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Costa Rica, in Central America, contains a total of 67 volcanoes, most of which are dormant. Before my wife, Kris, and I and two other couples visited in January 2020, I had known about only two.

Arenal, the volcano we saw during our visit, stands 5,479 feet tall, less than half the height of Irazu, the country’s tallest. Nevertheless, it looked pretty imposing from our perch at the Arenal Observatory Lodge & Spa (www.arenalobservatorylodge.com), less than 2 miles away.

Surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows, we were having a delicious lunch at the lodge’s...

Lois Sundeen asked readers to write in on hostels (June ’10, pg. 14).

While we usually stay in B&Bs or apartments when we travel, we discovered hostels two years ago in Prague and Budapest and this year stayed in one in Madrid. We have been very happy with these accommodations. All arrangements were made via e-mail.

Hostal Gonzalo (Calle Cervantes 34, 28014 Madrid, SPAIN; phone +34 914 292 714). This hostel is in an excellent location just three blocks from the Prado and Thyssen museums and about six blocks from the Reina Sofia Museum.

There were about six...

My husband, Dick, and I received five traffic citations in the mail in October ’09, each involving a €116 (near $175) fine, for traffic violations on a trip to Florence, Italy, that took place two years before!

Apparently, under Italian law, the police have 360 days to send the notices, UNLESS the car involved is a rental car, in which case the allotted year doesn’t begin until the rental company informs the police of the renter’s name and address.

The citations, titled “Notice of Payment Before the Notification,” were actually sent by a...