Seventeen years ago, a university student in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, upset with the island’s horrible winters (average snowfall is 240 inches), decided to start Yosakoi Soran, a celebration in early June, as a sign that winter was finally over and everyone could enjoy a few months of relief.

From a small group in the first few years, this event has grown to, in 2008, over 340 groups comprising over 45,000 dancers seen by well over two million spectators. The population of...

The management and staff of Rail Travel Center (125 Main. St., Box 205, Putney, VT 05346; 800/458-5394, www.rail travelcenter.com) will be retiring in 2010. They are planning to fill their last two years with old favorites as well as some new tours.

I have been on several of their tours and have always been pleased. Indeed, their “Springtime in the Alps,” which I took 10 years ago, unquestionably remains the best tour I have ever been on. We stayed in three cities and made day trips...

My husband, Alan, and I took a cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest, July 22-Aug. 6, 2008, with Vantage Deluxe World Travel (Boston, MA; 800/322-6677). All in all, it was a super trip and we highly recommend it.

Shortly before departing, however, we were informed that the ship was converting all charges to euros. Given the state of the dollar at that time, this was understandable. As with most cruise lines these days, all charges on the ship could be put on a credit card, which we did....