(Part six of a series)

In the January 2011 issue, I recounted how my wife, Flory, and I transited China on our way to India. This month, I continue with the India portion of our ’round-the-world tour. (As I mentioned, for India, Oman and the UAE our private touring and hotels were arranged through Original World [Mill Valley, CA].)

Our overnight in Bhubaneswar, capital of the ancient kingdom of Orissa, was at the sumptuous Mayfair Lagoon Hotel (8B Jaydev Vihar, Bhubaneswar -...

Around the year AD 500, long before the Viking era began in the second half of the eighth century, a chieftain on the island of Vestvågøy, in Norway’s Lofoten Islands above the Arctic Circle, built himself a house worthy of his status.

It was an enormous longhouse, 221 feet long, with turf walls and (probably) a wood-shingled roof. It stood on a hill with a sweeping view over the countryside. It could be seen from a distance, which is one of the reasons it was built where it was. It...

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 419th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine, the original travelers’ forum.

When ITN was first published, in 1976, publisher Armond Noble was filling a niche. He had noticed that in travel publications, all you would read were professional travel writers’ flowery descriptions of how perfect places were, never about the trash, traffic noise or surly service.

So he came up with a magazine written not by freelancers writing for...