Leita Kald

The author and her husband plan a land tour of Portugal. But how to get there A friend who works for the airlines offers them buddy passes: A cinch You simply travel stand-by and all you pay is taxes. A tragedy of errors ensues as they are unable to board plane after plane in Florida, as well as in Portugal, as non-revenue standby passengers. After calculating expenses for hotels, extra flights and survival items such as food, they discover that they've saved no money and, instead, incurred flight-related maladies and trauma. But, once in Portugal, they were enchanted by all they saw from north to south of this relatively unsung, fascinating land. Prince Henry the Navigator launched the "Age of Discovery," and our travelers shared all the adventures of Portuguese history and culture, not to mention fine food and, of course, the discovery of Port wine.

Leita Kaldi Davis worked for the United Nations and UNESCO, for Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Harvard University. She worked with Roma (Gypsies) for fifteen years, became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal at the age of 55, then went to work for the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti for five years. She retired in Florida in 2002, and wrote a memoir of Senegal, Roller Skating in the Desert, and of Haiti, In the Valley of Atibon, as well as several travel memoirs. (amazon.com or lkaldi@hotmail.com).