Travelers' Intercom

May 2013 issue | Appears on page 14

For Cinque Terre, stayed in Levanto
By Stephen O. Addison, Jr.
13th-century loggia, Piazza della Loggio, in Levanto.
Good luck sometimes comes wrapped in what appears to be misfortune. When planning, on short notice, for a September '12 trip to Italy, my wife, Paula, and I were unable to find accommodations that both fit our schedule and met our list of desired features. Looking farther afield, we found excellent lodgings in Levanto, an adjacent town to the northwest.
May 2013 issue | Appears on page 15

Villedieu-les-Poêles
By Carol Baumeister Schmidt
On the day we planned to visit Mont-St-Michel it was rainy, so we headed for a nearby town described in our Michelin guidebook, Villedieu-les-Poeles. In this town, where pots and pans have been made since the 12th century, the bell foundry has been casting and exporting bells for over 200 years.
May 2013 issue | Appears on page 15

Tango time in Buenos Aires
By Joyce A. Bruck
Tourists snapped pictures of tango dancers on Plaza Dorrego in the San Telmo area of Buenos Aires.
While passing through Buenos Aires, I went to an expensive tango show performed in the dance style they use for competition and professional entertainment. For a visit several years later, I decided that, instead of being a spectator, I wanted to go to a milongas del barrio (neighborhood tango club) to tango with the locals.
May 2013 issue | Appears on page 24

Not delighted with Turkey tour
By Sheila Monk

A friend and I booked the 15-day tour “Turkish Delight,” April 21-May 5, 2012, with Pacha Tours and got a great price, $1,490 per person, not including airfare. I asked the Pacha agent to book my airfare. 

On Jan. 3, I received an email from a Pacha rep stating that I was booked on April 21 on US Air from St. Louis to Chicago and on Turkish Airways for the Chicago-Istanbul leg. I was informed that these were separate flights and I’d have to pick up my luggage at the Chicago airport...

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May 2013 issue | Appears on page 26

India through Indebo
By Judy Davis
My husband, David, and I took a wonderful 16-day trip to India planned and coordinated for us by Indebo.
May 2013 issue | Appears on page 26

Nagasaki guide
By Arthur Gladstone
My wife and I were on a cruise that stopped in Nagasaki, Japan, in May '11. We were fortunate to be approached by a retired municipal worker turned guide, Katsushiro Tsuchida.
May 2013 issue | Appears on page 27

Hiking Offa’s Dyke Path in the UK
By Samantha Sartain
Samantha Sartain on the walls of Chester, England.
It was my friend Claire's idea. From her home in Australia, she planned the details of our June 12-30, 2012, hiking vacation along Offa's Dyke Path.
May 2013 issue | Appears on page 29

Ethiopia’s ‘wonderful’ mix
By Kevin O’Brien
An oryx in Awash National Park. Photo: O’Brien
My wife, Jane, and I arranged a private tour in Ethiopia for 18 days with Yama Ethiopia Tours.