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February 2005 issue

A ‘super day’ near London

London was crowded with tourists in August ’04 and it was also the wettest August on record. Daily sky bursts were the norm, and before your umbrella was fully extended you were sopping wet. So many people running for the same shelter at the same time only exasperated the situation.

Although it rains everywhere, there are many places in the outskirts of London, away from the crowds, that offer a super day of art, architecture, history and nature.

Kenwood House, a marvel of 18th-century architecture, filled with art treasures and surrounded by tranquil countryside, is a haven...

November 2010 issue

Patagonia with OAT

Mark & Linda Young and Nell & Ed McCombs at Pia Glacier, Chile

Argentina’s Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the few glaciers in the temperate world that is still advancing. It is 240 feet high, a bit over three miles wide and part of a huge ice field containing the world’s third-largest reserve of fresh water. A visit to the glacier was part of the 14-day “Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego & Chilean Fjords” trip my daughter Linda, son-in-law Mark and husband, Ed, and I took with Overseas Adventure Travel, Feb. 7-19, 2010.

March 2005 issue

Companies came through

• A promotion run in 2003 by Grand Circle Travel (347 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210; phone 800/221-2610 or visit www.gct.com) promised two $250 travel certificates applicable to your next GCT trip if you completed an extensive questionnaire on your future travel plans. We dutifully completed it and sent it in and waited and waited and waited, but no certificates.

After six months or so, and past the expiration date of the travel certificates, we began a follow-up campaign by telephone. When that proved fruitless, we sent a letter to GCT headquarters politely pointing out our...

April 2005 issue

Egyptian Museum

The single most important, not-to-miss place in Cairo is the Egyptian Museum. We wish we’d had more than one day there on our visit in March ’97, but the one we had was wonderful.

The Tutankhamon exhibit, part of which we had seen when it was on exhibit in Los Angeles in the 1980s, had far more in it than I expected. The craftsmanship, artistic style and mint condition of many of the items were greater than I remembered.

The solid gold mask and the coffin and throne of Tuntankhamon are, of course, the highlights, but there are countless little surprises as you work your way...

August 2010 issue

Obervations on Egypt

The following is supplemental advice for your first trip to Egypt, based upon experiences from an April ’10 trip I made with my wife and several friends. These tips and observations cover topics that either were not addressed or, more commonly, did not receive sufficient emphasis in the guidebooks and Internet resources we consulted pretrip.

These tips only complement your guidebooks. Guidebooks contain lots of good information and useful suggestions that are omitted here (e.g., don’t drink the water).

Among pleasant surprises, the sights (pyramids, tombs, temples, etc.)...

July 2010 issue

‘Masterful job’ by GCT

About to depart for home on April 17 after Grand Circle Travel’s “Holland & Belgium in Springtime” — an excellent cruise-tour aboard the R/V River Aria — we got word that all flights were canceled due to the ash cloud from Iceland.

That evening we were advised to relax because passengers would be able to stay on the ship, and meals would be provided too, at no charge. There was no discrimination between travelers who had insurance and those who did not (like us).

Grand Circle did a masterful job of handling the problem. Some of the 160 people who had been in our group...

January 2004 issue

Castle heating charges astronomical

ITN was mailed a copy of the following letter, sent by a reader to Mr. Joe Hyman of Country Cottages.

As requested during our phone conversation, I am summarizing the problems we had during our 2-week rental (April 19-May 3, ’03) of the property you represent, the Castello La Rocca in Traversa, the Mugello, Italy (postal address: Loc. Traversa, 50033 Firenzuola, Firenze Province, Tuscany, Italy).

You are already aware of the outrageous charge we were to be assessed for the weekly cleanup: $450 per week, or a total of $900 for the two weeks. As you know, we were not informed...

August 2010 issue

The muezzin’s call

I wanted to react to a comment a subscriber made in reviewing the Hotel Stone in Istanbul (March ’10, pg. 4). He noted two drawbacks of the hotel, the second being its proximity to mosques, where “the morning call to prayer is a wake-up call at around 6 a.m.”

I don’t want to disparage the writer’s likes and dislikes, for we all have them. I just want to say that what is a drawback for one man may be a benefit to another.

Over the years, I made a total of 36 overseas trips, mostly with my wife. We traveled as a couple independently, for that helped me satisfy my travel urge,...