Travel letters: More solutions to the car seat conumdrum

I just read the “On the Spot” in the L.A. Times [“Quite the Car Seat Quandary,” by Catharine Hamm, Sept. 9]. One great option not mentioned: LAX Parking Curb Express (laxparkingcurbexpress.com).

This was the best option when our kids were still in car seats. You meet the driver at their off-site location near LAX, and they drop you at the terminal in your car. Upon your return, you call them and they bring your car (still with car seat) to you.

We found the safety and ease of leaving the car seat installed was worth it, plus we liked packing our luggage in the car the night before an early flight because it made for an easier departure from home.

Kim Huffman Cary

Los Angeles

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Here’s a more cost/favor-efficient solution to the quandary posed by the family needing to get to LAX with the car seat.

Rather than asking for the friend or family member to transport the family and car seat all the way to LAX, just drop them off at the nearest Metro rail station and “save” the car seat for when they return.

Assuming they live in the greater L.A. area, this should be much less of an imposition or future “debt” for them to pay.

Yes, they may have to allow time for multiple rail connections, plus the final connection on the G bus to LAX, but if they have the time and are seeking a more affordable (not to mention environmentally favorable) resolution this should have been listed as an alternative.

Sid Eisenberg

Rowland Heights

Don’t bring a dog to the buffet

With respect to the letter about the couple who brought their dog with them through the buffet line on their cruise (Letters, “Real Pet Peeve,” Sept. 2). Dogs do not belong in eating areas on a cruise ship. (The exception would be a seeing-eye dog.)

The food is too tempting; dogs can become territorial and attack those dining nearby. Moreover, many people are allergic to fleas and/or dog hair.

The couple with the dog was very inconsiderate. Out of concern for other passengers, they should have left the dog in their cabin with his own bowl of food and water to enjoy.

Susan Barber

Pacific Palisades

You’re a guest

I saved the “Expat’s Guide to Paris Life” by Peter Mandel [July 29] because I was so pleased to see the sentence, “The city will open up to you in a thousand small ways if you can blend in and play by a few of its rules.”

I wish those words were printed on the cover of every passport issued to U.S. travelers. I don’t travel frequently, but when I do I am always saddened when it doesn’t occur to travelers that they are guests in someone else’s home.

Please continue to make that point as often as you can. And Mandel is correct: Observing and respecting the way things are done in a different culture (“blending in”) turns a sightseeing trip into an unforgettable, profound connection with that place and its people — especially if you take the trouble to acquire some of the language.

Phyllis Elliott

Santa Monica

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