It’s time for all airports to come into the 21st century, just as some already have

Loved the concise and well-written article by Dean R. Owen on what to know before you go [“The Flier’s Guide, June 3].

This gives me hope that the airports around the country are finally getting it that we need flying to be based on technology from this century, not last century.

I would like to see a follow-up article on whether travel this summer is an an improvement or just another “We talk big but don’t deliver” by airport management.

Kimberly Rivard

Tukwila, Wash.

Not slowed by strikes

France isn’t the only country in the Western world with rail strikes [“Letters,” June 3].

Take Greece, for example. I was a tourist and then lived in Greece for two years. Every summer the public transportation and banks would go on strike, stranding many a tourist.

Summer is tourism’s biggest season, so it puts pressure on the government to do something fast. It’s good for Greece but not the tourist.

I have traveled to France five times and never experienced strikes — just luck I guess.

Gelene Weiner

Encino

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Unlike the recent traveler bemoaning French strikes as a disruption, we have found it part of the charm of going away from one’s own world.

We have traveled to France many times. We have sought solitude and also found chaos. At least three times our plans were disrupted by public strikes.

We were on Corsica watching a truckers’ strike in the ’90s, wondering how we were going to drive to Paris. But the strikers told us what roads were closed and how to get on side roads.

Inconveniences make great stories. We don’t want to be self-righteous about how we travel, but we would offer this: Take time to smell the mimosa.

Richard and Anita Larsen

La Habra

Sure, I could learn from the pros [“Learn from Pros’ Mistakes,” by David Swanson, June 3], but only if they weren’t so cheap.

All of their “mistakes” could be blamed on the fact that they took the cheapest reservations they could find.

When I married 35 years ago, I promised my wife we would always travel first class.

It has come to this: When people ask if I go camping, my answer is that my idea of camping is when the two-bedroom suite doesn’t have a guest bathroom.

Robert Rosenthal

Burbank

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