If I die with any money in the bank, there was one trip I forgot to take. 

In an effort to live up to this mantra, I embarked in April 2017 on an exotic adventure offered by JMG Tibet Tours (Lauderhill, FL; 866/548-4238, www.jmgtibettours.com) along the ancient Silk Road that ran through the now-independent republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan ($6,295 per person, double, for the 28-day tour).

When friends heard of my plans,...

France is our favorite country, but in 2016, Italy called my husband, David, and me once again, loud and clear. It was an Emirates nonstop flight to Milan priced at $896 for two that shouted the siren song. 

A wonderful surprise

We chose September for our travels because it is our favorite time to visit Europe. The weather is nearly always nice, the crowds are manageable, and the vendange (grape harvest) seals the deal. It turned out that September 2016 held another...

The first time my wife, Arlene, and I saw Russia was on a 2-day stop in St. Petersburg on a Baltic cruise. A cruise might not be the best way to get deep insight into a country, as each stop permits one to have only what amounts to a cup of coffee in a particular place, but St. Petersburg was so full of culture and history that it whetted our appetites, making us want to return. And so we did, on a 2016 land trip with Overseas Adventure Travel that visited the Baltic States (Lithuania,...