Arthur's Blog: Four Questions that Stumped Me on Last Week's Travel Show

Usually on the Travel Show that my daughter and I present every Sunday, listeners' questions relate to standard travel issues on which we have at least a partial answer or opinion. But last Sunday, four different puzzlers left me gasping to reply. I literally had nothing to say, and am now asking readers of this blog to assist for a follow-up to the same questions next Sunday. Here are the infamous four:

1. A friend has suggested we travel to  Trieste  for a few days, on our next trip to Europe. Is that a worthwhile idea?" 

I blanked. My last memory of Trieste was the violent political battle between Italy and Yugoslavia at the end of World War II to determine whether Trieste (now in northeastern Italy, but then under U.N. rule) was to be in Italy or Yugoslavia. When most of Trieste was awarded to Italy, I turned off my mind and never gave another thought to the city. Certainly, I never went there, nor ever met anyone who had. Mainly a large port, it appears to be simply a standard Italian city of about 200,000 people with the requisite castles, churches, and museums along its waterfront. Any reason to visit it? I'd be grateful for any first-hand reports.

2. Our cruise ship will stop for a few hours in Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. Since we've already been to Rome numerous times, is there anything we could see or do by simply staying in Civitavecchia or nearby?

My first reaction to that question: Are you nuts? I've been in Civitavecchia in advance of boarding a cruise ship or coming off one, several times, and the city appears a sprawling industrial port of no conceivable interest except as a launching place for buses or trains going to Rome (a full hour away). Should anyone spend their day touring Civitavecchia? Should anyone spend their day touring Newark? Does anyone regard either as a secret gem of a city?

3. After staying for several days at a prominent hotel in Chicago, before returning home to London, England, we received a phone call from hotel officials stating there was some reason to believe that L -- legionnaire's disease had affected several recent guests there -- and suggesting that we see a doctor. Since we had, in fact, felt woozy and even nauseous back home, we quickly underwent a series of tests in a London hospital, but were told we were ok. Nevertheless, we still believe that our health may have been damaged, and symptoms suffered, because of the stay there. Do we have any rights against this big and prominent hotel?

My response to that question was to run from it. You're not going to catch me suggesting that you sue a major hotel property, I felt. And anyway, though you felt bad for a few days, you obviously had not incurred the worst effects of legionaire's disease; you're alive today. Does any reader of this blog believe I was overly timid, indeed cowardly, in refusing to comment on the question? Should I have told them to sue?

4. Our Mediterranean cruise will stop for overnight at Le Verdon on the coast of France, supposedly the stop for a visit to famous  Bordeaux . Is there a cheap, efficient way for us to get to Bordeaux (and back) from Le Verdon?

I again blanked. Though I had vaguely heard of Le Verdon as a port city for Bordeaux, I had no notion as to whether any do-it-yourself means of transportation was available to visit Bordeaux from Le Verdon. I have since learned that Bordeaux is 60 miles away from Le Verdon, poorly served by train service from Le Verdon, and that cruise ships save money by not continuing to sail along the Gironde River from Le Verdon to Bordeaux. Is there any cheap way of getting to Bordeaux on your own? Or are you, in this one instance only, required to take the cruise ship's costly motorcoach from Le Verdon to Bordeaux? And anything to do in Le Verdon itself (a container port)?

C'mon, friends, I need help. And listen from noon to 2pm ET on WOR710.com for the results.