Columns

(First of two parts)

(First of three parts)

Intrigued by the round marble table with its intricate designs, my wife, Flory, and I sat on the marble stools surrounding it and twirled the attached lazy Susan. We decided to buy the table and stools and have them shipped from China to Seattle. It was November, in the year 2000.

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 466th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine. Within the last month, I’ve heard several subscribers describe this magazine as “real,” by which, they explain, they mean it’s full of candid accounts from travelers who write for the benefit of other international travelers.

You’ll see that as you flip through the pages. For now, I have the following to report.

Sometimes I wonder why I lug my bag through airports, following my own recommendation to pack light enough to carry on and avoid checking any bags on international flights. It can be a drag, dragging your bag through airports, but when scrambling with last-minute changes in flight plans, those without checked bags are far more nimble. 

Two-night, one-day cruises from Florida to the Bahamas are offered on the ex-Baltic ferry Bahamas Celebration, which holds 1,250 passengers in 502 cabins.

According to the website www.bahamascelebration.com, the ship departs every other day from Palm Beach, sailing at 6 p.m., arriving at 8 a.m. in the Bahamas “for a full day of fun activities” and then departing that same day at 6 p.m. for arrival back in Palm Beach at 7 a.m. the next day. In other words, these are cruises for night owls. 

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 465th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine! You’re invited to subscribe, and subscribers are encouraged to submit trip reports telling both the positive and negative aspects of tours, hotels, museums, shops and whatever else they discovered and experienced outside of the US. 

Your letters and articles make up the bulk of the magazine, and we fill in the spaces with other travel-related information, all wrapped around travel-related advertisements, many that you won’t see in other publications. 

(Part 3 of 3)

The final portion of my June 2014 journey to Central America began with a 6-hour transfer by bus from Copán, Honduras, to Guatemala City, Guatemala, followed by a connecting minibus transfer to the beautiful and highly popular colonial city of Antigua.