02
During a trip to southern Switzerland in May ’08, my wife, Paula, and I visited St. Moritz for two nights during the depths of its spring off-season. Much of the town was shut down, including many shops, hotels and restaurants, and on a pleasant Saturday evening we found ourselves looking for a backup restaurant after discovering that our previously chosen restaurant was closed.
My husband, Leroy, and I took a wonderful trip in early June ’08 to Finland and its Åland Islands plus the Baltic States and environs as well as Belarus and Poland, all with Protravel (Beverly Hills, CA; 800/301-3993, www.protravelinc.com). When that trip was completed, we flew from Kraków to Berlin to spend three days before returning home.
My wife, Margaret, and I spent a week in the Ticino region of Switzerland and another week in Venice, both stays organized by Untours (Media, PA; 888/868-6871). Untours provides apartment accommodations, transfers and on-site hosts who give advice and an orientation.
My wife, Margi, and I met Zambativ Tuvshintulga on a 2006 Pacific Holidays tour of Mongolia, where he was one of our local guides (Aug. ’07, pg. 59). Tuvshin wanted us to see the west and north of Mongolia, too, so when we made plans to attend the Beijing Olympics (Dec. ’08, pg. 32), we contacted him and he arranged a tour for us to follow our China visit.
by Jerry Gordon, Riverside, CA
I was looking through the sale books in an airport bookstore when a nonfiction by one of my favorite writers, David McCullough, caught my eye. In “The Path Between the Seas,” written more than 30 years ago, McCullough tells the story of the Panama Canal from 1870 to 1914.
My husband, Don, and I and another couple took the “Imperial Russian Waterways & St. Petersburg” cruise-tour, and an optional extension to Kiev, Ukraine, with Vantage Deluxe World Travel (Boston, MA; 866/786-1989), July 13-Aug. 1, 2008.
Bolivia was the only South American country my wife, Virginia, and I hadn’t visited, so we contacted Cecilia at Sol International (Kodak, TN; 800/765-5657, http://solintl.com) and she arranged an 8-day/7-night trip for us for March 6-13, 2008.
My wife, Darlene, and I traveled to 12 countries, Nov. 20-Dec. 18, 2007, and saw no other foreign travelers the whole time except in Dubai.
Thanks to a letter in ITN (Nov. ’04, pg. 82) singing the praises of one Ibrahim Morgan (phone [002] 012 347 6343 or e-mail morgan_eg@yahoo.com or visit www.highrock.com/Ibrahim), my husband, Paul, and I contacted him by e-mail and asked him to arrange a 21-day trip to Egypt for us for March 2-22, 2008.
Mr. Morgan, who earned a Master’s Degree in Egyptology from the University of Alexandria, developed a complete itinerary for our visit.
In contrast to the rather organized (for a third-world country) north, with its hotels, Christian churches and towns, southern Ethiopia is rural and tribal and has few amenities for Westerners. In the south, the majority of the people are Muslims or animists. Distinctly different from the north, it is a very African place.