July 2009

Regarding using walkie-talkies while traveling (May ’09, pg. 20), please be advised that it is often illegal in Europe to use walkie-talkies with US frequencies without a license. Fines, confiscation and other penalties could be the result of unlicensed use of preassigned frequencies.

Most European Union countries post the frequencies available for unlicensed public use. Contact the consulates, most of which will say you will need a license and must register that you will be using certain frequencies.

A reader recommended taking along “lightweight walkie-talkies” for communcation while traveling abroad (May ’09, pg. 20). This might be a good idea, but please do your research before using them outside of the United States.

Cruising the canals of Europe in a narrowboat and seeing a part of the continent that not too many people see was a dream of mine. I liked the idea of operating a boat by ourselves rather than being on a floating hotel, and going at the high speed of two to three miles per hour would be easy.

My traveling companion, Pam, and I decided to rent a narrowboat for a week and tour an area of southern France. Incidentally, the amount of French that we could speak was very tiny.

On a trip to COSTA RICA in March ’08, my wife, Sandra, and I stayed four nights at Hotel Casa Alegre (Santa Ana, Costa Rica; phone 506 2 235 5485, www.hotelcasaalegre.com. Note: there are no street addresses, but the website has directions to the hotel).

Santa Ana is a quiet, small town a few miles out of San José (which we thought rather dirty and poorer-looking) and only 10 miles from Juan Santamaria International Airport. The town has a picturesque town plaza and church.

In addition to recommendations found in ITN, a good resource for planning a trip to NEW ZEALAND is the government’s well-organized website www.newzealand.travel, where you can choose what kind of accommodation you want (B&B, hotel, etc.) in your price range. A list of locations pops up with descriptions and contact information.

For our February-March ’09 trip, we stayed in comfortable places and had delightful meals. B&Bs ran between US$47 and $68 per night, including ample breakfasts. Here are some of the highlights.

The only 5-star hotel in the heart of Old Town Dubrovnik is the Pucić Palace (Ulica OD Puća 1, 20000 Dubrovnik, CROATIA; phone +385 20 326 222, fax 223, www.thepucic palace.com).

My husband, Douglas, and I stayed at Villa Alviani Anna (Via delle Rotonda 9 [ingresso Via Rota 8], 80067, Sorrento, ITALY; phone/fax +39 0818073785, cell +39 3337947741 or visit http://villalvianianna.com), March 19-30, 2009. The location is excellent, a 10-minute walk from the central bus and train station (Circumvesuviana line). For those with a car, parking is available on the property.

While our experience of small hotels, especially in Provence, is that great hospitality is a given, we received the ultimate in helpfulness at Au Saint Roch Hotel et Jardin (9 rue Paul Mérindol, 84000 Avignon, FRANCE; phone +33 [0] 4 90 16 50 00, fax 90 82 78 30, www.hotelstroch-avignon.com). My husband and I and our daughter and son-in-law were traveling together in May ’08.

It was midnight when my husband, Skip, and son, George, and I checked into the Best Western Premier Foresta Hotel (Herserudsvaegen 22, Box 1324, Lidingö, SE-18125, SWEDEN; phone +46 [0] 8 50550500, fax 550 590, www.bestwestern.com).

The front desk manager Marcus Jonnson welcomed us with kindness and good cheer. Four days later, he checked us out with sandwiches and coffee at 6:30 a.m.; the buffet was not yet open and he wanted us to have something to eat before we started our travel home to the USA. He was hospitality made manifest.

My friend, Virginia, and I spent five days at Well Cottage Bed & Breakfast (Ewen, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 6BU, UNITED KINGDOM; phone 01 285 770212, mobile 0 7850 328447, www.well cottagebandb.co.uk) in October ’08, and we must have picked the gold-medal winner of English B&Bs!

Well Cottage is a beautiful, old stone farmhouse in the pretty little community of Ewen. The interior has been extensively remodeled.