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Tamerlane, also known as Timur the Lame and Amir Timur (1336-1405), is probably the best-known ruler of ancient Central Asia. Pictures of his mausoleum — the Gur-e Amir, located in Samarkand, Uzbekistan — are among the photographs most often seen in the travel literature on Central Asia.
The driver of the taxi I shared with my travel companion, Bob, dropped us off at a bus station on the edge of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It was May 2013.
There, another driver was waiting with his old Zhiguli (Lada). He wanted “10” for the ride into town, meaning either $10 or €10, almost as much as we had paid for one person for the 286-kilometer ride from Tashkent. Then he came down to “five.”
I wrote “5000” on my hand, meaning 5,000 som, or about $2.25. At that, the driver opened his trunk for our bags and we took off.
My husband and I visited Belize in August 2013. We decided to stay on South Water Caye at the Pelican Beach Resort (P.O. Box 2, Dangriga, Belize; phone 501 522-2044, fax 522 2570). To reach the caye, a boat is arranged through the resort for the 45-minute ride from Dangriga.
My wife and I have been independent travelers for over 40 years and have seldom used a travel agent. Having been to Portugal before, staying in the Algarve region, we wanted to go to northern Portugal in May ’13 and stay in pousadas (government-operated inns).
If your “get up and go” got up and went, travel still can be wonderful. My husband, John, and I are in our 80s and kind of slow, but we still haven’t seen everything. We would slow down a tour group, and we need extra time in the morning to get ready, so we have taken to traveling on private tours.
My wife, Bonnie, and I took a month-long tour of China, Mongolia and Russia that included a 7½-hour daytime train ride from Ulan Ude, Russia, to Irkutsk, located to the west of the southern end of Lake Baikal. On Sept. 22, 2012, after finishing our organized tour, we continued on our own on the Trans-Siberian Railway from Irkutsk to Moscow, about a 70-hour trip, and flew home from there on Sept. 26.
My wife and I cross the Atlantic yearly on the Queen Mary 2 of Cunard Line (800/728-6273), usually in both directions — an elegant and comfortable way to get to Europe to visit our daughter.
We take a balcony stateroom. We made our 12th voyage in July ’13, and the fare on the lower decks was $1,699 per person, double occupancy, but fares for inside cabins started at $1,199.
My husband and I were scheduled to fly Lufthansa on Dec. 9, 2013, from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, with a transit time of about two hours before continuing to Nürnberg. Our flight from Los Angeles ended up being delayed about two hours, so, concerned about the connection and our checked luggage (two small suitcases), during the flight to Frankfurt we talked to a flight attendant.
Her response was, “If the passengers can make it to the connecting flight, so can the luggage.”
For a trip to Vietnam in January-February 2014, George Dottl of Rogers, Arkansas, called American Airlines and booked tickets for his wife and himself.
They would fly on Jan. 2 aboard American Airlines from Arkansas to Dallas/Fort Worth to Tokyo, Japan (Narita International), then board a Japan Airlines flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They would fly the reverse route on the same airlines on Feb. 17.
In Hong Kong, China, the Dragon & Lion Dance Extravaganza takes place yearly on Jan. 1, with a parade of more than 500 specially crafted, large-scale animal and dragon costumes. The parade starts at 1:30 p.m. from Canton Road near the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and finishes at the Urban Council Centenary Garden, in the waterfront Tsim Sha Tsui district.
Contact the Hong Kong Tourism Board (phone +852 6344 6188).