by Robert Juhre, Kettle Falls, WA
Travel in Botswana is limited to a few choices. You can book accommodations through one of many tour operators. Their camps are generally small, accommodating 12 to 15 people, and are remote but well appointed.
Just as our July ’03 issue arrived with Randy Keck’s article on Transylvania (Romania), we were about to leave on a self-planned trip covering the same sites. These are our observations, to augment his.
Hotels were all quite good, with Casa Viorel (phone 40-268-262-431) in Poiana Brasov being outstanding. The largest hotel we stayed in was the only place we found that accepted credit cards, but ATMs were available in every town we visited.
We returned Oct. 16, ’03, from a month in Italy, where we had a car for 24 days. We found that if you’re planning to drive in Europe for 17 days or more, it generally pays to lease a car rather than to rent. We leased a brand-new mid-size Renault Laguna with air-conditioning and manual transmission for $1,337, everything included (all taxes; all insurance, including CDW, theft and liability; airport surcharges, etc.). There was nothing else to pay.