Traveling with two friends, I took a one-week Road Scholar trip in February 2016 to Cuba, where our group of 20 visited Havana and Santa Clara, the latter in the center of the island, and Cienfuegos and Trinidad, both on the southern coast. Because more Americans are getting ready to visit the island since the US lifted several restrictions, I wanted to offer suggestions for those visitors who find themselves with time on their own.

Getting around

In Havana, the older guys in...

We have visited Europe several times in the fall, but never before with the primary objective of experiencing the vineyards at harvesttime. 

When planning our 2015 trip, determining which countries to visit was our first challenge, since our travel time was limited to around 30 days. France and Spain were certainly included on the itinerary for their excellent wines and gastronomical delights. Italy and Germany have several wine regions, so they were added, though we had to...

The third-largest island in the world, Borneo is bisected by the equator, claims more than 600 bird species and is home to nearly all of the world’s population of orangutans. It belongs to Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, each country governing its own section.

Visiting Borneo demanded a custom tour, and my wife, Marcia, discovered Audley Travel (Boston, MA; 855/838-8300, www.audley travel.com) and their Southeast Asia Senior Specialist, Jack Tydeman. He proposed a private...