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We can highly recommend the tour “Great Trains of Europe,” which we took July 8-20, 2007. This was our fourth trip with Grand European Tours, or GET (6000 Meadows Rd., Ste. 520, Lake Oswego, OR 97035; 800/552-5545, www.getours.com), and we were more than satisfied.
A friend and I spent two weeks in Romania and Bulgaria, May 25-June 7, 2007, with Adventures Abroad Worldwide Travel (800/665-3998). The land-only cost was $3,720.
I thought the Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires was way beyond my budget, but, thanks to an incredible package from WOW! Argentina (Santa Fe 882 12th floor, C1059ABP, Buenos Aires, Argentina; www.wow argentina.com), we stayed there July 18-20, 2007.
For the two of us, $866 plus tax included three nights’ stay in a double room and two dinners for two in the hotel’s Le Mistral restaurant, including two glasses of the wine of the week (a delicious Catena Zapata’s malbec). An outstanding buffet breakfast was also included each morning.
As my grandchildren graduate from junior high, I take each on a trip anywhere he or she chooses. In June ’07 I took my granddaughter Alli to Ecuador and the Galápagos.
Following a visit to Peru in January-February ’07 (Nov. ’07, pg. 41), my husband, Joe, and I continued on to Quito, Ecuador, then flew TAME airlines to the Galápagos Islands. We boarded the S/S Mary Anne, a cruise ship run by Angermeyer Cruises.
A letter of mine, regarding a lost-baggage claim, was printed under the title “Travelex Came Through Despite Alitalia’s Silence” (Aug. ’07, pg. 31).
I am writing to inform you that we have received a check from Alitalia. It was dated Aug. 13, 2007, and postmarked Sept. 10. There was no letter included — nothing showing the breakdown as to how the settlement was determined nor any apology for the loss.
I purchased a 2-week extended holiday to Costa del Sol, Spain, with Sun Holidays for March ’07. The total price was $1,847, which included airfare from New York’s JFK to Málaga, Spain, with Iberia Air; hotel for 13 nights; transfers; meals; three local tours, and taxes. I separately arranged domestic air on US Airways to JFK Airport, which cost $248.
For our 50th anniversary, in August ’06 my wife and I left for Europe on a 2-month trip. We utilized a travel agency in Colorado for airline, train and hotel bookings. Our drive in a rental car through France would end at Strasbourg, after which we would take an Adriatic cruise.
The ship would depart its pier in Venice, Italy, at 6 p.m. on Sept. 20. To make that, we had been booked on Lufthansa flight No. 6911 from Strasbourg to Frankfurt, Germany, on that same day, connecting with Lufthansa flight 4084 to Venice, scheduled to arrive four hours before our cruise ship left port.
I was part of a group of eight Americans scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Oct. 22-Nov. 2, 2006, under the auspices of Advantage Travel & Tours. I was the only member of our tour group whose visa was denied. I also was the only member of the group who was Jewish and so indicated on the visa application form question asking us to list our religion.
My travel agent had assured me that the “official policy” of the Saudi government is they do not discriminate on the basis of religion.
Robert Pine, Boulder, CO