Features

by Jane B. Hanrahan, Woodbridge, VA

Brasília, Copacabana Beach, Amazonia, Iguazú Falls: these Brazilian attractions I had enjoyed in past years. However, when I arrived in Fortaleza in November ’03, I chose to explore a central section of Brazil’s coast instead of specific points of interest.

Slicing southward on a map from Fortaleza to Salvador cuts off a triangle that juts easterly into the Atlantic. On that segment of land with about a thousand miles of coastline, I spent over two months zigzagging southward via ônibus (local bus).

I found a wide assortment of...

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by Diana Hunt, Aiken, SC

A search for “learning vacations” on Google produced 465,645 results. Obviously, many travelers are looking for more than zonk-out beach vacations and the whirlwind “If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium” kind of forced march. Experienced travelers have become hungry for global education.

Organized cultural vacations pre-sent opportunities to learn a language; to learn a skill, such as sailing, golf, skiing or cooking; to participate in scientific endeavors; to earn college credit, or to attend adult retreats that offer everything from the arts to...

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The hostess of our château pensione near Naucelle, France, was speaking about her visit to the United States.

“In Boston, the tour guide showed us a church and said proudly, ‘It is over 250 years old.’ We waited for the punch line, but there was none. That was it.”

She wasn’t sharpshooting. It was simply the honest reaction of one who lives in the department of Aveyron. Within 40 miles of her front door are more than 30 French bastides, unique medieval settlements built by kings, lords and churchmen nearly 800 years ago.

“The United States has so many wonderful...

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Jennifer Petoff, Yardley, PA

Outfitted with a rudimentary knowledge of German and a jam-packed itinerary populated with ideas gleaned from the Internet (e.g., www.europeforvisitors.com), my husband and I embarked on a 9-day trip around southern Germany in September ’04. Our adventures took us from Munich along the Bavarian Alps to the outskirts of Frankfurt via the Romantic Road.

Careful planning

In anticipation of this first visit to the region, we took an introductory German course at our local community college. If you work for a large company, it is worth...

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Having completed a cruise on the Caledonian Canal, the Betty and Dick Wood's Scottish journey continues with an Orkney Islands extension.

Following a tour of the lovely city of Inverness, a group of 10 of us boarded a 37-passenger turboprop plane for a flight to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands.

This group of 70 islands, rising out of the North Sea in the face of furious tides and bitter winds, lies just north of the Scottish mainland. With the exception of Hoy, which is high and rugged, these islands are low-lying, gently sloping and fertile and for centuries have provided a...

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—John Chatfield, Contributing Editor

As Dickens once wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....” So it was on my July ’05 African wildlife adventure to Uganda.

The worst was trying to find the mountain gorillas in the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. The best, finally finding a family of 18, shyly hiding in the thick underbrush. Unfortunately, we were never able to get a clear look at these fantastic animals.

Uganda is not only known for gorillas, as we had earlier seen the vast offering of wildlife of this beautiful country in the Bwindi...

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by Misty Patton, Thornton, CO

You could imagine my delight when my fiancé and I decided a honeymoon in Africa was in order. After all, what better way to begin our new life together than by celebrating with an exotic destination?

Looking for luxury

However, we didn’t want a walk down the Frommer’s budget-minded path for our honeymoon; we wanted something truly special. Searching the Internet provided the names of a number of companies specializing in safaris. But after contacting these companies we began to feel defeated, as each one sent identical brochures and...

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What do you do to pass the time in an airport waiting for a flight? Have any insider tips to make the interval more pleasant? ITN asked readers those questions. Responses appear below. If you have further ideas to contribute, write to Whittle While You Wait, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818, or e-mail editor@intltravelnews.com (please include the address where you receive ITN).

I take the current copy of ITN to read at the airport while waiting. Sometimes I’m surprised and the issue includes an article that covers my destination. Jerome Hirt Horsham, PA

Sadly,...

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