Hotels and Lodging

REPORT FROM Italy…

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.

This month’s winner is LINDA LEMIEUX of Elk Grove, CA:

My wife, Jeanne, and I took a 10-day tour of Tunisia with TunisUSA (Wayne, PA; 888/474-5502, www.tunisusa.com), Dec. 20-30, 2009. It cost $3,770 each (excluding air).

At Boutique Bed & Breakfast (Ulica Smolna 14 m. 7, 00-375 Warsaw, POLAND; phone +48 22 829 48 00, fax +48 507 022 339, www.bbwarsaw.com), the owner was a quite pleasant and knowledgeable conversationalist and ate with my husband, Eugene, and me on several occasions, along with the other guests. He and the staff were helpful, giving hints on must-see sights, etc.

My wife, Paula, and I stayed at the Mövenpick Resort Cairo - Pyramids (Alexandria Road, Pyramids, P.O. Box 1, Giza, Egypt; phone +202 3377 2555, fax 3377 5006, www.moevenpick-hotels.com) for five days in April ’10 (Aug. ’10, pg. 12).

In Amsterdam, Hotel Fita (Jan Luykenstraat 37 1071 CL Amsterdam, Holland; phone [020] 679 09 76, www.hotelfita.com) may be the best value in Europe!

Although I ordinarily travel independently and avoid tours, for a visit to Iguazú Falls with a friend in March ’10 I requested quotes from the travel agencies listed in the Lonely Planet guide.

by Sandra Scott

Now 63 and 70, as my husband and I age we are leaning more and more toward traveling independently. We find that we need the luxury of going at our own pace and according to our own interests. Not having to deal with the temptations of big breakfasts and dinners on tours is also a plus.

With more free time, we go less frequently but stay longer, reducing the stress from air travel. We upgrade to business class more frequently, especially on the outbound portion, so we can feel more rested upon arrival.

My first thought when I arrived in the busy, two-story, glass-topped Munich train station was ‘Wow!’ It has so many interesting places to eat and drink or to buy food to take away plus flowers, postcards and the usual souvenirs.

Just a block away from the station is Fleming’s Hotel München-City (Bayerstrasse 47, 80335 München, Germany; phone +49 89 4444 660, www.flemings-hotels.com), where I stayed May 15-18, 2009. I chose it primarily for the convenient location and its excellent reviews and was not disappointed.