Accommodations Worldwide

It was midnight when my husband, Skip, and son, George, and I checked into the Best Western Premier Foresta Hotel (Herserudsvaegen 22, Box 1324, Lidingö, SE-18125, SWEDEN; phone +46 [0] 8 50550500, fax 550 590, www.bestwestern.com).

The front desk manager Marcus Jonnson welcomed us with kindness and good cheer. Four days later, he checked us out with sandwiches and coffee at 6:30 a.m.; the buffet was not yet open and he wanted us to have something to eat before we started our travel home to the USA. He was hospitality made manifest.

My friend, Virginia, and I spent five days at Well Cottage Bed & Breakfast (Ewen, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 6BU, UNITED KINGDOM; phone 01 285 770212, mobile 0 7850 328447, www.well cottagebandb.co.uk) in October ’08, and we must have picked the gold-medal winner of English B&Bs!

Well Cottage is a beautiful, old stone farmhouse in the pretty little community of Ewen. The interior has been extensively remodeled.

The Pacific International Hotel (43 Esplanade, Cairns, Queensland, Australia; phone +61 7 4051 7888, fax 4031 1445, www.pacifichotelcairns.com) was recommended by a fellow traveler who visits Cairns each year for diving and stays at this hotel. It’s within walking distance of the Esplanade, the night market, the harbor and the shopping and tourist areas.

My friend Susan Carrasco and I spent two weeks on Palawan Island in the Philippines in April ’08. We stayed in the lovely, new Balay Inato Pension (294 Manalo St., Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines 5300; phone 048 433 8595, mobile 0926 617 2007 or e-mail balayinato_pension@yahoo.com.ph), which is in a safe location not far from the airport. Free airport transfers are offered and there’s parking on site.

Hotel Aberdeen (Via Firenze 48, 00184 Rome, ITALY; phone +39 06 4823920, fax 21092, www.travel.it/roma/aberdeen) is a 10-minute walk from Rome’s Termini train station; you can avoid crossing several busy, wide streets by taking the metro to the Repubblica stop.

The hotel is on a relatively quiet street just off of the busy Via Nazionale with its convenient bus stops. The lobby is up a flight of stairs from the main entrance of a large, elegant structure that was once a palace.

My wife and I spent three glorious days in Velden-Auen, Austria, June 29-July 2, 2008. We stayed at the Flair-Hotel (Süduferstrasse/Quellenweg 97, A-9220 Velden-Auen, Austria; phone +43 [0] 42 74 25 34 0,

www.flairhotel.com), a 5-minute drive from the center of Velden. The hotel is right on the lake and has an indoor heated pool.

We paid €118 (about $180 in June ’08) for two people for a spacious room with a balcony facing the lake. The included breakfast was a full buffet.

I led a group of college students on a trip to GERMANY in May ’08. Here is a review of our hotels.

The City Lodge (150 Vincent St., Auckland, New Zealand; phone 64 9 379 6183, www.citylodge.co.nz), where I stayed for a week, Jan. 31-Feb. 7, 2008, is in the heart of Auckland, a 5-minute walk from the free bus or from the Sky Tower.

The trip reviews we had read for the Jerusalem Gold Hotel (234 Jaffa Road, Jerusalem, Israel 94383; phone +972-2-501 3333, fax 501-3344, www.jerusalemgold.com) were mixed. However, we need not have feared; we had a wonderful experience at this hotel.

My wife, Jane, and I stayed there for one week in March ’08. Our room cost $106 per night and I felt that we received good value for the money.

The rooms were comfortable and clean.

When our family of nine — grandparents and two grandchildren (15 and 11) along with parents, aunts and uncle — ended a transatlantic cruise in Rome, ITALY, in April ’08, we wanted to reasonably enjoy a few days of touring and still be together. An apartment rented through the website www.RomeRents.com more than met our expectations.