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July 2010 issue

Panama highlights

On a custom tour our family took to Panama in June-July ’09 (Oct. ’09, pg. 32 & Nov. ’09, pg 31), we stayed in BOQUETE at Finca Lérida (P.O. Box 0413-00146, Boquete, Chiriquí, Panama; phone/fax +011 [507] 720-2285), a small hotel on a gorgeous coffee plantation on the mountainside outside of town. Although the hotel was outside the city, a taxi to/from town cost only $5.

The view there was phenomenal. The town of Boquete itself was nothing special, we felt. In the Boquete area, I recommend the following tours:

• Finca Dracula (phone 507 771 2070) — an orchid farm with...

January 2005 issue

Wasn’t told new phone needed code

In March ’04 I purchased a new Motorola V-400 “World Class” phone and opened a new Cingular line to use it. (My existing Cingular phone would not work with the new GSM services.) The new phone was purchased for use on a trip to Sweden planned for early April.

I received assurances from the sales personnel and from a Cingular person that the phone was ready to use in Sweden and that nothing more need be done to use it. It was explained to me that there would be a (reasonable) roaming charge in Sweden.

When I arrived in Sweden, I was unable to connect to any cellular network....

November 2010 issue

West Africa visit

I toured Mali and Burkina Faso, Feb. 10-27, 2010, with Craig Canadian Group Travel, Ltd. (Toronto, Ont., Canada; 800/387-8890), who also arranged a post-trip, seven-day hotel stay for me for in Paris through March 6.

The tour was named “Into the Heart of West Africa,” and the cost for everything was $8,754. That covered round-trip air from Portland, Oregon, everything in Africa (except water during meals), the hotel room in Paris and an overnight in a Toronto hotel on my way back.

In Mali we had the best driver I’ve ever had in 50-plus years. His eyes never left the road —...

April 2010 issue

Cut a rug in Romania

My husband and I took a tour in June ’09 that focused on dance, with choreographer Theodor Vasilescu (in the US and Canada, contact Ping Chun, 49 Junard Dr., Morristown, NJ 07960; phone 973/539-7020 or e-mail ping.chun@att.net). Theodor leads a tour each summer to different regions of Romania; some folks on our tour had traveled with him six times!

The land price for our 12-night tour was $2,000 per person and included all museum admissions, a driver, guide, classes in traditional dances like the hora and other circle dances, professional performances, parties and instructional DVDs...

May 2010 issue

Cinque Terre hotel

Saltwater scents from the Ligurian Sea mixed with aromas of homemade focaccia from the nearby bakery, Forno di Monterosso, as my wife, Cindy, and I arrived at La Spiaggia Hotel (Via Lungomare 98, Monterosso al Mare; phone 0187-817-567), five minutes’ walk from the rail station.

Andrea Poggi has owned this grand, old hotel for years. Julia and Ella work the reception area and give the art of hospitality a new meaning.

There are 19 rooms, some, like ours, with balconies facing the deep-blue waters of the sea. For our 13-night stay, May 5-19, 2009, our room (No. 307) on the top...

February 2011 issue

El Salvador surprise

As a “country counter” avidly trying to reach my personal goal of traveling to 100 countries, I added El Salvador (number 70) to my list in January 2010. To be truthful, it had not been at the top of my list of destinations to visit, not because I didn’t want to go there but because I had not thought about going. It was almost by accident that I ended up there.

I was traveling through Honduras and Nicaragua with my travel buddies, Renee Pobjecky and Doug Bohannon. Our itinerary included several days in western Honduras. Through a series of events out of our control, we ended up with...

February 2004 issue

Fixing a flight mixup

What would you do if you discovered that you were booked on a nonexistent flight? This was the unbelievable situation that my wife and I recently encountered.

We believe in firming up travel arrangements as early as possible to avoid the disappointment of unavailable space. In April ’03 we booked, through Adventure Center (800/227-8747), a September tour of Romania, Explore Worldwide’s “Village Folklore and Danube Delta,” land only.

An intensive search on the Internet finally yielded a great price on flights. We would fly from Atlanta to New York’s JFK on Delta, connecting to...

March 2010 issue

Hotel in Palermo

In Palermo, Sicily, in May ’09, we stayed at the three-star Hotel Joli (Via Michele Amari, 11 90139 Palermo; phone +39 091 61 11765) for a little over $100 per night for the small room. The larger rooms are more expensive. WiFi was free.

There is another hotel with almost the same name. The one we stayed in is in a small, beautifully renovated old building. The area is convenient, and parking is available in the area.

We had taken the airport bus into town ($8 and 45 minutes) and walked the three blocks from Piazza Politeama, where we got off the bus. I downloaded a Google...