Hotels and Lodging

The following is a listing of some of the hotels, B&Bs, etc., in which ITN readers have stayed over the past year or so (outside of North America and the Caribbean) plus restaurants or sights nearby. Prices are those paid at the time of the visit and conversion rates are approximate.

When writing to ITN about accommodations, always include the PRICES and addresses/locations, along with the date (month/year) of your visit. Also, please state whether the price is per person or per room and, if it is per room, whether it’s for a double or single room. Thank you.

I was scheduled to depart June 30, ’05, for a “Thorsmork Riding Tour,” which was to be five days of riding with a herd of Icelandic horses. I had made my flight and trip plans through Holly Nelson and Brad Vogel, owners of Horses North, LLC, aka Iceland Adventure, LLC (P.O. Box 475, Millerton, NY 12546; phone 888/686-6784 or visit www.horsesnorth.com or www. icelandadventure.com).

My wife and I took a trip to India (the “15-Day Romantic Rajasthan Passage”) and Bhutan (4-day extension) with Pacific Delight World Tours, March 12-April 1, ’05. Pacific Delight partnered with Creative Travel of India to handle the Indian component. Creative Travel in turn partnered with Etho Metho Tours & Treks of Bhutan to handle the Bhutan component.

In sum, we’d give Pacific Delight a grade of B+*, Creative Travel an A- and Etho Metho a D-. Following are the details.

For a November ’04 trip in Italy (July ’05, pg. 55), we short-leased (this is different from a rental) a brand-new Peugeot 407 from Auto France (Wood-Ridge, NJ; 800/572-9655 or www.autofrance.net) for a total cost of $1,329 for 18 days, and that cost was comparable to a straight rental. The cost would have been $310 less had we picked up the car in France, but it included all insurance and all the warranties that we would have gotten with a rental.

Five women and I spent two weeks in Israel and Jordan in October ’04.

We took a trip to Tanzania arranged by Roy Safaris (P.O. Box 50, Arusha, Tanzania; phone 255 27 250 8010, fax 255 27 254 8892, e-mail roysafaris@intafrica.com or visit www.roysafaris.com).

We flew to London on Dec. 16, ’04, and then to Nairobi, Kenya. After a slight glitch on our flight from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro, we met our guide/driver, Salvatory, who with a gracious, warm smile welcomed us to Tanzania. We spent the next 13 days on a private safari for two in Tanzania, including a 3-night beach stay in Zanzibar.

I have never been tempted to write to a magazine before, but the topic Best & Worst Places to Drive immediately drove me to my computer! (Excuse the pun.)

During the middle of July ’04, my wife, Ione, and I spent two weeks in Belize City and San Pedro (on Ambergris Caye), Belize. Our American Airlines flights from Miami were comfortable and on time.

During April ’05 my husband and I traveled in Australia. I worked with Wendy Schatz, an Australian, of Travel Downunder to plan the trip, initially giving her a wish list of places we wanted to see and the types of activities we liked. In addition to being able to e-mail Wendy, I was able to speak with her on her toll-free 800 number because she has an office in the States. This made it easy to discuss options and choices.

On LATIN AMERICA, May-June ’05. . .