07
by Randy Keck (Part three of three parts on Cuba. Part one, in the May 2010 issue, thoroughly explored the legal considerations for Americans considering traveling to Cuba.)
On the morning of day seven of my January ’10 tour of Cuba, our ElderTreks group of 16 visited the Cienfuegos Botanical Gardens for a highly informative guided walking excursion that featured many varieties of exotic palms.
We couldn’t have picked a better place for our first four nights in Tunisia than the Dar Said (Rue Toumi, Sidi Bu Said, Tunisia; www.darsaid.com.tn), a small, elegant boutique hotel with rooms set around small courtyards.
No two rooms are alike, but all are smartly decorated with lots of Tunisian touches. Some have views of the hotel garden and the Gulf of Tunis beyond.
by Julie Skurdenis (First of three parts)
by Yvonne Michie Horn
by Wayne Wirtanen (Second of two parts. Go to part one.)
by James Hansen, Weeki Wachee, FL
Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.
This month’s winner is NED JOHNSON of Seneca, South Carolina:
On a trip to Kenya, a van picked us up from the airport and was taking us through Nairobi to our hotel.
My wife, Gerry, and I have found the “Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships” by Douglas Ward (Berlitz Publishing, 800/432-6277 — $29.99) very useful. It is published annually.
I work for an airline in the baggage service office and would like to respond to the reader’s observations regarding lashing bags together to save on extra-bag fees (May ’10, pg. 16).
When two bags are secured together to form one piece of luggage, there is only one bag tag or claim check issued, resulting in only one of the bags having the bag tag attached to it.
The letter titled “Private Shore Tours” (April ’10, pg. 14) was written by a traveler with a preference for taking independently arranged excursions as opposed to ones purchased from a cruise ship.
My response — the benefit of booking tours directly through the ship can be summarized in a few words: the ship’s staff knows where you are.
Although saving money is, indeed, a virtue, there certainly are hazards inherent in going on your own.