Hotels and Lodging

My husband, Fred, and I took a guided, two-week bicycle tour covering parts of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, July 21-Aug. 4, 2009.

by Henk Bouwman; Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

by Marvin Herman & Judy Licata; Delavan, Wisconsin

Firm in the belief that during the month of February most people would like to escape the Midwest for a warm climate while waiting for spring to come, my wife, Judy, and I felt that there was no better time to visit some of the wonderful old cities of Central Europe.

by Julie Skurdenis (Second of three parts)

For our winter getaway, my husband, Jerry, suggested we go to Iceland to see the Northern Lights. Although Iceland sounds so cold, the average temperatures in February aren’t worse than New York City’s, and when I read up about the lights, I was hooked.

I wanted to react to a comment a subscriber made in reviewing the Hotel Stone in Istanbul (March ’10, pg. 4). He noted two drawbacks of the hotel, the second being its proximity to mosques, where “the morning call to prayer is a wake-up call at around 6 a.m.”

I don’t want to disparage the writer’s likes and dislikes, for we all have them. I just want to say that what is a drawback for one man may be a benefit to another.

Here are hotel recommendations from our trip to France, May 19-June 1, 2009.

We were looking for a quiet, smoke-free apartment for our stay in Brussels, Sept. 23-29, 2009, and B&B Maritiem (rue de Ribaucourtstraat 135, 1080 Brussels, Belgium; phone +32 0 498 33 97 32) was perfect.

Our hosts, Lies and Danny, answered all our questions prior to our booking online and provided travel advice later.

My wife, Rose, and I along with our English friends Betty and Allan Madden spent a few days in Wales in May ’09.

by Harriet Hughes, Alexandria, VA

In February 2010 I toured Senegal and Mauritania with Spiekermann Travel (Eastpointe, MI; 800/645-2323). The food was good and the weather great, and our small group had a wonderful time exploring these two off-the-beaten-path countries.