My daughter and her family are on their way back to Tel Aviv from Boise, ID, after having been evacuated by her husband's company to the States to wait out the high war alert in Israel. (He is on a 3-year overseas assignment.) They were supposed to fly Boise - Portland, OR, - Newark - Tel Aviv. Well, there was a problem with their tickets in Portland and they were refused boarding. After 9 hours of back-and-forth between his company and Continental, all while having to remain at the airport, things finally got resolved and they were issued tickets for the next day: Portland - Newark - Frankfurt - Tel Aviv.

By the time they got to Newark, a general strike had begun in Israel, cancelling all flights in and out of the country. They knew it was possible that they would be stuck in Frankfurt. Serendipity! Stuck is synonymous with opportunity, if one may leave the airport! They were already planning to see at least the Frankfurt Zoo if the strike in Israel was still on.

Your timely post to Barbara came through while my daughter's family was en route to Frankfurt and I forwarded it on to them in case they were lucky enough to stay another day or two. Needless to say, they are hoping to get in at least a few of your suggestions before having to leave. They did have to spend a few precious hours at the airport finding out what was going on, but my daughter said the people were so friendly and helpful at the airport, she didn't mind.

You never know when some friendly Zine advice to someone else can work out perfectly for you.

Carrie, Bardonia, NY