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A long day of flights from Boston to Atlanta, then on to Mexico City and, finally, Oaxaca left us ready to crawl into bed upon our arrival at our final destination… had we not been met by a parade of young children marching just outside the entrance to our hotel. Called comparsas, celebratory processions like this are kickoff events for the 3-day festival called Day of the Dead, which takes place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 each year. 

We were in Mexico to join Jim Cline Photo Tours (San Diego, CA, 877/350-1314; jimclinephototours.com) to feast on the riot of colors and...

My wife, Susan, has end-stage renal disease and needs to have dialysis treatments at least three times a week. My question for ITN readers is, ‘What are some travel packages on which this is possible?’

To get the ball rolling, I’ll tell you about a company we used for a cruise we took.

In conjunction with my travel agent, Susan made arrangements through Dialysis at Sea Cruises (2504 Merchant Ave., Odessa, FL 33556; 800/544-7604) for a February ’11 Caribbean cruise round trip out of Fort Lauderdale — visiting Mexico, Panama, Colombia (Cartagena)...

When my wife, Carolyn, and I reflect on our April 2015 trip to France, we inevitably focus on our love of Saint-Émilion, the Dordogne region, the castle within a castle of Carcassonne, the wines of Burgundy and all the expressways, country roads and medieval streets undertaken in our little white Peugeot. 

We had little in the way to guide us: a foldout map provided by the rental-car company and the small city illustrations in our Rick Steves guidebook. Carolyn imposed a ban on GPS and smartphones, which meant relying on instinct and our wits without the comforting aid of...