Dear Reader, my December 2006 account of being lost in France and getting directions from a local jogged the memory of Patricia Arcaro of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. She and a friend had lost their way in France when a motorcyclist stopped to help, going out of his way to take them to their hotel, driving through a series of backstreets, main streets, construction sites and, finally, an alley.

“When I later considered this, I thought about how foolish we could have been and how...

By Ed Kinney, following the Euphrates River in Syria. See the May ’07 article.

It is difficult for me to imagine Deir ez-Zor being anything but a friendly, laid-back town. When my wife, Moreen, and I visited there in 1997, locals waved and children followed us saying “Hallo,” and we’d reply likewise: “Mehaba.” But now Deir ez-Zor has become an oil boom town, as Syria is attempting to increase this area’s light crude oil production. The town may be changing, but I doubt if the...

by Lew Toulmin

“Amazing Grace” played as the tall ship Mandalay sailed out of St. George’s harbor into the sunset. The sweet sounds of the music, the delicious smell of cloves and allspice in the air and the lush green mountains of Grenada all said that this was going to be a very special voyage.

It was the start of a week-long cruise through the Grenadines for my wife, Susan, and me aboard one of the historic vessels of the unusual Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, a voyage...