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When my granddaughter Melody, just 16, begged us to take her to England, I wanted her to experience the England I loved most. My husband, John, and I and our son Huntley traveled with Melody from June 29 to July 14, 2008.
A friend, Joan, and I, both seniors, took the 17-day “New Zealand Encounter” in February ’08, going from the South Island to the North Island, with visits to the Bay of Islands, Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch, Milford Sound and Mt. Cook. We traveled with AAT Kings Tours (Anaheim, CA; 866/240-1659, www.aatkings.com). The cost was $3,975, and round-trip air from San Francisco added $1,848.
It was a very well run coach tour (with an interesting and fair seat rotation), especially because of our unbelievably excellent tour guide, Ruben.
by Art and Jean Thomas, Florham Park, NJ
As a US citizen originally from India and now a tour company owner, I am writing regarding the November ’08 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
The 100-foot, 14-passenger Ruth Alessandro is a magnificent gulet, and my husband, Bob, and I, along with six other adventurous couples chartered her for a 2-week cruise, Sept. 8-22, 2008.
The yacht is owned and operated by Ruth Yacht (Akarca mah. 864 sok. no: 20, 48300 Fethiye, Mugla, Turkey; phone +9 0544 445 95 12, fax +9 0252 613 66 76, www.ruth-yacht.com).
We paid €22,000 (near $27,700) total, or $4,034 per couple. The price included the services of the crew, all meals and harbor fees.
I took the 16-day “Italian Masterpiece” tour with Cosmos, Sept. 29-Oct. 14, 2007. The trip began with two days in Venice, then the itinerary led us south to Rome, which we reached on Oct. 3. From there we continued back to Venice.
My wife, Carol, and I used the Internet to ticket a February ’08 trip from Orlando, Florida, to Christchurch, New Zealand. For booking the flights, we selected www.orbitz.com because it seemed to offer the best connections by combining several airlines. Our order was placed on Oct. 8, 2007, at a cost of $2,411 each.
Over the next three months, we received repeated e-mail confirmations for our Orlando-Los Angeles-Auckland-Christchurch flight on Jan. 31. The return flight was booked for Feb. 24 — Christchurch-Auckland-San Francisco-Orlando.
by Marisue Pickering, Orono, ME. Photos by John W. Pickering
