Ethiopian Adventure Day 6 (Lalibela/Gonder)

Woke up c. 4 a.m. but did not get up until 6, and coffee was still not available when I walked to the hotel dining room so I worked an hour or so. When I went back three groups were there, all western Europeans with demeanor somewhere between cool and rude; no one would acknowledge my greetings and avoiding eye contact and so I enjoyed my firfir and coffee alone. 

Finished packing out and my guide Daniel Shewalem picked me up at 9 and, as it was Saturday, took me to see the local agricultural market ahead of taking me to the airport for my flight to Gonder. 

Might as well have spent some more time at the market, as flight was delayed at least two hours! Met some other travelers, however — including two who had not managed to fly out the day before — and we enjoyed a coffee ceremony together and swapped stories while waiting for our plane to get in. 

Making the best of the situation with Daniel, Adriana, and Suman at the airport in Lalibela!

Ethiopian Adventure Day 4 (Axum/Lalibela)

Packed out of Sabean International Hotel in Axum and was taken by my driver to airport at 9 for flight to Lalibela. Got there ahead of the crowds going out on same and other flights because security conducted the most thorough search of my possessions I have ever experienced. My Bulgarian friends Kras and Jivko showed up about half an hour later, we went through security together, and then we chatted while waiting for our flight, which came in about an hour late. 

My friends did not have a place to stay in Lalibela and so I suggested they try the Mountainview Hotel, where I was staying, and they took the hotel shuttle there and were able to get a room. I met with my local guide, Daniel Shewalem, and our driver took us to the hotel so that I could check in. 

We then spent the afternoon visiting the first seven of the 11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. Then, in the evening, Kras, Jivko, and I sat out on the upper terrace of the hotel, drank the local St. George beer, and watched the sun set over the Amharic highlands of Ethiopia. 

Aegean Odyssey: A Brief Retrosepctive

A big trip like the one my wife and I have just returned home from makes me contemplate, for good reason, the purpose of travel. To me, it is to learn about the world and better understand one's own place in it; to make connections with people from other lands, both natives of the areas visited and fellow travelers; and to share ones' experiences with others, both in person and through venues like this. Ideally, a person will come back from a trip of this sort with new ideas, a new perspective on their old ones, and a reinvigorated sense of purpose. Suffice it to say that we accomplished with our Aegean Odyssey everything we might have expected. 

In the ancient world of the Mediterranean, hospitality and how people treated strangers was extremely important and was, not to put too fine a point on it, integral to the continued existence of civilization itself. Commerce with other lands could not take place if travelers were subjected to theft or violence or were not able to obtain from their journeys things commensurate in value to what they had expended on them. People like our friends Dimitri Kremmydas in Athens and Michael Townsend in Crete may just be mortal people but, in that they invited us into their homes and made our journey more fulfilling, they follow in the steps of paragons like Aeolus, who used his winds to carry travelers on their paths across the wine-dark sea. 

Many other people bear mentioning here and they include friends Richard and Laura Allan, who journeyed from their home in Scotland to spend six wonderful days with us in Santorini, our fourth reunion since we met them on a Nile River cruise in 2006; my friend Brendan Cass, who made monumental efforts to come to Kos Island for just a day-and-a-half so that he could experience it with me; Nathan and Alison Richards and Toni Symonds, who along with Michael Townsend made our time in Crete much more enriching; the staff of the Atlantis Hotel in Santorini; Stamatis Patiniotis at the Asimis Kolaitou Art Gallery and Giorgia at the Lignos Folklore Museum in Santorini; Mary, Voula Mavrea, and the other staff of the Small Village resort on Kos Island; teacher and caretaker Julie, who shared her knowledge of the Hippocrates Garden with us and her friend Dora, an archaeologist who discussed history and mythology with me; and Sophia Stavrianou at the Porfyris Hotel, who provided excellent advice that helped us make the most of our time on the island of Nisyros. Thanks also to Tracie Conner for getting us to the airport on our way out and to Karen Holmes for picking us up there and to Taylor Conner for taking such good care of our cats while we were on the road. And there are undoubtedly other deserving people I may have neglected to mention in this quick recap of our trip and I beg their forgiveness and will be sure to add them as I update it! 

We encountered villains in the course of our travels as well and, while their impact was much less than that of the good people we met, they bear mentioning. These scourges of the Aegean include the swine that lurk at the port of Santorini and other islands and will not answer polite questions while trying to sell overpriced shuttle rides; the many shiftless taxi drivers of Rhodes, who will drive past visitors hauling luggage up the street in favor of giving ride around town to cruise ship passengers; the gypsies who create distractions with their drugged and abused children while their compatriots pick traveler's pockets; and the restaurants that provide substandard service and food to strangers because they do not think they will have to deal with them again or prefer to deal only with those who speak particular languages. Heracles, Theseus, and the other heroes of antiquity would certainly have wreaked a terrible vengeance on them all. 

Many friends followed our journey, commented on it, and provided encouragement to us during it and I would like to thank them for that. Interestingly, a number of friends commented in response to my posts during this trip about how I don't stop working even while on vacation, which points to the fact that of all the things a prolonged trip like this is to me a vacation is not really one of them. Yes, a journey like this can and ideally should have elements of fun and relaxation, but our four-week odyssey through the Aegean was often physically demanding, was expensive, and was attended by elements of uncertainty and hazard. If we just wanted a vacation we could have much more easily, inexpensively, and quickly gone to Port Aransas on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Disney World, or a hundred other places. 

So this trip was much more than any mere vacation could have been, I achieved my goals with it, and, while I am physically exhausted, I have been mentally stimulated -- and am hitting the ground running with an eye to finishing up projects I set aside when we went overseas and to jumping into ones that are exciting and altogether new. And being inspired and invigorated by a trip is, I think, the most someone can expect from it. 

Aegean Odyssey Day 27 (Kos/Athens)

Took an early morning flight from Kos to Athens, checked into the Sofitel at the airport, and spent the afternoon with friend Dimitri Kremmydas discussing everything from culture, politics, and religion to wargaming and learning how to make phyllo dough and spanokopita! 

More to come! 

Aegean Odyssey Day 25 (Nisyros)

Aegean Odyssey Day 18 (Rhodes)

Arrived on Rhodes after an overnight Blue Star ferry from Santorini. No taxis at port and just one overtaxed city bus and, like dozens of other people, we had to drag our luggage up to the main road and then, after getting rudimentary directions, along the irregular sidewalk in the direction of our hotel; very tough on Diane in particular. 

More to come! 

Aegean Odyssey Day 16 (Santorini)

Wanted to do something a little different today and get away from the crowds choking the narrow streets of Fira and so hiked out past the edge of edge of town and along a stretch of desolate coastline that we had ridden along several times by bus. Was very pleased to stumble upon the Asimis Kolaitou Art Gallery and spent some time chatting with curator Stamatis Patiniotis about the exhibits and in the course of our discussion learned a number of interesting things about Santorini from him. 

More to come! 

Aegean Odyssey Day 15 (Santorini)

Visited two museums, foot-and-hand-washed laundry in the bathtub, tried to do some writing and updating of my blogs while being plagued throughout the day by bad Internet connection and difficulty keeping the computer powered up, and had a gyro each for first and second dinner. 

After breakfast we walked up through town to the vicinity of the museums I wanted to visit. When we arrived at the Archaeological museum Diane confided that, with only 56 hours until our departure from Santorini, she was "concerned about the laundry" and we both agreed it would be best if she went back to the hotel to work on it. My guess is that she had glanced into the foyer of the museum when we walked past it the day before and recalled that it was dominated by pots, certainly the sort of antiquity she hates the most. 

Archaeological Museum
To say that I was a bit disappointed with the museum is not to diminish the many wonderful things its two halls, configured in an L-shape, contained. It is the only museum I have visited on this trip, however, where I was provided with no brochure or other guiding information, and about half the items were not labeled in any way, leaving visitors to guess at their provenance and somewhat uncertainly figure things out on their own; there did not even appear to be a guidebook available for sale. 


In general, a preponderance of the artifacts dated to the 7th and 8th century B.C. and were from local ancient cemeteries. Certainly the most striking and beautiful of the objects was the lifelike bust of the goddess Aphrodite (above), which still retained much of the pigment that had been used to color her hair. Other things I particularly enjoyed were the ceramic items with depictions of birds eating snakes, a theme that appears to have predominated in the iconography of local grave goods from this period; and some humorous and even somewhat vulgar statuettes that appeared to have been in vogue for a time, such as a satyr mounted on a fat little donkey that almost could have been the model for the one in Shrek. 

I love artifacts like these because of the connections they make for us with the past and the sorts of questions they prompt. How did someone feel about the person they buried this with? What would I want to be buried with? Contemplating these ancient peoples in this way always makes me quite emotional and I hope part of them knows that they are being remembered and mourned anew. 

Santozeum
Located just a half block down the hill from the Archaeological Museum and apparently situated in what had once been a large private residence is the Santozeum, a museum dedicated to full-sized reproductions of frescoes discovered in the ruined city of Akrotiri. Upon entering visitors are provided with a laminated booklet that provides a crash course in Theran wall paintings and which explains the iconography of those on exhibit; there is also a brief video with interviews with the Princeton archaeologists involved with the restoration of the frescoes. One of the most impressive of the works is certainly that depicting the extended sea voyage of a Minoan fleet from the 2nd millennium B.C., which includes representations of four different Bronze Age seaports. As with the nearby Museum of Prehistoric Thira, a visit to the Santozeum complements one to the archaeological dig at Akrotiri and helps make a trip to it complete. 

When I got back to the hotel Diane dumped some soap and two weeks worth of my laundry into the tub and, after letting it soak in hot water for around half an hour, I got in and stamped around on it for about 10 minutes before working each piece a little by hand. Seemed very reminiscent of pictures I have seen of people stomping grapes for wine and made me wonder if anyone would ever discover a fresco at Akrotiri that would get dubbed "Washerwomen of Thera"; asked Diane to take a picture for posterity but she declined. Then, as I wrung out each piece Diane rinsed it in the sink, wrung it out again, and then found a place to hang it on one of our two balconies. I don't think it was too obtrusive but, suffice it to say, the hotel won't be using any pictures of it taken this afternoon for its new brochure. 

Headed out to find somewhere casual to eat and, after wandering around lower Fira a little, rejected one place because it looked "too hot" and another probable-looking establishment simply because it was named "Meat Corner." Finally stopped at a gyros shop called McDaniel's Snack Bar, where Diane had a pork gyros and I had a lamb kebab pita, both good, along with a couple of cans of Coke Light (hours later I was hungry again and wandered a few streets down to Nick the Grill, where I had a delicious lamb gyro that had a nice hot blob of fat in it). 

Watched the sun set over the caldera from our terrace while the crowds milled below and cheered as it descended beneath the horizon, a tradition that irritates Diane (and which is, admittedly, a little strange; for time immemorial people have celebrated the rising of the sun and even gone to great pains to ensure it would happen, and this is certainly a new spin on that). Then, I went downstairs to the "Colonial Room" and ordered a cup of coffee. I chatted with the barman, Giorgio from Athens, while he went through the prolonged process and learned he was working at the hotel for the season and very much liked Santorini. 

"There are many islands," Giorgio said. "There is only one Santorini." 

Aegean Odyssey Day 14 (Santorini)

Sadly, today was our last day with Richard and Laura! A week with them went by pretty quickly and was over too soon. 

We met for breakfast at 10 a.m. and, as it was damp on the terrace of the Atlantis Hotel, we ate inside for the first time since we arrived. Richard and Laura checked out right at 11 and then we moved their luggage into our room for the day and, after chatting awhile, realized we still needed a picture of all of us on our premium balcony. I approached the desk clerk, who was hanging around by the bar entrance, and he seconded a guest who was having a cup of coffee there for the task. I lined up the shot and even took a sample (top right), but somehow the settings got changed after I handed over the camera and the one with all four of us did not come out quite as crisp (below right). 


We then decided to head out and wander around Fira a bit, heading up to the area of the cable car that goes down to the port and scouting the locations of two of the three museums in Fira I still wanted to visit, the one for Classical antiquities and the Zantozeum. After circling back toward the hotel on a side street that took us past the Highlander -- where Richard and I resisted the urge to step in for a quick one -- we decided to have a bite at Ampelos, the place we had met the Allans for our first drink of the vacation with them a week earlier. I had a delicious artichoke heart stew with peas, carrots, potatoes, and Santorini tomatoes, while Diane had a Caesar salad, Laura had the fresh fried calamari, and Richard enjoyed a pork "Slovaki." We induced the waiter to shoot a brief video segment of us giving our famous "Yamas, Ya' Bas'!" toast, which was one of the trademark watchwords of our vacation together (bottom). While we were sitting there, we were amused to look over at the Naoussa Restaurant and see one of its waiters escorting customers from the nearly-empty terrace down the outer stairway toward the vault we had been taken to! Someone else apparently had not measured up to the stringent standards they expect of paying guests. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking water and wine on our terrace at the hotel and, among other things Richard and I agreed in principal that we were overdue to embark on some sort of project together and would look at doing so once he completed his doctorate and I had cleared my slate a bit. We put the Allans in a cab to the airport at 7:30 and wished them a safe, speedy, and comfortable journey home, where they were looking forward to several days of primitive camping in the sunless and drizzly hills of their rugged homeland.  

Around 8:30 I went and got us some takeout from Chinese Famous Foods a few blocks away. Suffice it to say that this restaurant has zero ambience but I had a nice chat with Orestes, the young Albanian/Greek guy that takes orders for the older Chinese men that run the establishment; among other things, I learned that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant had visited Santorini by yacht last year and that he had gotten his picture taken with them.  And, lack of ambience aside, we were pleased to discover that the food was excellent and thoroughly enjoyed our numbers 1, 24, 43, and 53 (hot and sour soup, pork with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, stir-fried noodles with vegetables, and fried rice).

Dozed for a couple of hours while the thoroughly mediocre street musician that has plagued us this week droned out the handful of songs he knows, again and again, for about three hours over by the bell tower of the Greek Orthodox cathedral; waited in vain for Bono to arrive and slap him with an injunction preventing him  from continuing to ruin With or Without You. Then, got up, worked and played my Grepolis computer game for about three hours, and then had a beer on the terrace and turned in. 

Eating and Drinking in Greece

This is an ongoing entry about my experiences with food and drink in Greece, including the many things I have been happily surprised by and the handful I have been disappointed with. And, while I like Greek food, I know that the handful of things I am familiar with represent just a small part of what the country has to offer and am endeavoring to try as many other things as possible. Tavernas are the Greek counterparts to German gasthauses and French cafes and are the ideal places to get great food at affordable prices. Bakeries and grocery stores are also good places to purchase local delicacies, to reduce the number of meals you end up eating out, and to allow you to do some picnicking. 

* How much to tip is often not clear but apparently 10% is appropriate in Greece and at the high end of what people tend to give (although less does seem to be the norm in some areas, such as Crete). 

* Think twice about tavernas and other establishments that cater to a specific non-Greek ethnic or linguistic group if you are not part of it! Places that specialize in the needs of German customers, for example, are so enamored with serving what they clearly consider to be a superior people that they are notoriously indifferent to the needs of other patrons. This phenomena is almost certainly what caused us to have negative experiences at Arkhado Restaurant in Rethymno, Crete, on Day 6 of our journey and at Naoussa Restaurant in Fira, Santorini. 

* Supermarkets or open-air markets in villages, towns, and cities can be great places to pick up olives, cheese, produce, bread, wine, beer, and other items to eat wherever you are staying or in some idyllic spot you are visiting. 

* Check out bakeries for local delicacies of various sorts, especially for breakfast items or meals on the go. "Ask for kaltsounia," my friend Dimitri Kremmydas told me. "And see if they have local pies. Koulouri with sousami is also great with some cheese in the morning. Pies, especially with greens are big in Crete."

* It is traditional for tavernas to provide complimentary desert at the end of a meal, almost always watermelon and/or other fruit, but sometimes ice cream or yogurt, and about half the time raki, a local distilled liquor. The most sumptuous bonus spread of this sort I have thus far had was at Zisi's in Rethymno, Crete, and appears below; it included a flask with three shots of raki, yogurt with candied pumpkin, honeydew melon, and watermelon. 

* If you are planning on eating gyros, look at the meat on the rotating spit to see how full it is! If it is slim then you may get smaller, drier pieces of meat then is optimum. 

* Get a male waiter if you can! Yes, I know, what a terrible and sexist thing thing for me to say. Professional table service is more traditionally performed by men in Greece, however, and young female waitresses are much more likely to be dull-witted younger daughters who are at loose ends for the summer and being put to work at their family's establishments. 

Aegean Odyssey Day 6

RETHYMNO, CRETE -- Woke up around 8 a.m. after sleeping about 11 hours. Calves were so stiff I could hardly walk. Self examination revealed the blister on my left foot was worse than ever. Hips, feet, arms, and shoulders, however, which all hurt badly after our return from Samaria Gorge last night, were all OK, and with proper care I will recover quickly. Diane is not doing so well and with here injured knee will likely be in bed most of the day. 

Breakfasted on pita bread, feta cheese, olives, and two cups of coffee. Took a couple of dips in the pool and sat for awhile in the jacuzzi, where I found some jets to work my calve muscles. Then, made appoints for hour-long full-body massages for both of us. 

Went to the mini-mart at the resort to get Diane provisions for the day and stopped at the front desk to ask where I might find three local dishes my friend Dimitri had recommended -- stifado, burburistus, and kokoresti -- which I was pretty sure I would not find in a touristy taverna. After the pro forma delay in helping me, the front desk clerk warmed at little at my question and recommended a taverna called Zisi's, which he said was about a kilometer down the road and were he was pretty sure I could find at least one of those items. I am a pretty good judge of distance and was starting to think I had somehow missed the place until I had gone about a mile and saw it just ahead of me (and a check online later revealed it to be about 1,500 meters). It was worth the walk, however, and a very pleasant taverna that had one of the more obscure items on my list, burburistus, which I promptly ordered, to the waiter's obvious surprise and amusement. It is, in short, a Greek version of escargot, but cooked in olive oil and not butter and much more generous in it portions, coming with three dozen snails rather than the more effete French six (an image appears at bottom). With toasted bread and a half liter of red wine the tab was just 9.80 Euros -- and then the waiter brought me some honeydew melon and watermelon, a dish of yogurt with candied pumpkin, and a flask of raki with three shots in it! Overall a very pleasant and affordable experience. 

Cut over to the beach on my way back, walked about halfway back along it, and had a dip on the way at a secluded spot where no one could run up and grab my bag without me seeing them approach. (Above top, a view of the shore from the main road through the area of Rethymno we are staying in; above center, a picturesque ruin -- and a fixer-upper that we will use as a the basis of our relocation to Crete?)

Back at the hotel had a one-hour massage and then a some time in the excellent steam room and dry sauna, followed by a dip in the pool. 

Diane and I then went to dinner at the taverna across the street from the hotel, to Arhodiko Restaurant, which is clearly a place that caters to a German clientele and is much less particular in its treatment of people from other lands. I did not have a good feeling about it, but it was close and Diane was still have trouble walking, so we gave it a try, and I had the first bad meal of the trip there. Gyros should have been a safe bet but what I got were tepid, dry, little chips of meat, not the hot, succulent ones I would have hoped for, along with cool fries that I did not try to finish. Diane had the moussaka and said it was good. 

Worked at little at the hotel and then passed out early, probably around 10:30. 

Aegean Odyssey Day 3

RETHYMNO, CRETE -- Long, lingering day made phantasmagoric by heat, lack of sleep, travel, and alcohol. 

Got up early and flew out of Athens on a 7:20 Aegean Air flight to Iraklion, Crete (here is a glimpse of the coast of Attica as we crossed over it and began to fly southeast). Collected our luggage and were picked up by a shuttle service and friendly driver Demetrius, who was chatty but whose English was only marginally better than my non-existent Greek, causing him to give us slightly suspicious sideways glances anytime we referred to our friend Dimitri during the hour-and-15-minute drive from the airport to our hotel (at bottom is a view of the Sea of Crete from a little ways west of Iraklion). 

Room was not ready when we got it so we went for an early lunch and were pleased to discover at the place we stopped that we could get a liter of decent local red wine for 7 Euros! We had that and a couple of mixed grill plates that included gyros, chicken, pork souvlaki, and a lamb chop. Proprietress Maria also provided us with some great information about the local area and gave us a nice complimentary plate of watermelon, oranges, and figs for desert. 

Went back to the hotel and finally got into our room a little before 2 p.m., upon which we promptly passed out for about four hours. We then got up and walked down to the beach, where I bathed in the surf, always loving the opportunity to scrub myself with sand and wash in natural water. 

After that we got dressed and went out to find a place to eat dinner. We ended up choosing Mr. Gyro and met two nice couples of expat Brits who now live in Crete and, after spending a number of hours chatting with them, were left considering relocating here after we decide we have lived in Texas long enough (from bottom left are Alison, Toni, Michael, and Nathan). 

Vocabulary
Figs: Syka
Oranges: Portokali
Watermelon: Karpousi

More to come! 

Aegean Odyssey Day 2 (Athens)

ATHENS, GREECE -- Landed here about 8:30 a.m. local time and then fairly quickly collected our luggage and cleared customs. Almost always struck when coming in to a major European port of entry how much easier and less stressful it is then coming back into the United States. Then walked across the street to the conveniently-located Sofitel (the lobby of which is shown at right). Staff was very friendly and gracious and let us check into our room at 11 and then had our stuff hauled up to it for us. 

Friend Dimitri Kremmydas met us at the hotel and then took us downtown via bus, allowing us to see the orchards and farm plots that provide much of the produce available in the markets of the city. We then spent several hours exploring a number of downtown neighborhoods, from some of the most chic to ones that have fallen on hard times but still have a great degree of local charm. Highlights included walking through the traditional open-air produce, meat, and fish markets (some glimpses of which appear here); a look at some of the outdoor exhibits at the War Museum and Byzantine Museum; a walk past the parliament and brief stop to pay respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (some of the evzones guardsmen from the site can be seen patrolling below); and a visit to a subterranean archaeological site inside a metro station (also below). 

In the course of all this we had lunch at a traditional Pakistani street food vendor, not what we had expected for our first meal in Greece but delicious and a nice surprise. We enjoyed beef kebabs, samosas, salads, wonderful flatbread hot off the grill, and a very spicy dish of minced organ meats (which Diane would not touch but that I thought was great). 

We also had an enlightening conversation about U.S. and Greek society, history, politics, religion, and related matters. And, as we are both wargamers, we also talked about that a bit as well! 

Got back to the hotel and, after resting a little, walked across the street to the airport to see where we needed to check in for our 7:20 flight to Crete in the morning. Then, each had a Hellas Fix draught beer and a much-needed glass of water in the Artemis Bar and picked at the snacks that came with them (including, much to Diane's amusement, a little dish of bugels!). 

I went up to the sauna and pool for a sweat and a dip and watched the sun go down over the hills surrounding the Messoghia Valley. Then, came back down to the room, made a cup of espresso, and updated this blog and did a little other work before turning in. 

Today's vocabulary: 
efcharisto = thank you (a good first word to know wherever one is travelling)
kalimera = good morning

That's it for now. More to come! 

Aegean Odyssey Day 1

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- At San Antonio International Airport getting ready to board our flight to Philadelphia, the fist leg of our journey to Greece and more than three weeks in the Aegean! Will be keeping a running log of our odyssey here and posting interesting and useful information at once a day, Internet access permitting. So, come along and enjoy the trip with us!

There are a few things to note already:

* TSA recently implemented "Pre-Screening" for some travelers and apparently my wife Diane was approved for it (she is not sure how, as she never applied for it, but is assuming it is in part because she is retired U.S. military; I suspect it involved some sort of background check by TSA). Both of us therefore got moved into the pre-screened line, which meant we did not have to remove our shoes or belts -- I did not wear one anyway because I did not know about this -- or have to remove our laptops from our carry-on luggage. This made our trip through security the quickest and most painless one I have experienced in about 13 years. Suffice it to say, this is probably the smartest, best thing TSA has done in more than a decade, and certainly the one that will improve quality of travel for the most people -- and even people who are not pre-screened benefit because there are fewer people waiting in lines with them.

* Don't be fooled by airport bars that are open when you are waiting for early-morning flights, because you cannot get a drink at them! They are not permitted to serve alcohol earlier than 7 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on Sundays. Suffice it to say that those of us who have no values at all are not particularly tolerant of those who turn theirs into legislation or presume to dictate when other people are allowed to have a drink. If we had recalled this from the last time we experienced it we could have brought a couple of vodka minis and used them to spike some "virgin Maries."

* San Antonio International Airport has free Wifi! This is nothing new but a real plus for me and goes a long way toward making them traveler-friendly so it bears mentioning.