European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 9, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New visa by Barbara Shea new Day a new free brochure from visa offers some Good travel tips but it also serves As a reminder that consumer literature rarely is unbiased and sometimes even unintentionally promotes the Competition. The visa Booklet Quot How to travel Sawy on a credit card Quot is adapted from a newspaper column by travel writer Peter Greenberg. Visa Calls it a reprint but one general statement from the original version is very specific in the visa brochure. In both versions Reenberg explains a Little known hotel practice. Quot almost All hotels ask you for an imprint of your credit card when checking in Quot he says. Quot no problem there. But Many hotels will a and often without telling you a not just swipe inters the card for an authorization but will arbitrarily Block up to $2,000 in charges. Why the hotel wants to make sure it gets paid first if you go Over your spending limit during your  he advises travellers to Tell the desk clerk they Don t want the extra charges blocked against their credit limit. The brochure version continues Quot if the clerk won t cooperate then beat them at their own game and go to plan b give him your diners club or american express card to Block the charges against then when you Check out explain that you d like to charge your stay on your visa  Greenberg s newspaper column had t mentioned any specific card names. Visa spokesman Gregory j. Holmes said he was t aware the brochure did t reprint the original Greenberg column exactly. American express spokesman Cory Shields commented Quot i would say it s just so much easier to travel with the american. Express card. We Don t have a preset spending limit. I have to Jot a Little note to this Guy thanking  american express actually May question card holders who try to charge More than a certain percentage above their Normal spending pattern to make sure the card was t stolen but travellers about to go on vacation can notify amex in Advance that they May be spending More than usual the visa brochure continues with general credit card tips from Greenberg who Points out that paying for travel arrangements with plastic protects your investment in Case a airline stops flying before you be completed your trip. Using a credit Jard at a Cash machine abroad even when there s a fee gets you a better rate than you d get converting your dollars at a hotel or private Money changing firm he  also notes the value of an Affinity card affiliated with airline frequent flier programs and phone companies. The column describes some of the promotions and value added services such As reduced room rates upgrades and discounts available to card holders while a couple of specific deals in Hawaii and san Francisco Are no longer available Holmes said Quot the message is there Are various programs  visa customers regularly Are informed about them by mail in the form of statement inserts he said. For a copy of the visa Booklet Call the visa fulfilment Center at 1-800-847-2511. Florence starts safety measures for monuments from wire reports in an Effort to protect Art treasures and historic. Monuments from terrorist attacks and vandalism officials in Florence have begun implementing stringent Security measures around some of the City s most famous landmarks. Beginning in september visitors found traffic free zones and no parking areas around Florence s Centra Cathedral the Santa Maria Del fire and the franciscan Church of Santa Croce As Well As around numerous museums. Security experts also Are hurrying to Complete a High tech monitoring system including radar electromagnetic barriers and microwave sensors. The electronic Security system based on military hardware had been under study for More than a year but the project was accelerated after a car bomb exploded near the uffizi galleries on May 27, killing five people and damaging the museum. The new Security system which mayor Giorgio Morales said would be installed by the end of the year will safeguard the Piazza Della Signoria s open air museum the medieval City Hall in Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia Della Signoria As Well As the uffizi which reopened less than a month after the bombing. Police will Back up the $100,000 system from a command Post filled with television monitors and be Able to address via Loudspeaker anyone breaking the Security perimeter. More prosaic Security measures Are being taken elsewhere in Italy after additional car bombs in late july damaged two churches in Rome and a modern Art museum in Milan. In Pompeii authorities have increased police patrols to Monitor the hitherto unprotected outside Wall of the buried Sas Kathy Platt Michelangelo s unfinished Quot be a Quot not to be confused with his Quot Pieta Quot in Rome is housed in the Museo Dell opera Del Duomo in Florence. Roman town. In Venice police Protection has been doubled at selected Sites and in Pisa it police Are guarding the leaning Tower around the clock. In Rome City officials Are closing streets and erecting barriers around the most important Sites. They Are hampered however by the sheer numbers of Sites to be protected a an initial list of the City s highest priority Sites included 59 monuments churches and museums. New series of Politico Wii mops published of a Bunp about by the associated press a a new series of political Wall maps that have been packaged to fold into covers with velcro snaps is being marketed by american map. Titles induce world Usa Africa australian new zealand Canada Europe Middle East Mediterranean North America Southeast Asia and Bible lands. A a multilingual map of new York City with text in Spanish French German italian japanese and English has been published by Hagstrom Quot the new York City 5-in-l map amp guide Quot has both subway and Street grids and lists of major tourist attractions Heaters and restaurants a All in six languages. Picture dictionaries that help youngsters learn foreign languages have been published by Langenscheid. Each has four color illustrations wit Fri sentence text that provides language concepts for beginners. Titles in both hard and soft covers Are available for English Spanish English French English German English italian English and japanese English. In addition a hard cover series includes chinese English greek English hebrew English polish English portuguese English and russian English. Rail Europe pass targets americans favorite Sites by Donna Miskin new Day five Days three to five countries save a few Bucks rail Europe is offering a new rail pass which went on Sale dec. 1. The new pass allows five Days of first class unlimited train travel in three to five of the most popular countries Italy Spain France Germany and Switzerland and it has an expandable feature buy More train travel Days add another country a up to All five. The new euro pass is a More economical version of the eur Alpass which is Good for unlimited train travel in 17 countries beginning at five Days $348, As of Jan. 1 and available in increments of five Days. Euro rail decided to offer the euro pass because it found that 80 percent of americans visited Only these five countries. The new euro pass for travel starting Jan. 1, offers five Days in any three of the countries Over a two month period for $280. Travel can be on no consecutive Days and the countries have to Border one another. You can buy additional time by the single Day. A euro pass for eight to 10 Days $394-$470 gets you a fourth country of your Choice. A pass for 11 -15 Days $508-$660 gets you the fifth country. Children 4-11 years old go half fare and youth passes to 26, in second Dass Are Avail late too for information Check with sat travel or Call 1 -600-4-eurail. More tourists visit Hungary in �?T93 by United press International More than 30 million foreigners visited Hungary in the first nine months of the year three times its total population. Government statistics show the highest increase in tourists came from the former soviet Union who use their trips mostly for trading. The increase of those visitors was 155 percent. While 25 percent More germans and 21 percent More austrians chose Hungary As their destination for holidays interest for the Central european country slumped in Britain France and Italy. More than half of the 30 million tourists came from the former Yugoslavia and Romania. The number of foreigners who spent a Brief visit to Hungary has risen by 39 percent and the majority of them again came from neigh Boring Austria and former Yugoslavia despite the upsurge the hotel Industry lost 3 percent of its business As compared to the same period in 1992, while Small private pensions and guesthouses upped their turnover by 10 percent. R december 9, 1993 stripes Magazine 25