My husband, John, and I spent several weeks hiking in the Swiss, French and Italian Alps in June and July 2018. At each destination, we took advantage of a multiday travel pass in order to traverse the network of hiking trails via train, gondola, bus and on foot.

• While staying in Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, we purchased the 6-day Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland for €270 (near $306) per person. It enabled us to travel freely on the gondola from Grindelwald up...

My longtime traveling companion, Joan Anderson, and I took a tour of several Balkan countries in September 2017 with Overseas Adventure Travel, or OAT (Boston, MA; 800/955-1925, www.oattravel.com).

First of all, I'm an independent traveler and have taken only two tours over the past 38 years. Joan and I were thinking about taking an independent tour of the Balkans, but I remembered how difficult this was for me in 1990.

Back then, the main transportation was bus (and an...

I have had the wonderful life opportunity to go on many international bird-watching trips, beginning in the 1980s. These have consistently taken me to beautiful, backroad areas in South and Central America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and Europe.

I am now 79. Until a few years ago, I traveled exclusively with commercial birding-tour companies that were headquartered in the US or UK. Recently, as my energy has waned, I've turned to two other options.

1. My first approach is...