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Sunday, April 22, 2007

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Pickpocketed

CHRISTOPHER Coffman has my sympathy as a fellow pickpocketing victim ["The Misworn Money Belt: Or, What Not to Do on Your Summer Vacation," April 15]. It happened to me -- in Spain, too.

One additional tip: Make a list of numbers -- passport, credit cards (I scramble those numbers for extra protection), phone cards and so on, as well as a photocopy of the information page of your passport. Keep a copy in a different place from your valuables. If you're traveling with companions, carry each other's lists.

Lynda Meyers

Arlington

THE ARTICLE brought to mind an incident that occurred when my son and a couple of schoolmates rented a car in Spain. Arriving in Madrid, they parked in a central square, locked the car with their suitcases inside and went to look for lodging. When they returned to the car, everything inside had been stolen, including their passports and airline tickets.

At the U.S. Embassy, they found that they were not the only ones in this predicament. Thievery was endemic in Madrid, and American tourists, among others, were the victims.

My son and his friends then bought several dozen white T-shirts and had them printed with "I LOST MY HEART IN MADRID." On the back: "AND MY WALLET, MONEY AND PASSPORT ALSO." They sold every one of the shirts outside the U.S. Embassy to their fellow victims.

Maurice Wolf

Alexandria

PERMIT ME to provide the following suggestion, something I have done for years: Affix a couple of strips of Velcro to your pocket just below the opening, effectively locking the pocket. That will make it difficult for a pickpocket to remove items without your realizing it.

Do not use Velcro strips that are self-adhesive, as they do not stick very well to cloth. There is a version with a heat-activated adhesive, available in craft and fabric stores.

Paul D. Lane

McLean

Booze on a Cruise

I READ with interest your article on cruise lines' policies about bringing alcohol onboard [File This, April 8]. My husband and I will be cruising with Celebrity this spring, and its literature says that travelers are not permitted to bring any alcoholic beverages onboard. Your article says that travelers are permitted to carry on two bottles of wine per stateroom. We like to sip wine before dinner, and it would be great if we could bring a couple of bottles onboard with us.

Joanne Colt

Bethesda

Author Margaret Roth replies:

The apparent conflict stems from the widely varying use of the term "alcohol" in the cruise industry. Celebrity's Web site (http://www.celebritycruises.com; click on "Before Your Cruise," then "Frequently Asked Questions," then "Food and Beverage") states that beer and hard liquor may not be brought onboard but that "personal wine" is permitted, limited to two bottles per stateroom, with a $25-per-bottle corkage fee if the wine is drunk in a shipboard restaurant, bar or dining area.

SuperShuttle

IT'S HARD to believe that SuperShuttle has improved as much as you wrote [Coming and Going, April 8]. My experiences have been so bad that I'd rather walk to the airport than rely on it.

Once, the driver didn't know how to get to BWI. But the final straw was when the driver didn't show up at all. I called a number of times, getting progressively more frantic. The driver showed up an hour and a half late, and I made my plane by minutes -- only because I had told the reservations clerk that my flight was an hour earlier than it actually was. I will never again use SuperShuttle.

Margot Fromer

Silver Spring

LAST DECEMBER my husband, daughter and I scheduled SuperShuttle for a round-trip ride to Reagan National. Our pickup time was 4:15 a.m. A little after 3 a.m. we received the first of four calls from the company.

The first call stated that there was no driver available. The second call said they'd found a driver. The third call was the driver saying he was lost. The fourth was the driver saying he was getting close. We did make our flight.

On our return to National, there was no shuttle to pick us up. After several calls to the company, we were informed that we would have to wait for a shuttle willing to travel to our area. Finally giving up, we got in the taxi line. We will never use this service again!

Howard and Marka Locker

Manassas

SUPERSHUTTLE TOLD me I would be picked up at my home between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m. When no van came, I called and was told that there was no driver, that I should call a cab and that SuperShuttle would reimburse any difference in price. But the timing was tight, so I woke up my wife and she drove me to a Metro station.

SuperShuttle didn't warn me before the scheduled pickup time but waited for me to call. That irresponsible behavior created the impossibly tight timing.

I consider SuperShuttle in the D.C. area to be undependable for home pickup and have never used it again. I never will.

John Hornstein

Silver Spring

WE HAD arranged for a pickup very early in the morning to get to Dulles. The SuperShuttle dispatcher called us 20 minutes before pickup time to tell us the driver had called in sick. We were given the phone number of a cab company and told that we could get a refund for the SuperShuttle tickets, which we had already paid for with our credit card. When we called the cab company, our party was too large for one cab. We couldn't get two cabs in time, so we drove ourselves to the airport.

Not only did the dispatcher not arrange for a cab but her attitude was uncaring and rude. I will never use SuperShuttle again.

Suzette Kern

Springfield

LAST MAY, I was to fly to Zurich in the late afternoon. The SuperShuttle was late and I was told, after repeated calls, that the driver was lost and could not find my residence. SuperShuttle dispatched a taxi to my home, but by the time it arrived there was insufficient time to be taken to Dulles, go through security and make my flight. Thus, I was forced to alter my travel plans by leaving the next day, incurring significant expenses.

At no time was I told by anyone at SuperShuttle that they would pick up any expense associated with the taxi, parking and so on. I will never use SuperShuttle again.

Jerry Smrchek

Olney

GPS Voices

WE READ with amusement the article "You've Got a GPS in Oregon" [Your Vacation in Lights, April 1]. We noted that Hank calls his GPS Jill.

When traveling, we always rent a Hertz car with a GPS. Hertz's GPS also has a female voice. We call her Lola. Why? Because "whatever Lola wants, Lola gets"!

Pete and Ruth Salinger

Bethesda

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