Accommodations Worldwide

The Pacific International Hotel (43 Esplanade, Cairns, Queensland, Australia; phone +61 7 4051 7888, fax 4031 1445, www.pacifichotelcairns.com) was recommended by a fellow traveler who visits Cairns each year for diving and stays at this hotel. It’s within walking distance of the Esplanade, the night market, the harbor and the shopping and tourist areas.

The Standard and Executive rooms are just fine (I think “executive” is the same size as “standard” but on a higher floor), but the true value are the Deluxe rooms — large corner rooms with wraparound balconies and great views of the...

It was midnight when my husband, Skip, and son, George, and I checked into the Best Western Premier Foresta Hotel (Herserudsvaegen 22, Box 1324, Lidingö, SE-18125, SWEDEN; phone +46 [0] 8 50550500, fax 550 590, www.bestwestern.com).

The front desk manager Marcus Jonnson welcomed us with kindness and good cheer. Four days later, he checked us out with sandwiches and coffee at 6:30 a.m.; the buffet was not yet open and he wanted us to have something to eat before we started our travel home to the USA. He was hospitality made manifest.

For our stay in July ’08 I had booked a 3-...

My husband, Douglas, and I stayed at Villa Alviani Anna (Via delle Rotonda 9 [ingresso Via Rota 8], 80067, Sorrento, ITALY; phone/fax +39 0818073785, cell +39 3337947741 or visit http://villalvianianna.com), March 19-30, 2009. The location is excellent, a 10-minute walk from the central bus and train station (Circumvesuviana line). For those with a car, parking is available on the property.

This B&B has five rooms of different sizes. Ours, set well back of a relatively busy street, had a balcony and overlooked a swimming pool and a beautiful, large garden full of lemon trees....