My husband and I and another couple booked a cruise with Silversea Cruises that included three days in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 18-20, 2012. We weren’t impressed with the ship’s shore excursion offerings, so I looked in ITN’s Mart classifieds section and found Dancing Bear Tours (Prospekt Kosmonavtov 15A-6H, St. Petersburg, Russia; phone +7 812 379 2633 or mobile +7 921 324 4640 or, in the US, 323/703-1542).

I contacted owner Julie on Feb. 15, and she emailed and also called me...

Four of us (two couples) spent a week in Rome, Dec. 26 2012-Jan. 3, 2013. As we have done for the past 20 years of traveling together during this holiday week, we rented a furnished apartment with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. We always choose a central location.

We booked our apartment in Rome in March ’12, and we struck “gold.” The apartment (at 45 Via del SS Quattro) was located within a block of the Colosseum, which is impressive to look at from any...

We have visited France 30-some times but until recently had stayed only in hotels, mainly family-run places in small towns. We had noticed attractive vacation cottages for rent but learned that they generally go for a week at a time and almost always Saturday p.m. to Saturday a.m.

This never quite worked for us until 2012, when everything fell into place: flights, train schedules and an available rental near sufficient history/scenery/restaurants to keep us busy for at least a week....