Public Transportation

Servimaster Tours (St. Sagárnaga No. 271-A [St. Li­nares/St.Murillo], La Paz, Bolivia; phone 591 2 2313002, cell 725 32355) arranged an excellent two-day/one-night trip for me to Lake Titicaca, Dec. 29-30, 2011.

After a Yangtze River trip in China in November ’11, my husband, Alan, and I spent three days on our own in Hong Kong. We found it very easy to sightsee there and it also was inexpensive, once we discovered the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and the Octopus Card*.

In an MTR station, we each purchased an Octopus Card for a senior for HKD50 (near $6.50) and loaded an additional HKD20 on it. We used our cards to travel everywhere on the MTR for pennies.

by Hugh Clark; Tampa, Florida

A dining-and-sightseeing “Tram Experience” is being offered in Brussels, Jan. 15-Dec. 31, 2012. Holding 34 passengers, the tram passes city landmarks for two hours while serving classic Brussels dishes. The cost is €75 (near $105).

It departs Place Poelaert at 8 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., at 7 and 9:30 Fri. and Sat. and at noon Sun. Reserve a spot with Brusselicious (phone +32 [0] 2 55154 70 or e-mail Olivier Marette at o.marette@visitbrussels.be).

For more info on Belgium’s “Year of Gastronomy” events, visit www.visitbelgium.com and click on “Belgian Bites.”

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.

This month’s winner is GLENN SCHMIDT of Sun Prairie, WI:

It’s a beautiful afternoon in Sorrento, Italy, in November ’09 as we board the last ferry of the day to Naples.

As the unpopular austerity measures passed by the Greek government take effect in the coming months, street demonstrations and more frequent labor union strikes are likely in cities around the country. Riot police are frequently called out to contain the demonstrations, and sometimes tear gas is used.

While many may not view Brussels in December as an ideal getaway, my husband and I have long loved visiting Europe close to the Christmas holidays. In 2010 we centered ourselves at the Floris Arlequin Grand Place Hotel (€146-€179) in the I’llôt Sacré, Dec. 8-14, and took advantage of the holiday schedule to spend a weekend day in Ghent (Gent).

REPORT ON SWITZERLAND…

Travelers at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol might try a tour on the Floating Dutchman, an amphibious bus that holds 48 people. For the tour of two hours and 45 minutes, passengers transiting Schiphol should allow at least a four-hour stopover, timing it for one of the tour departures daily at 9, noon and 3 from Schiphol Plaza.