Travelers' Intercom
Requested refund from Aeroflot
My wife, Guyette, and I in late 2006 booked a fall 2007 trip on the Trans-Siberian Express, Moscow to Vladivistok, through MIR Corp. (www.mircorp.com).
Lessons in more than Spanish
With my primary purpose being to learn more Spanish, I visited Antigua, Guatemala, June 14-July 11, 2009. I have been visiting countries in Latin America for many years and have been a student at schools in those countries.
Packing tips
Some preplanning of what and how to pack may make travel more enjoyable. Here are some suggestions.
France trip’s best B&B
Le Petit Versailles (Route du Château, 24220 Beynac et Cazenac, FRANCE; phone +33 [0]6 71 88 59 72, www.lepetit versailles.fr) was our favorite accommodation on our 7-week trip to France in the fall of 2008. Beynac is in the Dordogne region of France.
Relies on travel agent
In the letter “Scoping Out Bargain Airfares Online” (June ’09, page 15), the writer runs through an interesting litany of what he had to go through to achieve a reasonable air travel expense from Los Angeles to the Philippines.
Kerala backwater beauty
While in southern India in March ’09, my companion, Frank, and I traveled to the town of Alappuzha, formerly known as Alleppey. We had read about an exquisite estuary of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets where fresh water meets seawater from the Arabian Sea.
Eat at Joe’s, Windhoek
In Windhoek, Namibia, my wife, Kathryn, and I stayed one night in the 4-star Safari Court and, later, in the less-expensive but no-less-comfortable Hotel Safari (phone 262 61 296800, fax 235652, www.safarihotelsnamibia.com), both located at the corner of Auas and Aviation streets and owned by the same
Russia train + St. Petersburg guide
My two daughters and I took a train from Moscow, Russia, to Riga, Latvia, with Russian Railways in October ’08. We had a sleeper car and it was great. The cost of $170 per person included a room for four persons, and we received tea and biscuits for breakfast.
Changing planes in Sydney
In October ’08, I flew to Sydney on United and then immediately connected to a flight to Canberra on Qantas. My bag was checked “through” to Canberra, though I had to claim it, of course, and go through Customs at Sydney.
Suggests full-fare ‘refundable’ for first leg
My wife, our granddaughter and I took a trip to Germany, June 16-July 2, 2009. I had made all of our travel arrangements on the Internet, including the Deutsche Bahn (DB) train tickets to the various places we were going: Frankfurt, Munich, Ampfing, Würzburg and back to Frankfurt.
Ubud restaurant
In Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, Restaurant Bali Yoga — located on the left side of Jalan Kajeng a 3- to 5-minute walk up from Jalan Raya — seems like a curious name for this little jewel of a place. The husband and wife who own it told me they named it after their first child, a son, Yoga.
Outrageous CDW costs in Ireland
For the past 14 years, my wife, Roberta, and I have made at least one annual trip to Ireland. We always rent a car at the Shannon or Dublin airport and tour extensively.
Inca Express bus
When we think of buses in Central or South America, we often think of old buses where people ride on the top. Well, our bus from Cusco to Puno, the Gateway to Lake Titicaca, was the Inca Express (office in Puno and Lima and at Av.
Kandersteg apartment
My husband, Mike, and son, Scott, and I stayed in a 2-bedroom apartment in the house Roduner-Hus (Dorf, CH-3718 Kandersteg, SWITZERLAND; phone + 41 [0] 33 675 1053, www.adamsalpineeden.com/roduner), Sept. 18-26, 2008.
Avoiding short connections
My wife and I make our own travel arrangements and often are shocked by how often airlines are willing to schedule us into a layover of even less than an hour when changing from a domestic to an international flight.
Crime victims in BA
My sister and I have traveled the world extensively for the past 25 years, including to several third-world countries, and have not personally encountered the same degree of crime as we did in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on a week’s visit starting July 3, 2009.
Seafood in BA
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a new restaurant in Barrio Norte called Cilantro (Anchorena 1122; phone 11 4966 2941, e-mail cilantro1122 @gmail.com) is a welcome place to get interesting food beyond the much-touted beef and ubiquitous pizza places.
Temporarily left in the desert
I took a tour to Mongolia with Spirit of India, July 8-23, 2008. The tour cost $3,340, excluding international airfare.