Why Bangladesh?" That's what our friends asked us repeatedly when they found out about our planned visit. We didn't know anyone who had ever been to Bangladesh, and it was hard to even find a tour book (though we ultimately found guidebooks from both Lonely Planet and Bradt).

Several years ago I had planned to fly over to Dhaka, Bangladesh, for a 2-day of photo tour with Nijhoom Tours before a separately planned tour to India. Unfortunately, the photo tour got canceled,...

On my seventh trip to Paris with friends in April 2018, I realized that I seldom ventured outside the central core of the city, always sticking close to the Seine. In fact, I can recall only one time, on my last trip to Paris, 10 years ago, when I made a worthwhile journey to Père-Lachaise Cemetery in the 20th Arrondissement, aided by the self-tour itinerary in Rick Steves’ Paris guidebook.

City layout

Paris is divided into 20 districts, or arrondissements, numbered in a...

For years, Marvin dreamed of attending the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland. As we were to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in August 2017, we saw a trip to Scotland and, in particular, the opportunity to attend a performance during the annual, 3-week Tattoo as a fine excuse for going there.

Although we live in Florida, a summer family gathering would take us to Los Angeles, so it was easy for us to head directly to Scotland from there. From LA, we flew on Aer Lingus...