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On a trip to China with Grand Circle Travel, Nov. 12-Dec. 2, 2009, my wife, Anne, and I didn’t visit Hong Kong Disneyland. However, we saw a number of attractions that reminded us of Disney, some of which out-Disneyed Disney.
Top of the list has to be the Hong Kong Symphony of Lights, a show in which colored lights of the buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour are coordinated to form patterns, pictures and words, all accompanied by symphonic music.
I traveled solo and on the cheap in Turkey for nearly all of May ’09. I described my visits to Bodrum (Oct. ’09, pg. 14), Selçuk (Jan. ’10, pg. 30) and Marmaris (March ’10, pg. 47). Heading south along the Aegean coast, I next hit Fethiye; the bus trip — a great way to see the country — took three hours (TL16, or near $11), and again I used the Pamukkale Bus Company (phone 0 232 892 3961).
My husband, Joe, and I decided to go to French Polynesia, Sept. 20-24, 2009, for our 10-year wedding anniversary.
My husband, Jack, and I took a terrific, 14-night, small-group tour of Japan with Inside Japan Tours (Lewins House, Lewins Mead, Bristol, BS1 2NN, UK; phone ++44 117 314 4620), Oct. 2-16, 2009. The tour was reasonably priced at $3,820 each, not including air.
Using public transportation throughout, we started our tour in Tokyo and ended in Kyoto, traveling to several spots on the island of Miyajima. We stayed in comfortable business hotels and wonderful ryokans (traditional Japanese inns).
In our 40 years of travel, my wife, Arnette, and I have never had a more perfectly planned and executed trip than our five-country, five-week independent East Africa experience, July 27-Aug. 28, 2009.
Julie of Tribes Travel, Ltd. (12 Business Centre, Earl Soham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; phone 01728 685971), planned the trip. The dramatic feature was NO glitches for any day of the trip. You will be in good hands with her planning.
I chose the “Silk Road plus Shangri-La” tour, May 26-June 11, 2009, from China Plus (Irving, TX; 888/868-8811) because, after a day in Beijing, it went to the furthermost province in the west of China, Xinjiang. The cost, with air from the West Coast, was $4,298.
I never expected to see such contrasts, even in the landscape — from desert to mountain peaks. I enjoyed seeing Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi. What a surprise to see skyscrapers and fancy shop windows in this 2,000-year-old city!
My husband and I took a tour in June ’09 that focused on dance, with choreographer Theodor Vasilescu (in the US and Canada, contact Ping Chun, 49 Junard Dr., Morristown, NJ 07960; phone 973/539-7020 or e-mail ping.chun@att.net). Theodor leads a tour each summer to different regions of Romania; some folks on our tour had traveled with him six times!
My husband, Randall, and I enjoyed a two-week visit to Iceland in late June ’09. The first eight days we traveled around the country with a birding tour company, then we picked up a rental car from Hertz Iceland at Keflavik Airport for six days of touring on our own.
Editor’s note: In the following account, ITN has agreed to withhold the name of the subscriber and tour company. Nevertheless, we feel readers can benefit from the lessons imparted.
by Inga Aksamit, San Rafael, CA
As the warm water gently lapped over my ankles, I gazed at the setting sun — a romantic setting if only we were at the beach in Hoi An, Vietnam, rather than the front door of our hotel.