Private Tour

For such a small country, Lebanon is packed with amazing sights. From Tyre to Baalbek there are ruins from the Phoenicians, the Romans and the Crusaders. The Jeita Grotto, filled with stalactites and stalagmites, is like a cathedral. The mighty cedars in the forest preserve are something to see.

For my customized trip, Nov. 15-22, 2015, I made arrangements through Spiekermann Travel Service (Eastpointe, MI; 800/645-3233, www.mideasttrvl.com). My cost was $1,200, which included a single supplement of $305. Airfare with Turkish Airlines added $700.

My 2015 “bucket list” trip to Peru came into focus in mid-July, when I realized that I would be turning 80 at the end of September of that year. 

Based upon another ITN subscriber’s recommendation (Sept. ’14, pg. 46), in January 2015 I arranged for a private tour in Madagascar through Mr. Jenita Jaozandry, owner of Madagascar Natural Tours (Antananarivo, Madagascar; madagascar-natural-tours.com).

I planned to arrive in Madagascar on June 27, 2015, and fly out on July 17. Mr. Jaozandry arranged my ground itinerary and transportation and booked the best-available 3- or 4-star accommodations, all for $5,347. 

Back in the August through November 2014 issues, we printed letters from subscribers who responded to the information request of Yvonne Richter, who wrote, “My husband and I like to take customized private tours, and we prefer to use tour companies and guides that are local to the destinations. I would like travelers to write in about foreign tour companies and guides that they’ve used for private tours, including as many of the following details as possible:

The 20-day tour of Vietnam that my wife, Barbara, and I took in May 2015 with Vietnam Royal Tourism (HH3 Bldg., Level 5, Me Tri Road, Tu Liem, Hanoi, Vietnam; phone +84 4 2242 5892, www.vietnamroyaltourism.com) was our second visit to that country. Our first was in 2012, also with Vietnam Royal Tourism. I would recommend them and would use them again.

Since I would be attending a dermatology conference in Riga, Latvia, my wife, Yuki, and I decided it would be a good time to visit the three countries collectively known as the Baltics: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Vilnius

There were four of us who wanted to take several taxi trips in Athens, Greece, over three days in mid-October 2015 before heading to our ship to embark on a cruise. The taxi service we hired was John’s Yellow Cab (phone +30 694 447 5706, www.athens-taxi.net).
When we arrived at the airport, John Grivogiannis met us with a sign showing our name and we were driven into town, a service for which he charged €45 (near $49). Since the fixed fare for standard taxis from the airport to Athens was €38, we thought this was a fair price.