November 2005

A letter from Grace Slavsky of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, asked, “Is it possible to buy travel insurance covering trip cancellation/medical evacuation, etc., on an ANNUAL basis for us travelers who take several trips throughout the year? It would save us frequent travelers a lot of hassle. Frequent business travelers are covered. Why can’t the leisure travelers be covered under a similar policy?”

In answering Grace’s question, my research has uncovered only one company that presently offers a policy that covers the usual protections plus trip-cancellation coverage.

(Second of two parts, jump to part 1)

by Lois Edwards, Greensboro, NC

In the late ’90s, my wife and I took a Bolivia and Peru tour with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA), as I had always wanted to visit Machu Picchu. The group size was limited to just 16 people plus the tour guide. We saw a part of South America that few tourists see and had an overnight stay on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca.

We experienced similar cuisine in both Morocco and Tunisia during a trip in July ’02. In both countries, we stayed in 2- or 3-star hotels which had adjoining or nearby restaurants. The evening menus uniformly offered two or three dishes, usually including one or two tajines, usually chicken, beef or lamb.

My husband, Ward Hoffman, and I have been to Paris more than 20 times and, we confess, we go there these days primarily to eat and take walks, often covering eight or nine miles a day. Before we leave, we do a lot of research on where we want to eat. Once we arrive in Paris, one of our activities is to walk by the restaurants and “put our noses to the window” to check them out.

When we visit Mont-St-Michel, France, we prefer to stay on the island rather than the mainland because of the change in the atmosphere when the last of the day-trippers leave by about 5 p.m. It goes from a noisy, crowded, carnival atmosphere to one of magic, romance and solitude. You can walk the ramparts without running into anyone else, and looking up in the dark at the beautifully lit abbey is an unforgettable sight. We’ve made four visits to Mont-St-Michel.

We always read with interest the letters in ITN about bicycle tours, since we have found it such a refreshing way to travel.

My wife, Nel, and I took a bike and boat trip in the Loire Valley in May ’05. Arranged through Pack & Pedal Europe (Springville, PA; phone 877/956-2064 or visit www.tripsite.com), the tour included airfare to Paris from the East Coast via Icelandair; seven nights on board the Anna Maria IV; three meals a day; 21-speed hybrid bikes; a tour guide, and bus transfer to and from Paris-Nord rail station and the boat.

My friends, Mike and Molly Gallant of Hallowell, Maine, went on a Caribbean cruise aboard Princess Cruises’ Dawn Princess in March ’05. For a special treat, they took Mike’s elderly aunt with them. This was to be her first-ever cruise, and the lady very much needed a break since her husband had gone into a long-term-care center and she was exhausted.