While visiting our son in Phnom Penh, my husband, Bill, and I stayed near the airport at the Cambodian Country Club & Hotel (Street 2004, Group 6 Toeuk Thla, Russey Keao district, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; phone 023 885 591 or 592 — club membership is not necessary to stay here), which I found on the Internet.
The price per night was about $56 for a double or $50, single. We were there nearly three weeks, Nov. 4-23, 2012.
My husband, Jim, and I visited Nicaragua to experience the beauty of the land, lakes, volcanoes, art and history. Our 12-day custom trip, Jan. 19-31, 2012, from Latin American Escapes (Chico, CA; 800/510-5999), was a modified version of their “Magic of Nicaragua” itinerary. We saw everything we wanted to see and more.
In Amsterdam, 12 of us girlfriends stayed at Hotel Fita (Jan Luykenstraat 37, 1071 CL Amsterdam, Netherlands; phone +31 [0] 20 679 09 76, fax 664 39 69), Dec. 28-31, 2012.
This delightful, 15-room hotel is in an excellent location near the museums and a tram stop. The owner, Roel, and his staff made us feel so welcomed and were helpful with suggestions and maps.
REPORT ON ECUADOR…
Lodging at hostels while globetrotting is becoming an increasingly popular trend among travelers ages 40 to 70. For a number of them, hosteling has even become a lifestyle, as opposed to just a travel style.
During a recent interview, friend and lifelong hosteler Merrilee Zellner shared her insights regarding the history and evolving status of the people, particularly seniors, who stay in hostels while traveling.
During a trip to Europe’s Low Countries in spring 2012, my husband, Ed, and I spent May 2-4 in Bruges. Our lodging was the 37-room Hotel Jan Brito (Freren Fonteinstraat 1, B-8000 Bruges, Belgium; phone +32 50 33 06 01, fax 33 06 52), at €95 (near $129) per night, which we found on the Internet. The hotel is a 16th-century mansion extensively renovated in the mid 1980s.
After the local travel company I was using canceled the last six days of my prepaid tour of China in October ’11, I had no choice but to get myself from Guiyang, in rural Guizhou province, to the international airport in Guangzhou for my flight home. This was no easy task, since very few people in China speak English and almost all of the signs are in Chinese.
Equestrian Escapes (Rose Cottage, Common Lane, Duddon, Cheshire, CW6 0HG, U.K.; phone +44 0 1829 781 123) offers horse-riding vacations for any riding skill level in southern England’s Dartmoor National Park, 15 miles north of Plymouth.
A “Beginner’s B&B” package includes two riding lessons, two rides on the moor and two nights in a B&B for £245 (near $396) per person. A “Beginner’s Self Catering Cottage” package, with 10 hours of lessons plus rides on the moor and 7 nights in a cottage, costs £525 ($850).
Typically, my husband, Frank, and I are independent travelers. However, after his stroke five years ago it became necessary to modify our habits.
by Sean Sullivan, Darien, CT
My wife, Rita, and I decided to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary in India. We had fallen in love with the country on a 3-week visit in 2004. On that trip we visited the north, traveling to New Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi, among other cities.