My two girlfriends and I took a 2-week independent trip to Italy, June 7-21, 2006. We always plan our trips ourselves (no packages), customizing them for what we want to see and leaving plenty of free time in between the sightseeing for cafés, hiking, etc.
This trip included Venice (plus Murano, Burano and Torcello islands), our hiking the entire Cinque Terre trail, Florence (with a stop to tour Pisa en route) and Rome.
My husband, David, and I have stayed 12 times at Hotel de la Paix (Bernastrasse 24, 3800 Interlaken, SWITZERLAND; phone +41 33 822 70 44, fax 822 87 28 or visit www. hotel-de-la-paix.ch), most recently in August ’06.
I returned to SWITZERLAND in September ’06, this time with a cousin.
Looking for an inexpensive place to stay at Roissy Aéroport Charles-de-Gaulle Paris Nord? I stayed at the Etap Hotel Roissy (335 rue de la Belle Étoile, ZAC Paris Nord 2, Roissey en FRANCE 95974; phone [+33] 892 68 3056, fax 149 89 3342 or visit www.etaphotel.com). There are 20 Etap hotels in the Paris area. Etap is a member of the Accor chain (800/466-8356).
I paid only €39 ($51) for one night in October ’06 and got what I paid for. There was no room key (instead, you enter a special code), no bellhop, no cart for hauling your own baggage, no phone and no clock.
In the middle of August ’06, I found myself in Helsinki, FINLAND — one of the world’s “Top Ten Most Expensive” cities — without a hotel room! So I logged onto the Internet (imagine travel today without the Net?) and within minutes had a room at the independently owned Airport Hotel Bonus Inn (Elannotie 9, 01510 Vantaa, Finland; phone + 358 [0] 9-825-511or e-mail hotel@bonusinn.fi).
The rack rate for a double room was €213 ($276). I found an Internet rate of €130 ($168) for a double.
My husband, Dick, and I took the “Essential Iran” tour with MIR Corp. (85 South Washington St., Ste. 210, Seattle, WA 98104; 800/424-7289, www.mircorp.com), Sept. 8-17, 2006, and thought ITN readers might be interested in the observations of two ordinary American tourists, a rarity there.
Usually, the ships that cruise in Russia are rather sparse in amenities, unless you upgrade to a suite, but our cabin aboard the M/S Tikhi Don, with Grand Circle Travel (347 Congress Ave., Boston, MA 02210; 800/959-0405, www.gct.com), had regular beds, a TV, a Western-style bath, a phone, an in-room safe, a fridge, two chairs and a table as well as closet space. We even had great reading lights above the beds, which we’ve never seen before. We chose the middle deck, where the cabins are 150 square feet and each have a picture window.
From a 2-week March ’06 trip to AUSTRALIA, here are some of the hotels I stayed at in the Northern Territory. (Also see the September and January articles)
• Back in Alice Springs, I had reservations at the Best Western Elkira Motel (65 Bath St., Alice Springs, N.T. 0870, Australia; phone [08] 8952 1222, fax 8953 1370 or visit http://elkira.bestwestern.com.au). The room cost Aus$108 (US$80).
Bicheno’s Ocean View Retreat (18067 Tasman Highway, Bicheno, Tasmania 7215, AUSTRALIA; phone [61] 3 6375 1481, fax 1554, e-mail dgardam@tassie.net.au or visit www.bichenooceanviewretreat.com) sits on a hill overlooking a long sweep of coastline.
This new, clean and modern B&B is run by Debbie and Jock Gard, a very nice and helpful couple. Separate, private suites or self-contained units are priced Aus$130-$160 (US$103-$126).
Debbie serves a delicious, bountiful breakfast on your terrace overlooking the beach.
The Hotel Beránek (Belehradská 110, 120 00 Praha 2, CZECH REPUBLIC; phone +420 221 59 59 59, fax 61 or visit www.hotelberanek.com) was my accommodation for a conference I attended in August-September ’06, and I was so pleased with it that I want to recommend it to ITN readers.
Great for a room within a short walk or one metro stop of Wenceslaus Square, the Beránek is located on Tylovo Square, 2½ short blocks from the I.P. Pavlova Metro Station. There is a large number of good neighborhood restaurants to the east and north.