my favorite destinations, would be easy to take, along with the U.S. Virgin Islands and Hawaii for tropical splendor.

~o0o~

Here on the east coast we’ve had a winter into mid January of nearly tropical splendor and today I’m in sunny North Carolina where it reached 74 degrees.

Even Minnesota has had it easy up to now, although for my visit in November there was no snow and temperatures hovering around 10 degrees. But now the first weeks of February have taken a polar dip.

I love this time of year when all the culture calendars start arriving from museums, galleries and various attractions around the world. The garden tours I study closely and then seldom have time to attend.

We’re almost up to snuff after changing website servers and my messing up some of the transfer process. We have some new stories from our favorite writers along with contributions from new faces.

In this New Year don’t just dream about travel, DO IT!

Happy Trails!

Mary E. Gallagher

mary@gallagherstravels.com

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