Private Tour

My husband, Jerry Vetowich, and I took a custom tour to Alaska, July 19-Aug. 1, 2021. As our travel agent, we chose ITN advertiser Varini de Silva of Ceylon Express International (Huntington Beach, CA; 800/423-9566, www.ceylonexpress.com). She had previously arranged trips for us in Sri Lanka and China and was great at following up, when necessary.

I was blissfully ignorant of what my travel future held for me when I boarded a plane in Memphis, Tennessee, on Feb. 15, 2020, headed (via Toronto and Frankfurt) to Tunis, Tunisia.

My plan was to spend six days in each of two North African countries, Tunisia and Algeria.

My wife, Susan, and I had a 22-hour overnight layover in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, in April 2019. Through the former Viator Private Tours website,* we found Deepjyoti (Deep) Biswas (www.deepjyotibiswas.com), the best guide we have ever had in the world.

For $150, Deep provided us two tours of the city. The evening tour, beginning at our hotel, was a 2-hour walk around Esplanade town. Afterward, he took us to a restaurant and helped us with the menu.

We took a 4-hour private tour of Mallorca, one of Spain’s Balearic Islands, through Nofrills Excursions (Avenida de la Playa, 13 Bajos, 07410 Alcudia, Baleares, Spain; phone +34 971 897 06767, www.nofrills-excursions.com) in July 2019.

Our tour guide, Melanie, and our driver, Francisco, were excellent. Melanie had an excellent knowledge of the island, and, with a wonderful sense of humor, she was a pleasure to spend time with. Francisco was a patient, careful driver, especially on narrow, winding roads.