By DAVID BEAR, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

OSLO, Norway -- Call it the bridge of happy babel.

The joyous crowd thronging across the wide stone arch seem to speak a dozen languages. In addition to Norwegian, I detect snatches of German, English, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese and several other tongues about which I have no clue.

LOGAN, Ohio -- Fall is the most glorious Appalachian season, as mountainous deciduous forests are transformed into roiling waves of red, gold and yellow. Regional residents are fortunate to have nature's beautiful and bountiful displays around every corner, but leaf-ophiles looking for new landscapes to savor will certainly appreciate Ohio's Hocking Hills.

There's no doubt air travelers have to negotiate numerous hurdles on their way to catch a flight these days, so it makes sense to do what you can to help the process go smoothly. Consider the following:

"Is there a doctor on board?"

That's a flight announcement no air traveler ever wants to hear, but based on available data, it's a question heard more frequently on commercial airlines these days.

The quintuple whammy of a stuttering economy, soaring energy costs, stringent security, eviscerated flight schedules and weak dollars has Americans reconsidering taking vacations abroad.

Whew. This time next year, air travelers who require supplemental oxygen will be able to breathe a bit more easily. Negotiating airports and security will be simpler for passengers with impaired sight, hearing or mobility as well.

Here's advance warning. If you're flying somewhere this week and checking luggage, be prepared for extra delays.

Beginning this week, most economy-class passengers on domestic flights operated by US Airways, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United will have to pay $25 extra if they want to check a second piece of luggage.

As a young man in the early 1970s, Richard Bangs conquered wild rivers of the world on a raft: the Omo (Ethiopia), the Zambezi (Zambia), the Coruh (Turkey), the Indus (Pakistan), the Apurimac (Peru), the Yangtze (China) and the Tatshenshini (Alaska/Yukon).

MEADS BAY, Anguilla, British West Indies -- OK, there may have been a moment of panic as I steered the white rental car out of the parking lot. I have plenty of experience behind the wheel in countries whose British heritage compels folks to drive on the left side of the road, and I've been fine.

With the dollar's continuing struggles around the globe, the price tag for any trip out of the country just keeps rising. Even airline tickets, which are generally calculated in the currency of the country in which the journey originates, are subject to a host of increases in taxes and fees, as well as fuel surcharges.