Following a Bolzano visit during my 14-day/13-night Italy trip in 2014 (Oct. ’14, pg. 16), I spent six days around and in Venice, in the Veneto region. Because I had a 6:45 a.m. flight out on my last day, I looked for a place to stay near the airport for the five nights, May 10-15.
Prague is truly a city for walking. My husband and I went there for the first time in June 2014. We chose one hotel as a base from which to do some genealogical research and travel around the countryside.
We decided on Residence Agnes (Haštalská 943/19, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic; phone +420 222 312 417, fax 312 840, www.residenceagnes.cz).
Despite lifelong interests in wildlife, my wife and I had never been to Africa. After looking through a variety of safari brochures, we found it was easy to become overwhelmed by the many travel options.
In his letter titled “Apartment Rental Scam” (Sept. ’14, pg. 25), in which a subscriber described trying to rent an apartment abroad for his wife and himself, he said he ended up going with Airbnb (www.airbnb.com). I would like to suggest that when you’re looking for a room, apartment or house, Airbnb should be your first stop.
I’ve used this service for several years for rentals both in the US and abroad. My wife and I have rented a flat in London, a studio in Paris and a great apartment in the heart of Berlin.
(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.
While reading Rick Steves’ article “Conquering European Bathrooms” (July ’14, pg. 59), I enjoyed reminiscing about similar not-like-in-the-USA bathroom experiences my husband and I have had in our nearly 40 years of world travel.
These include wax paper-like tissue plus a trickle of hot water in the shower when we were on a budget in the ’70s; emergency cords dangling in the shower; a basket next to the toilet for dirty paper, and, in recent years, the pleasure of using bidets.
In a service that will be available at 4,000 properties in more than 80 countries by the end of 2014, members of the Hilton® HHonors™ program of the Hilton (800/445-8667, www.hilton.com) group of hotels will be able to check in and select rooms online or using mobile devices.
From VIENNA, Austria, Oct. 28
• For EuroHotel Vienna Airport (1 Marco-Polo-Strasse, Fischamend, Austria), our reservations were made through Call Box Customer Contact Solutions (Encino, CA; 888/810-7464) on behalf of Allresnet.com (Phoenix, AZ; 800/892-2108).
Since the hotel at the Vienna Airport was expensive and did not have consistently good reviews, I found this off-site location, which is only eight minutes away by hotel shuttle.
