June 2008

After traveling around the world with occasional long airport stopovers, I have come to learn some of the secrets of making the most of the “dead” time.

by Harlan Hague, Stockton, CA

Like foods and fads, travel destinations are constantly being discovered and rediscovered. Western Europeans have known for years that Croatia is a delightful place to visit, but North Americans have been visiting the country in numbers only in recent years.

I spent three wonderful weeks in Viet Nam, Jan. 28-Feb. 19, 2007. I had never before taken a custom, privately guided tour and it was not my intention to do so this time. However, after contacting Vietnam Orient Tours (Fremont, CA; phone 510/794-8989, e-mail tourvietnam@aol.com or visit www.vietnamorienttours.com), I found myself letting them put together the whole trip.

What a fantastic and memorable vacation we enjoyed in Peru in May ’07! Thanks to Lima Tours (Belén 1040, Lima 1, Perú; phone [51-1] 619-6900, fax 619-6921, e-mail prs@limatours.com.pe or visit www.limatours.com.pe), our visit to their country was both informative and rewarding — one of our best tours ever.

My husband, Jack, and I have traveled to Ireland at least once and sometimes twice a year for the past 10 or 11 years but had never been to County Donegal in the northwestern corner of the country. Rereading about it and discovering that it is one of the least-visited counties in Ireland only whetted our appetite to “go see” for ourselves. This time scenery, mostly coastline, would be our focus.

My husband and I have done many trips all over the world, and our itineraries, up until this trip, were planned by American tour companies or on our own. Finding the prices somewhat high with U.S. companies for a trip to southern India, I tried an in-country company, Indian Panorama (No5 Annai Ave., Srirangam, Trichy, Tamil Nadu 620006, India; phone +91 431 243 3372, fax 243 2874, www.indianpanorama.in).

Here is the first batch of readers’ Q Ratings of international airports — plus, as you’ll see, a few revisions in the instructions which will make the tallies more useful. The goal is to generate an idea of the comparative wait times at airports.

by Andy Cubbon, Marietta, GA

On a May cruise in Europe aboard Viking River Cruises’ (877/668-4546) Viking Pride, the most exciting time of day or night was when the ship passed under a low bridge. Because the bridges were built centuries before river cruises were imagined, they are far too low for the low-to-the-water cruise ships to safely pass under without some preparation.