June 2008

by Randy Keck, part 1 of 3 on Thailand

by Julie Skurdenis

by Yvonne Michie Horn

(First of two parts)

by Joe Phelan, Lincoln, CA

As a recent widow, I want to encourage others in my situation to not give up traveling now that your spouse is gone. Changes can be made.

My wife and I took our fifth trip to Bali, Indonesia, in October ’07, again guided by Gede (e-mail balihaiguide@hotmail.com or visit www.balihaiguide.com). It is impossible to recommend him highly enough.

On-time and intelligent, Gede knows what we want to see and do almost before we do, and he will go the extra mile. We find him to be happy, with a great sense of humor.

Before our trip to West Africa, we read with interest Jim Sill’s 2-part feature on that region, even taking a copy of it with us on the trip. What a different experience we had. (In portions of Jim’s 2-part account, Dec. ’07, pg. 46 & Jan. ’08, p. 58, he describes being hounded by two hustlers in Mali and mentions “being unable to connect on a personal level with any of the locals.” — Editor)

Zermatt’s beauty and remoteness had entranced me on a visit 25 years earlier, which I made without my wife, JoAnn, so I was anxious to share with her a delightful travel experience on our trip March 9-20, 2007.

Because Zermatt permits no cars or trucks, we parked in a large garage at the train station in Täsch (CHF26, near $25, for two nights) and took the 10-minute train ride into town (CHF31 round trip).