Food & Wine

by Margie Weathers; Hayesville, NC

In January 2013, my husband, John, and I visited Sri Lanka, a place that had been on our “wanna visit” list for several years. The small island country in the Indian Ocean is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites plus beautiful beaches. 

14 days/13 nights, October 2013 through April 2014 (best time to go is February-April). Highlights: Mumbai/cave temples on Elephanta Island/wine tasting at Sula Vineyards/champagne at Chateau Indage/Bangalore, the Garden City/rickshaw tour of Old Delhi/Amber Fort in Jaipur/puja blessing by a Brahmin priest/in Agra, visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Land and internal air, $10,164. Geringer Global Travel (Westport, CT; 877/255-7438). 

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged. This month’s winner is MARTHA WILEY of Landstuhl, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany:

My wife and I rented an apartment from Budapest Vacation Rentals (phone, in the US, John Farago at 917/913-0815 or, in Budapest, +36 20 945 1679) for the week of Sept. 8-15, 2012. This agency had seven apartments of various sizes and in various locations in the city. We selected Apartment Andrei (Bakáts tér 8) and were very happy with it.

by Richard Berner; San Diego, CA

My wife, Martha, and I had wanted to travel to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania since a trip to Russia in 2005 piqued our interest. 

Following a 9-day Panama stay, my wife, Faythe, and I flew to Cartagena, Colombia, for two weeks of exploration around the area, June 25-July 9, 2012. At the airport, we exchanged money at an ATM in the departure lounge before getting a taxi to our hotel.

7-day/6-night culinary tour of POLAND, June 30-July 6 & Sept. 15-21, 2013. Highlights: Three cooking classes focusing on regional cuisines/seaside resort of Jastrze¸bia Góra/Hel Peninsula Seal Sanctuary/Teutonic Knights Castle in Malbork/city tour of Gdansk/sail the Motlawa River on the galleon Black Pearl. Land, $2,950. Single supp., $350. Poland Culinary Vacations (Bozeman, MT; 888/703-8130).

Three hours south of Bangkok, the Aleenta Hua Hin – Pranburi Resort & Spa (Pak Nam Pran, Pran Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan 77220, Thailand; phone +66 2 514 8112) offers the “Gourmet Gliders’ Retreat” package, a 3-day culinary experience that includes two personal 4-hour cooking demonstrations of Thai and European cuisine with ingredients participants have picked from the resort’s organic garden.

Guests also may take a tandem paraglider flight, a 30-kilometer loop over farms and beaches.

ITN printed the following letter from Kathi Snouffer of Portland, Oregon: “Is there anyone else out there who cannot brag about going around the world for years taking only a daypack?