In my haste to head to the Honolulu airport on my way to take a river cruise that started in Yakutsk, the capital of the Turkic Republic of Sakha in far-eastern Russia, in July 2014, I forgot to take extra cash. I had maybe $700 and some travelers’ checks from a previous trip. I did have two credit cards and some old American Express (AmEx) travelers’ checks with me.

I flew first to Seoul, South Korea, one of the few places from which you can fly into Siberia without...

Following a barge trip in Burgundy, France, in celebration of my husband, Steve’s, 80th birthday, we flew to Istanbul, then to Antakya (ancient Antioch), located on southern Turkey’s easternmost Mediterranean coast, about 30 miles from the Syrian border.

What was to be a 3-week journey with two other couples turned out to be just the two of us with our wonderful new friend and fabulous, attentive guide, Ümit Dogan, owner of Treasures of Travel (Edmonds, WA; 800/572-0526, www.treasures...

My wife, Patti, and I had made arrangements for a stay in the Galápagos Islands, but we also wanted to see the Andes in South America and some of the Ecuadorian village areas where she had served in the Peace Corps. A short news item about Ecuador’s new Tren Crucero, or Cruise Train (Aug.’13, pg. 4), sealed the deal.

For our mainland trip, Jan. 11-17, 2014, we made arrangements through an agency in Quito, Ecuador, that had been highly rated on TripAdvisor.com: EQ Touring...