Adventure

6 days, 5 nights in northwest SCOTLAND; monthly departures May-August 2017. Highlights: Transfer from Inverness to Torridon for sea kayaking lesson/kayak on Loch Shieldaig, Loch Kishorn, home to sea eagles, otters/village of Gairloch/kayak along Applecross Peninsula/hike above Loch Maree. From £1,195 (near $1,493) per person double-occupancy (ppdo). Single supp., £275 ($336). Wilderness Scotland (Inverdruie House, Aviemore, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, PH22 1QH, U.K.; in US, 866/740-3890, www.wildernessscotland.com).

16-day, 15-night cultural expedition in PERU, Sept. 20-Oct. 5, 2017. Led by anthropologist Manuel Arboleda G. Group limit, 20. Highlights: In Lima, architectural tour/boat trip to Ballestas Islands for thousands of birds/pachamanca (earth oven) lunch in Sacred Valley/Cusco/PeruRail’s Vistadome train to Machu Picchu/navigate Amazon Basin’s Yanayacu River for macaws, monkeys, dolphins, caimans/visit Taquile island on Lake Titicaca. $2,855-$3,175 ppdo. Single supp., $790. Nawpaq Expeditions (Los Pinos 156, Apt. 702, Lima 18, Peru; phone +51 1 65 432 65, www.nawpaq

An Amazon River cruise, Aug. 16-24, 2014, was the sixth trip my husband, Ed, and I took with International Expeditions (IE) (Helena, AL; 855/246-0405 or 205/428-1700, www.ietravel.com). 

We’ve traveled with them often because the accommodations on their tours are always quite nice and their guides are very knowledgeable. Including internal air, the cost of this 9-day/8-night tour was $4,716 each.

 9-day, 8-night hiking tour, July 23-31 & Aug. 6-14, 2016. “Moderate level”; one- to 5-hour walks on varying terrain. Highlights: In Nuuk, Greenland National Museum, ruins of Viking settlement/hike Ukkusissat Mountain/Inuit barbecue by the sea/hike ice cap at Kangerlussuaq/Kanga Fjord/midnight cruise near Sermeq Glacier/lunch with local family/Sermermiut, ancient Inuit settlement. Land only, $6,295 per person, double occupancy (ppdo) (group of 10-12), or $6,795 (group of 6-9). Single supp., $810; “forced single” supp., $610.

(Part 3 in a series)

The best cemetery I have visited is one I went to in summer 2014 in Zermatt, SWITZERLAND: the Mountaineers’ Cemetery (Englischer Viertel 8, 3920 Zermatt; phone +41 27 967 23 14, www.zermatt.ch/en/Media/Attractions/Mountaineers-cemetery). 

In a salt mine in a hill by the city of Turda, Romania, visitors can enjoy a 20-minute boat ride on an underground lake (RON10 [near $2.50]), a carnival wheel (RON5), mini-golf (RON10) and bowling (RON10).

The Salina Turda mine operated from 1075 until 1932. Using the same shaft that miners used, visitors take an elevator nearly 400 feet to the mine’s floor. An English-speaking guide may be booked in advance for RON50. 

Under the Snowdonia Mountains, the world’s longest underground zip-line (and deepest) was opened at Conwy Falls, North Wales, in March 2015 by Go Below Underground Adventures (Snowdonia, Wales, UK; phone +44 1690 710108, www.go-below.co.uk/default.asp).

In the Feature Article “One Trip, Two Experiences — a Group Tour of Ethiopia vs. a Private, Customized Journey” (July ’15, pg. 6), the writer reported on two trips he and his wife took in Ethiopia.