Just something for Monday morning. It comes from Metropolitan Diary in today’s New York Times.

Metropolitan Diary

Dear Diary:

Now that it’s not there anymore I can tell a story of why I don’t use travel agents.

I was planning my first and only trip to Israel, so I went up the stairs to a little travel office on West 73rd Street to consider using them for parts of my trip. I got a pleasant greeting from the receptionist and asked her, “Is anybody in the office an expert on Israel?”

She said: “I wouldn’t say experts, but we’re all very familiar with travel to Israel. What can we help you with?”

And I said, “Well, my first question is, am I going to need to rent a car?”

And she said, quite confidently: “Oh, no. You just take a boat from island to island.”

Edward Belling