Hotels and Lodging

As a single, older woman who travels independently on a tight budget, here’s my travel tip: find a centrally located first-class hotel rated four stars (or higher) in your destination city. Note the address, and then reserve an accommodation in a moderately priced 2- or 3-star hotel within two or three blocks of the 4-star.

That way, you may be able to use sightseeing pickup and/or booking facilities of the expensive hotel as well as take advantage of taxi availability, etc.

LINDA R. NEWCOMB

Ashland, OR

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) 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 STANLEY BACH of Washington, D.C.:

On an earlier, 2006, trip to the Netherlands with my friend Greg to see Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” we based in Den Haag for our travels around part of Holland.

From PARIS, France, Oct. 10…

We stayed for five nights in Berlin at Louisa’s Place (Kurfürstendamm 160, 10709 Berlin, GERMANY; phone +49 [0] 30 6 31 03-0 or fax 03-100, www.louisas-place.de) at the end of March ’07 and couldn’t have been more pleased.

While my husband and I were in Beijing for three days during a 2-week trip to China, April 15-29, 2007, I wanted to take a tour of the hutongs.

by Marlene Candell, Berkeley, CA

I took the 15-day tour “Land of the Golden Fleece,” June 24-July 8, 2006, with Explore (booked through Adventure Center, 1311 63rd St., Ste. 200, Emeryville, CA 94608; 800/227-8747, www.adventurecenter.com).

My husband, Joe, and I traveled to Machu Picchu in Peru in January ’07.

by Joyce Bruck, Ocean Ridge, FL