Travelers' Intercom

To keep clothing smelling fresh on a long trip, place opened bars of soap throughout your suitcase or intersperse scented fabric-softener sheets throughout the clothing items.

Also, take along small spray bottles of Febreeze or a scented body spray (Dollar Store items work just fine for this). After taking off the day’s clothing items, hang them in a closet and spray them with one of these products.

Wash clothes as often as possible. You can now buy Tide in small packets — good...

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In regard to Rick Steves’ article on shopping and souvenirs (April ’10, pg. 63), I would like to add my favorite souvenirs.

• Small items that can be hung on the Christmas tree, making it a “traveler’s holiday tree.”

• Tablecloths or fabrics, which become daily reminders of trips we have taken. (Lace curtains from the Netherlands hang at my kitchen window.)

• Tea towels with pictures or recipes.

• Various kitchen items — toast holders from England, handle-less tea...

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For Barbara Johnson of Sierra Vista, Arizona, ITN printed her plea for names of companies offering overseas tours geared to active octogenarians and nonagenarians (Jan. ’10, pg. 56 & April ’10, pgs. 32 & 69). Barbara wrote, “I’m an 84-year-old, healthy, active woman, and I would love to know about tours that cater to those about my age who are well traveled and always eager to learn more.

“I have gone with Elderhostel (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768), but it has renamed its programs...

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My husband, Bernard, and I were part of a 15-member “Iraqi Kurdistan” tour in October ’09 with Distant Horizons (Long Beach, CA; 800/333-1240). The land price for the 12-day/11-night trip was $5,860 per person.

I was initially skeptical when Bernard suggested we visit Iraq, then I saw a BBC America segment on “the other Iraq.” It cited the Kurdish region, four northern provinces of northernmost Iraq, as a paragon of peaceful coexistence between Kurds and Iraqis.

Maintained by...

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“The Flying Sauna” was what we dubbed the 16-seat puddle jumper that flew us from Belize City to Placencia. My mother, brother and three-year-old nephew, Daniel, and I were on the last leg of the flight that began our 8-day vacation in Belize, April 21-30, 2010.

We’d flown from San Francisco to Houston to Belize City. Now, en route to Placencia, everyone was sweating inside the hot, humid interior of the plane, but we enjoyed gorgeous views of the blue waters of the Caribbean and the...

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On a custom tour our family took to Panama in June-July ’09 (Oct. ’09, pg. 32 & Nov. ’09, pg 31), we stayed in BOQUETE at Finca Lérida (P.O. Box 0413-00146, Boquete, Chiriquí, Panama; phone/fax +011 [507] 720-2285), a small hotel on a gorgeous coffee plantation on the mountainside outside of town. Although the hotel was outside the city, a taxi to/from town cost only $5.

The view there was phenomenal. The town of Boquete itself was nothing special, we felt. In the Boquete area, I...

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The Angel Hotel (15 Cross St., Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, NP7 5EN, U.K.; phone 01873-857121) is a great hotel located in the market town of Abergavenny. My wife, Rose, and I were introduced to the Angel by our English friends Betty and Alan Madden, who stayed with us there in May ’09.

The Angel is a rather plain-looking building at one end of the main street. It’s old, and the floors are a bit uneven and creaky at times. There are 32 rooms, large but not lavish, with en suite...

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The letter titled “Private Shore Tours” (April ’10, pg. 14) was written by a traveler with a preference for taking independently arranged excursions as opposed to ones purchased from a cruise ship.

My response — the benefit of booking tours directly through the ship can be summarized in a few words: the ship’s staff knows where you are.

Although saving money is, indeed, a virtue, there certainly are hazards inherent in going on your own.

In the western Caribbean with...

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