Travelers' Intercom

My husband, Jack, and I took a terrific, 14-night, small-group tour of Japan with Inside Japan Tours (Lewins House, Lewins Mead, Bristol, BS1 2NN, UK; phone ++44 117 314 4620), Oct. 2-16, 2009. The tour was reasonably priced at $3,820 each, not including air.

Using public transportation throughout, we started our tour in Tokyo and ended in Kyoto, traveling to several spots on the island of Miyajima. We stayed in comfortable business hotels and wonderful ryokans (traditional Japanese...

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My husband, Joe, and I decided to go to French Polynesia, Sept. 20-24, 2009, for our 10-year wedding anniversary.

Since I plan our trips, I decided to look at the usual suspects, such as Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea. However, in the guidebook “Frommer’s Tahiti & French Polynesia” I had read about drift snorkeling on Rangiroa. It sounded so exciting, we just had to do it.

I booked all of our internal French Polynesia flights through Tahiti Tours (Papeete, Tahiti; phone 689...

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I traveled solo and on the cheap in Turkey for nearly all of May ’09. I described my visits to Bodrum (Oct. ’09, pg. 14), Selçuk (Jan. ’10, pg. 30) and Marmaris (March ’10, pg. 47). Heading south along the Aegean coast, I next hit Fethiye; the bus trip — a great way to see the country — took three hours (TL16, or near $11), and again I used the Pamukkale Bus Company (phone 0 232 892 3961).

I got a room at the Ideal Pension (I.Karagözler Zafer Cad. No:6 48300, Fethiye, Turkey; phone +...

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On a trip to China with Grand Circle Travel, Nov. 12-Dec. 2, 2009, my wife, Anne, and I didn’t visit Hong Kong Disneyland. However, we saw a number of attractions that reminded us of Disney, some of which out-Disneyed Disney.

Top of the list has to be the Hong Kong Symphony of Lights, a show in which colored lights of the buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour are coordinated to form patterns, pictures and words, all accompanied by symphonic music.

The “Guinness Book of...

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In a letter on a Spanish-language school I attended in Antigua, Guatemala, in July ’09, I wrote about meeting Juana, a 12-year-old girl with no hands. Taking an interest in her welfare, I did some Internet investigation and contacted an organization that agreed to help her obtain prostheses (Oct. ’09, pg. 34). Here’s an update.

In late September, a couple of her neighbors and I bundled the girl, whose name is actually Dariana López (my misunderstanding), and her mother into a van and...

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I read with great interest Lew Toulmin’s article “Cruising the Burgundy Canal” (January & February 2010 “The Cruising World” columns) because a friend and I cruised the Marne-Rhine Canal from Reims to Vitry-le-François, Sept. 12-17, 2009.

Our cruise, on the Merganser, a converted Dutch barge built in 1931, was a casual, fun trip and a budget buy. In 2010, the rate for a six-night cruise is £700 (near $1,091), which includes all meals; bar and wine; tours, and transfer from one of...

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An unexpected find during the trip my husband, Charles, and I took to Jordan was the Jordan Archaeological Museum (phone +962 [0] 6 463 8795), on Citadel Hill in Amman, adjacent to the Umayyad Palace.

The museum presents the history of man in the Jordan Valley along with artifacts, from the days of the Neanderthals to the rise of Islam over the Crusaders. Included are Dead Sea Scrolls. What a find!

We’ve been to museums in London, Rome, Athens and more and never saw a display...

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Returning to the US from Vietnam back in December ’08, I had a six-hour layover at the Seoul, South Korea, airport. Inside security, near the short-time hotel, I discovered an upstairs area with six very comfortable lounge chairs. I spent most of my layover time in one of them. Very quiet!

Nearby were several free computers with Internet access. Also nearby was a small children’s play area and a takeout counter with reasonably priced food.

VAUGHAN PARKER

Santa Barbara,...

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