Travelers' Intercom
Buying Paris Métro and bus tickets
I have had an apartment in Paris for more than 25 years and spend about 20 weeks a year there, making several visits each year, most recently in September ’09. Lately, as I reported (June ’09, pg. 14 & Aug. ’09, pg.
Panama highlights
On a custom tour our family took to Panama in June-July ’09 (Oct. ’09, pg. 32), we stayed on SAN CRISTOBAL ISLAND at the Dolphin Bay Hideaway (phone +011 [507] 6417 7351 or [507] 6772 9917, www.dolphinbayhideaway.com), a small, private B&B in Bocas del Toro.
Counts on travel agents
I agree 100% with Kent Shamblin’s letter about paying a small fee to have a professional travel agent book a trip (Sept. ’09, pg. 49).
Arrangements for Greece
After staying with friends in a villa in Spain (Oct. ’09, pg. 12), my wife, Betty, and I flew on April 10, 2008, from Valencia to Athens via Rome on Alitalia, with our scheduled arrival in Athens quite late. Our friend Jan, a retired airline executive living in Kansas, flew from Valencia on another carrier.
Traveling in Costa Rica
The Costa Rica tour a subscriber wrote about in the September ’09 issue (page 20) seems to offer good value for the money, but she did err in one matter.
Spirit of India ‘marvelous’
In defense of the company Spirit of India, I must respond to the reader’s letter titled “Temporarily Left in the Desert” (Sept. ’09, pg. 28), about an experience on a tour in Mongolia.
Staged distraction
Although we are supposed to be savvy travelers, in April ’09 we were taken in by a scam that we were not ready for.
Montpellier a ‘favorite’
A month-long trip to France and Ireland, March 3-April 5, 2009, was the best trip of my life. The total cost was between $11,000 and $12,000, but I had a lot of individual tour guides and a driver for my entire stay in Ireland. I visited Cork, Cobh and Kinsale in Ireland but stayed overnight only in Cork.
Driving southeast Spain
Here are some notes on Spain from a trip my wife, Betty, and I took to the Costa Blanca area for a week and a half in April ’08 before continuing on to Greece. It was our first trip to either country.
Guide in Santiago
Arriving in Santiago, Chile, a day before embarking on a South American cruise on the Norwegian Sun in December ’08, my husband, Erwin, and I had only one day to see the city so we wanted to make the most of it.
Unwanted pre-cruise stay
My husband, Richard, and I made reservations with Norwegian Cruise Line on Feb. 9 for an 18-day cruise from Santiago, Chile, to Los Angeles aboard the Norwegian Sun, April 12-30, 2009.
8 things about Easter Island
I traveled from Santiago to Easter Island with my friend Teresa for a visit, March 13-17, 2009. What we learned may prove useful to others planning a visit.
Boutique Museums: Loaf here
One of the most unusual and fascinating small museums that my husband, Gordon, and I have ever visited is the Museum of Bread Culture (Salzstadelgasse 10, 89073 Ulm, Germany; phone +49 731 69955, fax 731 6021161, www.brotmuseum-ulm.de).
Guide, room in Budapest
My family and I have used the driver/guide services of Sándor Nagy (ALEX Travel Agency, Tordai út 30. Budapest, 1221 Hungary; phone +361 226 2370, cell +36 203 569 753 or e-mail alexbt@inext.hu) on our trips to Hungary since 1999. His knowledge of Hungary is quite extensive.