issue. byNathan Dreskin |
called “Canada’s Worldwide
Trouble-shooters”.

In it he quotes iRéadotpn

Stansfield, director of -the’

. Ottawa. headquarters of the
‘Canadian - ‘Consular Bureau -
‘distress. centre, “who - ‘says
Mexico. “leads © in” -serious.
_ distress incidents
Canadians-

month period)...

by Barbara
McCreadie

He also quotes James C.
Langley, Canadian, Am-
bassador to Mexico, “When
you realize that 200,000
Canadians visit Mexico in a
year, it's not surprising that
about 13,000 of them will
come to the embassy for
some kind of help, mostly

about. passports and
customs, coping with a
foreign language, asking

how to contact families in
emergencies. Some will have
more serious problems
‘having lost their money or
passports or been robbed,
injured in an accident or
arrested for breaking local
law.”

Correct me if I'm wrong
buy my arithmetic tells me
that more than SIX PER
CENT of Canadians
travelling to Mexico have
difficulties severe enough to
warrant a trip to Canadian
Authorities.

A few months ago, I wrote
two columgs detailing some

of the problems Canadians,

might encounter on a
holiday in Mexico. The
response from readers was
quite astounding. Some told
me that I was certifiably
insane while others praised
my efforts and went on to

recite horror stories of their
own.

In Calgary, where “Travel-
Wise” was appearing in the
Calgary Herald, travel
agents screamed murder to
the paper because they had
so many cancelled bookings.
They went as far as con-
tacting the Mexican con-
sulate in Ottawa!

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: Those ‘Mexican s statistics”

I.don't normally ‘read the»

“Reader's ‘Digest” unless I’m

_ waiting in my dentist's office
‘but I hope all travellers will

read an article in the March’

(nine
died. violent:
deaths there in a recent "6:

places. -

‘line -

After threats to-the. paper:
“about pulling out their travel
ads, the" paper cancelled .
“Travel-Wise” , on) the.
- grounds. that. Iwas. “too.
‘controversial’! “I received a

‘four’ page, single-spaced ~

__typewritten letter from the |

' Mexican. Ambassador who:
wanted to meet me! See how
far you can get in in-
-ternational] ‘social Circles by
_ being* “controversial”?

_-Anyway,. I'd: love’ to have
some figures from. .the-

government on. the numbers
_ of “travellers who - ‘get into

difficulties ‘in other parts of -

*, the. world, :It-.would. be...a

fairly® good: indication of:
where’ extra
precautions should be taken:
by us “innocents abroad”.

I just st hope that. something
I've ‘Written may © have -
prevented) eyen ONE
disaster. Meanwhile, I’ve

.. Senta letter to Mr. Stansfield

and we'll await and see what

‘figures he comes up with.

se ¢ -
Hy

It seems that the weather _

in Hawaii has finally started
to improve. My mother-in-
law just returned and an-
nounced, happily, that they
had only one shower in their
two weeks in Honolulu. For.

-a while, there were rumours

floating around that ' the
Hawaiian - government was
handing out tubes of “Man
Tan” atthe airport!

wee:

There’s no limit to the.

strange questions that pass
over my desk! One reader
wrote me last week asking
about her holiday to the
Costa del Sol. Among other
things she asked, “Are you
aware of any PSYCHIC
GROUPS or such in that
area.”

I replied. that psychic
groups were a little out of my
the only strange
creatures I converse with are
my cats’ and the odd
newspaper editor.

Do any of you readers
know about’ international
psychic groups? Is_ there
some kind of a directory? I'd
expect you might find
something of this nature in
England or Transylvania --
but the Costa del Sol?

one

Back to Hawaii for a
moment - did you know that
you can dial direct, toll-free
from anywhere on any island
to anywhere clse in the
whole state? It is said to be
the largest toll-free
telephone area in the world.
It's a good idea to phone
ahead to confirm your
reservations if you are
moving from one island to
another. Might save you
some hassle . should = your

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Page 73, March 28, 1979 North Shore News

‘THE BULLFIGHT Is just one of the many activities taking place in Mexico. te

bookings have gotten lost in”

the shuffle.

Any of you who have
written to my backpacking

friend, Gail’ Bongalis,.
through the newspaper
office, I’m forwarding your

letters but it may take
several weeks for a reply. It
would probably help Gail if
you included a self-
addressed stamped en-
velope. I'll be willing to bet
that she’s saving every penny
to head off around the world
again.

DEAR BARBARA: I wish
Canadian airports would
have an area where
travellers could check heavy
winter coats and boots

Fos cenets otiears
tH HULL
ver ACD D2) Mee to ed

Phe brite s-

Vol (hee

ae Bitte trasseced cone he seatode

sete tee an babes

before they take off for
. winter holidays.

We recently spent three
weeks in the Caribbean and
because of the inconvenient
departure time for our flight,
we had to take a taxi to. the

airport.

Toronto has been hitterly
cold .this winter and we
couldn't drive to the airport
without our heavy winter
overcoats, hats, gloves and
boots. Since there was no
place to leave them, we
arrived

idiots.

ANSWER: A good idea!
Many airports, due to bomb
scares, have removed their
baggage lockers but coats
and boots would be easy to
check out with a scanner

in Puerto Rico
looking like. a bunch of.

‘
: :

such as they use .on
passengers before departure.

Most travellers solve the
problem by having a friend
drive them to the airport and
take the outer wear home —
hopefully bringing it back
when you return.

DEAR BARBARA: Can you
please settle an argument for
me? My husband and I are
going to Europe this sum-
mer, mainly to the south of
France and Italy. 1 want to
make a series of reservations
for hotels in each place we
intend to visit. George says
that 'm crazy and should we
decide to change our plans
we'll have wasted a lot of
money.

He says that we always
find a place to stay. I feel

CONTINUED ON PAGE 74

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