What a fantastic and memorable vacation we enjoyed in Peru in May ’07! Thanks to Lima Tours (Belén 1040, Lima 1, Perú; phone [51-1] 619-6900, fax 619-6921, e-mail prs@limatours.com.pe or visit www.limatours.com.pe), our visit to their country was both informative and rewarding — one of our best tours ever.
My husband, Jack, and I have traveled to Ireland at least once and sometimes twice a year for the past 10 or 11 years but had never been to County Donegal in the northwestern corner of the country. Rereading about it and discovering that it is one of the least-visited counties in Ireland only whetted our appetite to “go see” for ourselves. This time scenery, mostly coastline, would be our focus.
My husband and I have done many trips all over the world, and our itineraries, up until this trip, were planned by American tour companies or on our own. Finding the prices somewhat high with U.S. companies for a trip to southern India, I tried an in-country company, Indian Panorama (No5 Annai Ave., Srirangam, Trichy, Tamil Nadu 620006, India; phone +91 431 243 3372, fax 243 2874, www.indianpanorama.in).
I traveled to Romania with Original World (131 Camino Alto, Ste. E-3, Mill Valley, CA 94941; 888/367-6147, www.originalworld.com), May 21-June 1, 2007. The land price was $1,490 plus $250 single supplement.
The price included all breakfasts and some lunches and dinners. Each lunch not included ran me about $4 and dinner with a shared bottle of wine, $12. Romania is relatively inexpensive. Food generally was good to excellent.
I took my 16-year-old nephew, Xan, on a trip to Southeast Asia, his first to the area, in June ’07.
One of the most beautiful parts of Italy, the Ligurian coast, was the setting for the 10-night “The Gulf of Poets and the Cinque Terre” program of Elderhostel (11 Ave. de Lafayette, Boston, MA 02111; 800/454-5768, www.elderhostel.org). The land price for the tour, April 24-May 2, 2007, was $2,568 plus a single supplement of $330.
Lerici is a small resort town situated at the entrance to the Gulf of La Spezia. It has several beaches and many outdoor shopping opportunities along the palm-tree-lined walkway to the north.
My husband and I had never done a customized tour before, but we couldn’t fit a regular tour into our schedule. For a trip we took Nov. 23-Dec. 9, 2007, Eliu Campos of ECS Travel (Los Pinos St. 156 Of 502, Miraflores, Lima, Peru; phone +51 1 2429716, fax 2428671, www. ecstravel.com) made all the arrangements, and there were no glitches at all! Eliu answered all my pre-trip questions via e-mail, which I have found to be a rare thing.
Here are some highlights of an 11-day tour to Algeria I took Oct. 27-Nov. 6, 2007, with Adventures Abroad (1124 Fir Ave., Ste. 101, Blaine, WA 98230; 800/665-3998). The land price of $2,290 included dinners and breakfasts. The single supplement was $400; insurance cost $334, and round-trip air from Miami to Algiers was $1,525.
I returned from an 18-day trip to China on April 13, 2007. It was my first visit there since 1984. The purpose of this trip was to see for myself the changes brought on by 15 years of 10% annual growth.
We started at Shanghai, where I expected to see many new buildings, but my shock was unbelievable when we arrived at Pudong International, a magnificent modern airport, and drove on modern expressways to a fine hotel in town. Shanghai now resembles a New York City but with more skyscrapers, all modern and all built in the last 15 years.
Readers who are interested in opera should look into the offerings of H.A.T. Tours (Box 46876, St. Petersburg, FL 33741; 800/472-4448, www.europeanoperatours.com).