March 2012

Seven-day/six-night cycling tour, easy to moderate pace (mostly flat; 25-45 miles per day), in CANADA, departing July 29 & Aug. 5, 2012. Highlights: Cycle along the Ile d’Orleans (Orleans River)/ferry on St. Lawrence River from Quebec City to Chaudiere-Appalaches/apple wine tasting at La Pomme St. Laurent/taste wild berry wine at Le Ricaneux winery/Quebec City walking tour/cycle to Montmo­rency Falls. Land, $2,889. Single supp., $600. Classic Adventures (Hamlin, NY; 800/777-8090).

11 days/nine nights. Highlights: From Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA, fly to Victoria Falls, ZIMBABWE/rainforest walk, sunset river cruise/game drives in Chobe National Park, BOTSWANA/in the Linyati Delta, view elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, antelopes, zebras. With air from New York or Washington DC, from $6,599. Single supp., from $1,130. Lion World Tours (Toronto, ON, Canada; 800/387-2706).

18-day/17-night tour of five Silk Road countries. Highlights: 2,750-year-old Samarkand in UZBEKISTAN/Tashkent/living museum city of Khiva/ancient Khodjent in TAJIKISTAN/in TURKMENISTAN, Bukhara/ Blue Mosque in Ashgabat/Bronze Age Anau-Depe/Almaty in KAZAKHSTAN/in KYRGYZSTAN, Bishkek, Issy Kul Lake, 11th-century Burana tower. Land, $5,999 low season or $6,499 high season. Single supp., $769. Silk Road Treasure Tours (Chester, NJ; 888/745-7670).

14 days/13 nights or 20 days/19 nights, departing May 25 & Sept. 14, 2012. Highlights: Nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites/Belgrade in SERBIA/in BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA, Mostar, Sarajevo, Mount Zlatibor National Park/in MACEDONIA, 2,000-year-old Skopje and Ohrid, “City of 365 Churches”/in ALBANIA, Berat, Durres, Tirana/Riviera town of Buda in MONTENEGRO/For 20-day tour, CROATIA, including Dubrovnik, Split, Plitvice Lakes, Zagreb. Land price, 14-day tour, $4,785; single supp., $595. 20-day tour, $7,690; single supp., $850.

Five days/four nights in FRANCE, Nov. 14-18, 2012. Highlights: Three lunches with growers, featuring champagne/Montagne de Reims, home to Tattinger, Veuve-Clicquot, Krug, Mumm/learn about vinification, production and blending of champage/Epernay, home to Moët & Chandon/tour underground wine cellars storing millions of bottles/visit three producers in Côte des Blancs. Land, €1,560 ($2,056). Single supp., €120 ($158). BKWine Tours (Issy les Moulineaux, France; phone +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70).

Eight days/seven nights. Highlights: Edinburgh/Inverness/Dunrobin Castle/Caithness/Orkney/Neolithic Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness/Tomb of Maeshowe/Skara Brae/Kirkwall/Scapa Flow. Land, from $2,886. Single supp., $1,295. Kensington Tours (Wilmington, DE; 888/903-2001, www.kensingtontours.com).

by Deanna Palić; Contributing Editor

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 PAULA FUCHSBERG of Philadelphia, PA:

My wife, Lyn, and I found that dish towels imprinted with the name of our city are great to give as gifts overseas, and towels indicating a foreign city or country are great to give as gifts back home.

Our “San Diego” towels have pictured a map of the city, with small pictures of local sights around the edge, and we bought them at the Balboa Park Visitors’ Center. They now carry California-map tea towels for $8 each.

Our towels from overseas remind us of our travels.

BOB SPELLMAN
San Diego, CA

No matter when I take a trip, I always seem to travel one week too late. Upon arriving at a B&B or hotel, the host asks, “And how are you enjoying your visit to (wherever)?” When I answer, “Fine, but I wish it weren’t raining so hard,” the response is, “You should have been here last week. It was beautiful.”

I am sure it was, but even though I consider myself a professional tourist, I still haven’t figured out how to travel last week.