Day Tour

8 days, 7 nights in FRANCE, June 4-11, 2022. Highlights: Drive from Paris to Normandy for Le Mémorial de Caen war museum, Merville Gun Battery/D-Day ceremony at Normandy American Cemetery/Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Église/Battle of Normandy Museum/en route to Limoges, Coudehard-Montormel Memorial/preserved-village memorial of Oradour-sur-Glane. $2,995 ppdo. Single supp., $800.

On Rarotonga, visitors can be regaled with the history and culture of the Cook Islanders on active day tours led by guides from Storytellers (Box 2130, Arorangi; phone +682 23450, www.storytellers.co.ck).

We took a 4-hour private tour of Mallorca, one of Spain’s Balearic Islands, through Nofrills Excursions (Avenida de la Playa, 13 Bajos, 07410 Alcudia, Baleares, Spain; phone +34 971 897 06767, www.nofrills-excursions.com) in July 2019.

Our tour guide, Melanie, and our driver, Francisco, were excellent. Melanie had an excellent knowledge of the island, and, with a wonderful sense of humor, she was a pleasure to spend time with. Francisco was a patient, careful driver, especially on narrow, winding roads.

When I booked the Costsaver trip “Cossack Explorer,” April 14-27, 2018, it seemed it would satisfy my desire to visit cities like Veliky Novgorod, Smolensk and Minsk. Though I had visited nearly all of the other cities on the itinerary several times before, I was willing to see them again on the general theory that there’s always something new to experience.

The 3-hour “Small Group Spy & Espionage Tour of London” is offered by the company Evan Evans (London, England; phone +44 20 7950 1777, www.evanevanstours.com).

The bus tour is led by a former member of the British government, and it visits the headquarters of British Intelligence sections MI5 and MI6 as well as spots where spies secretly exchanged information. The tour ends at the former home of MI6, St. Ermin’s Hotel, for martinis at the bar.