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.
I was planning a trip to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) on my own and did some research on various websites. I finally decided to use the reviews on Hotels.com to choose a place to stay and settled on the Inaki Uhi (Atamu Tekena St., Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui; phone +56 32 2551160 or 2100231). I stayed there July 18-25, 2012, having booked my reservation about two months earlier.
On the website www.hostelworld.com, a traveler can book accommodations at any of 24,000 hostels in 180 countries. Hostelworld is the only online hostel-reservation site to offer a money-back Service Guarantee.
Lynn Remly; Hudson, OH
A friend and I booked the 15-day tour “Turkish Delight,” April 21-May 5, 2012, with Pacha Tours and got a great price, $1,490 per person, not including airfare. I asked the Pacha agent to book my airfare.
On Jan. 3, I received an email from a Pacha rep stating that I was booked on April 21 on US Air from St. Louis to Chicago and on Turkish Airways for the Chicago-Istanbul leg. I was informed that these were separate flights and I’d have to pick up my luggage at the Chicago airport and recheck it before continuing.
by Alla Campbell; Greensboro, Ga.
While passing through Buenos Aires, I went to an expensive tango show performed in the dance style they use for competitions and professional entertainment. For a February ’11 visit several years later, I decided that, instead of being a spectator, I wanted to go to a milongas del barrio (neighborhood tango club) to tango with the locals.
All tickets for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Feb. 7-23, 2014, are being sold online through CoSport; only Visa cards are accepted for payment.
by Beth Habian; Features Editor
Venice’s famous sights — the Basilica di San Marco, the Doge’s Palace, the Grand Canal — draw millions of visitors every year, but an overnight stay in October ’12 afforded a glimpse of the magic that hides around every corner and down every alleyway.
During a March-April ’12 India trip, my husband, Clyde, and I arrived in Darjeeling late in the afternoon to check into the Dekeling Hotel* (51 Gandhi Rd., Darjeeling 734101, West Bengal, India; phone 91 354 2254159, fax 2253298 — room rates, INR1,400-INR3,300 [near $25.50-$60] per night).