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Letters: Father-son canoe trip resonates with another dad

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Thank you for “Canoe Like Heroes,” by Andrew McCarthy [May 22]. I wish I’d been able to do this with my son when he was Sam’s age.

Now that he’s 30 and I’m creeping up on 70, the odds are slim (especially because he lives in New York City), but reading about McCarthy’s trip with his son is second-best.

Bob Haut, Topanga Canyon

$2 per day car rental had a catch

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After reading “9 Tips for Renting a Car,” by Catharine Hamm [On the Spot, May 22], I wanted to share my experience renting a car in March at Mexico’s San José del Cabo airport.

The price through Orbitz was $2 a day. I even called Dollar to make sure the rate was correct; I was assured it was.

I’ve rented cars for many years, and I’ve discovered that buying the insurance on the Orbitz site (through Allianz Global) is well worth the money.

My rental for five days was $10 plus $82 (prepaid insurance).

I knew it was a come-on rate and, sure enough, when I picked up the car I was told it was $500 for insurance for the five days. I declined.

The clerk used scare tactics and told me if something happened to the car I wouldn’t be able to leave the country — I would be in police custody — until I could prove I had insurance. He even handed me a laminated placard reiterating the threat of incarceration.

I declined.

To make sure there weren’t going to be issues during drop-off, I inspected the car and took pictures of any blemishes, no matter how minor. Happily there were no issues, and when I dropped off the car I was charged the $10.

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I’m going again later this year, and this time I’ll take hard copies of all my insurance information, my personal and supplemental.

Michelle Grant, Santa Monica

Concern over elephant photo

I am a long-time subscriber to the Los Angeles Times. Every week, I look forward to the Travel section. On May 15, I was met with the photo of tourists riding an elephant in the Tours & Cruises column as a part of information about a trip to Thailand.

I am concerned that this picture was used. Many elephants in Asia and all over the world are used to financially benefit humans. To achieve this, the elephants are either taken from their herds at a young age or are born to captive mothers.

They are then broken” by cruel means so that they are compliant with being used in tourism, logging and begging.

The cruel treatment includes whipping, chaining, using a bull hook and depriving them of food. As a result of this treatment, many are left with horrific injuries. They are sometimes literally worked to death.

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Riding an elephant is not an exotic vacation activity. It is an example of a highly intelligent animal being cruelly treated.

I refer you to the following websites for more information about the treatment that working elephants receive and the work of the people who rescue them. There are stories on each website about the elephants they have rescued. Their stories are painful and sobering.

https://blesele.org/

www.elephantnaturepark.org/

Sandra Greene, Santa Monica

Feel-good tip: Donate reward miles

Eric Rosen missed the easiest way to keep reward miles in “Keep Your Reward Miles Alive” [More for Your Money, May 8]. One can donate miles — sometimes as few as 500 miles, usually 1,000 — to any of several good charities.

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I have “saved” my miles this way with both American and United. It resets the expiration date and I can feel good at the same time.

Connie Johnson, Oceanside

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