Accommodations Worldwide

I spent a delightful week at a lovely, small hotel in London, ENGLAND: the Blandford Hotel (80 Chiltern St., London W1U 5AF, U.K.; phone 44-207-486-3103, fax 487-2786 or visit www.blandfordhotel.com). I first stayed there in January ’05 and liked it then, but on my most recent visit in March ’07 I found that the entire hotel has been beautifully renovated from top to bottom.

The rooms are small, as is customary in London hotels, but they are now very nicely furnished and contain many amenities, including central heat and air-conditioning, satellite TV with pay-TV options, tea/coffee...

Here are recommendations from a November ’07 trip to the Campania area of ITALY.

• Hostel Hotel Bella Capri (Via Melisurgo, 4, Gate B, 6th Floor, Naples, Italy; phone/fax +39 081 552 92 65, www.bellacapri.it).

This combination hostel/hotel (there were a few private rooms with bath) is just off the waterfront, convenient to boats to and from Capri and also the bus to Pompeii.

Rooms, each with a small bathroom, were minimal but decent. Some rooms faced the bay and busy street so were relatively noisy, added to the sound from the reception area adjacent. Number 7 was much...

From my March 12-26, 2006, trip to AUSTRALIA, here are appraisals of hotels in the Northern Territory. (For others in New South Wales and South Australia, see the September and March articles)

• Before picking up my rental car in Alice Springs, I had lunch at the Royal Flying Doctor Service facility (8-10 Stuart Terrace, Alice Springs, N.T., Australia; phone 08 8952 1129 or visit www.rfds.org.au). A delicious bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with iced tea was Aus$10 (US$7).

After lunch I walked to the Hertz office and picked up the car. All car rental arrangements were made...