by Paul Richards, Peoria Heights, IL

Good fortune

My wife, Pat, and I are fans of the gîte (pronounced zheet), any of the rental cottages, apartments, villas and chalets available throughout France.

In 2005, with the dumb luck of the trusting traveler, we were delighted to find that the gîte we had rented for 10 days was in the heart of an eclectic vacation landscape near the village of Villecroze, in the Haut Var region of Provence.

Just an hour west of the...

by Tim Leffel, Nashville, TN

Climbing up the steepest parts of the Inca Trail in Peru, I hear only singing birds, the panting of our fellow hikers and the rhythmic clicks of walking sticks striking the old stone steps. The sound of rapid flip-flop footsteps forms faintly in the distance and gets steadily louder. “Porters!” someone shouts, and we all shuffle to the side of the trail to let the loaded-down carriers pass.

We each are carrying only a small daypack filled with what...

by Louis Bechtel, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

In June ’05, after four days of sightseeing in Shanghai, one of the world’s most exciting cities, pulsating with energy and vitality, my son Jim and I decided it was time for a quiet respite to neighboring Suzhou and Zhouzhuang, two of China’s popular tourist cities. Both are within an hour of Shanghai by bus, train or tour coach.

Our Shanghai base, Marriott’s Renaissance Pudong Hotel, arranged a one-day tour of Suzhou and Zhouzhuang...