Travelers' Intercom

My son and I went on the 19-day “Heart of India” tour with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA; 800/493-6824, www.oattravel.com), Oct. 27-Nov. 14, 2009. For me, India was not primarily about the castles, ruins, museums, shrines, etc.; it was the atmosphere.

While at the Ranthambore Game Preserve we had about given up on seeing a Bengal tiger, but at the end of our game drive we came upon one just getting up from its nap and strolling off. Magnificent — a sight I’ll never forget!

The Nahargarh Hotel, where we stayed on the preserve, was remarkable — a great white palace...

ITN asked its readers for essays centered on the subject “Travel is. . .” in 250 words or less. Small prizes were offered for the best five. We were hit by a flood of responses — and the writing was so good, we decided to increase the number of prize winners and print not just the top five but the top 10.

We selected for judges three well-read people: Steve Venables, owner of the travel agency Woodland Travel in Woodland, California; ITN Associate Editor Mary Beltran, and the very well-traveled retired attorney Judith Anshin of Sacramento.

I stopped in the room while the...

For a week’s stay in Paris, Feb. 27-March 6, 2010, I found the Paris Métro system just excellent.

There were long lines of tourists trying to comprehend the ticket machines plus long lines of people buying tickets from humans. It seems that all the manned ticket booths are being replaced by machines. I carried a copy of the reader’s letter “Buying Paris Métro & Bus Tickets” (Nov. ’09, pg. 12), just in case.

I went on an excellent, one-day trip to Mont-St-Michel from Paris for €166 (near $231) with Gray Line. I’d been told it was impossible to do in one day, but with Gray...