Tours in Review

When the original agent with whom we worked at Orient Odyssey (1385 Gulf Rd., Ste. 203, Point Roberts, WA 98281; phone 800/637-5778 or visit www.orientodyssey.com) was poorly handling arrangements for post-tour accommodations, our file was taken over by the very competent owner, Thomas Cheng, who also saw us off in Los Angeles. (We did have to push him a bit to get a reasonable connection on the transfer to San Francisco.)

Our 21-day tour, “Tibet and Grand CHINA Odyssey,” took place in October ’04. The tour was well priced at $3,180 per person, including air.

Because this was...

On my first trip to Europe in 1958, my mother and I sailed on the Italian liner MN Augustus from New York to Naples, with a one-day stop in Lisbon. The ship’s route took us through the Azores, approximately 1,000 miles off the coast of Portugal. We sailed through them around 8:30 in the morning, and I can still remember how beautiful and sparkling they looked in the bright morning sunlight, just like jewels in the water. I promised myself that one day I would return to explore those peaceful islands.

Never able to locate a tour to the islands, I had almost given up hope when, thanks...

I took an 18-day tour with smarTours (501 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1402, New York, NY 10017; 800/337-7773 or visit www.smartours.net), May 14-30, ’05, in which we spent 10 days in Malaysian Borneo, two days in Kuala Lumpur and three days on the island of Penang. The other days were spent flying. Our group consisted of 28 people, ranging in age from 22 to 86, with the average being the late 50s.

All of our flights were on Malaysia Airlines, which did an excellent job in cabin service and food. Our hotels ranged from good to outstanding and, with two exceptions, were well located. One hotel...