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Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 554th issue of your monthly worldwide travel magazine, about which Jennifer Gifford of Redlands, California, wrote (upon extending her subscription another year), “Keep up the excellent job. I’m a big fan of ITN and a longtime and loyal subscriber. God Bless You!”

ITN has been printing travelers’ trip reports and musings since 1976 and continues to work to keep readers informed about destinations outside of the US.

Tell your adventurous friends about ITN. Better yet, have a free sample copy of the next-printed...

It’s a glorious Swiss Alps morning. I’m spending my day walking with my schoolteacher friend, Olle, exploring the alpine landscape high above his home in Gimmelwald.

We come to a bluff and pause to look down at his village. It’s a pastoral setting — a zigzag in the narrow paved service road lined with traditional wood homes, many of them two centuries old. In this peaceful community, nearly everyone has one of two last names and the children don’t play house; they play barn. A mighty gondola connects it — like an iron-cable umbilical cord —...

I’m hanging out in the living room of my B&B in the Amsterdam suburb of Haarlem with my hosts Hans and Marjet.

Staying in a B&B saves money. As a bonus, I find that B&B hosts are often great students of intercultural human nature and love to share their findings. They give me an intimate glimpse of a culture I couldn’t get from the front desk of a hotel.

This is certainly true of Hans and Marjet, who encourage guests to make themselves thoroughly at home. And in their living room, with its well-worn chairs, crowded books, funky near-antiques and an...