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Womb to Tomb. For the tourist in trouble, American Express is a seasoned troubleshooter, will handle just about every imaginable disaster between womb and tomb. When an Egyptologist died abroad, she left a request that American Express have her cremated and scatter her ashes on the Nile. Asked by the U.S. embassy, in 1954, to look for a traveling Vassar girl whose father had died at home, the Paris office found that it had booked the girl on a train trip to Nice, followed the trail through five countries before catching up with her in Zurich. After a New York matron complained that her daughter had disappeared in Europe, the company finally tracked the girl down in Paris, where she had set up light housekeeping with a Frenchman. One Christmas in London, a middle-aged American visitor hinted that she was lonely and a company representative insisted on taking her home to share Christmas dinner with his family. Since many U.S. tourists report lost or stolen valuables ot American express rather than police, company agents have to be part sleuth, part psychologist. For example, as a wealthy Houston woman boarded the boat train for Le Havre in Paris last summer, she shrieked that she had lost $60,000 worth of jewels. "Don't worry, lady," an American Express escort reassured her, "You take the train and we'll find the jewels." The agent headed unerringly for the woman's hotel room, found the rings and bracelets under her pillow, set them by messenger to the ship. FITs for VIPs. The company's most pleasant labor is compiling FITs. i.e., "Foreign Independent Tours." For travelers who want to be free of details, supervision and money worries—which is FITs—the company handles an average of 1,100 trips a month. The customer can theoretically leave his money belt behind, once the company hands him his blue wallet stuffed with prepaid coupons for every service he will need, down to the last cab, gondola ride, sales tax and tip. With each book of FIT coupons comes a neatly typed, individual itinerary that plots each move and ticks off every landmark, e.g., the Leaning Tower of Pisa is 13 feet off center because of the "unequal setting of the foundation." The FIT customer pays up to 25% for extra services over and above the retail cost of hotel rooms and travel tickets, though the ordinary tourists pays nothing extra for hotel bookings an rail tickets. "The company gets a wholesale commission from the carriers and hotels.) Recent FITs: Marlene Dietrich, Cardinal Spellman, Perle Mesta (for whom American express helped arrange a trip to Moscow) and J. Fred Muggs, the TV chimp. For non-FITs who flock abroad on regular escorted tours the company offers 173 different itineraries in Europe alone. This year, for the first time, it has organized a 56-day Bible Lands pilgrimage shepherded by a Methodist minister, a golfer's tour through 19 courses in four countries under Gene Sarazen's auspices, a 73-day Cape Town-to-Cairo trip led by old Africa hands. For art lovers it has arranged a 46-day ramble through Europe's museums and cathedrals; for those who like music a 50-day whirl from Bayreuth to Rome, Wagner to Verdi. In addition, 16,000 ocean cruise passengers (average age: 65) each year take American Express shore tours or buy the whole cruise, e.g., a 97-day, round-the-world trip (cost: up to $20,000) on the Kungsholm.