Hotels and Lodging

Lois Sundeen asked readers to write in on hostels (June ’10, pg. 14).

Flying Continental from San Francisco via Houston, my companion George and I arrived in San José, Costa Rica, on Oct. 26, 2009.

REPORT FROM MEXICO…

From the trip two friends and I took through Central America in January 2010, I particularly recommend the following accommodations.

I was in Israel for a conference and had three days afterward (Sept. 11-14, 2009) to revisit Jerusalem. In particular, I wanted to visit the Herodium, a conical hill near Jerusalem where the tomb of King Herod the Great was identified only in 2008, and Hezekiah’s Tunnel, a very interesting relic of Biblical times that wends 500 meters through solid rock, with running water on the floor the entire way. Hezekiah’s Tunnel is near the Area G excavations of the City of David, just outside the Dung Gate.

I toured Mali and Burkina Faso, Feb. 10-27, 2010, with Craig Canadian Group Travel, Ltd. (Toronto, Ont., Canada; 800/387-8890), who also arranged a post-trip, seven-day hotel stay for me for in Paris through March 6.

The tour was named “Into the Heart of West Africa,” and the cost for everything was $8,754. That covered round-trip air from Portland, Oregon, everything in Africa (except water during meals), the hotel room in Paris and an overnight in a Toronto hotel on my way back.

I took a trip aboard the Aranui 3, Sept. 24-Oct. 9, 2009. This is a passenger/cargo ship that stops among some of the Marquesas and Tuamotu islands dropping off supplies and tourists.

Eight of us flew Delta/Air France from San Jose, California, to Cairo, Egypt, via Paris, France, on Feb. 27, 2010. When we arrived at Paris’ CDG Airport for our connecting flight to Cairo (on Air France 508 or Delta 8622) at 1:35 p.m., we found out that it was delayed due to weather. It was finally canceled at 9:40 p.m.

By Nili Olay; New York, NY

Madagascar, the land of lemurs and baobab trees, wasn’t even on our short list of places to visit. Furthermore, we don’t like group tours. Yet my husband, Jerry, and I traveled to Madagascar as part of a group of 10 from May 16 to June 9, 2010. Why?