The following probably won’t make you enjoy filling your gas tank here in the States, but it may ease the pain a tiny bit.

In May of 2005, my wife, Josie, and I paid the following for gasoline, converted to dollars per gallon from euros per liter: $5.97 at a Shell station in France; $5.83 in a supermarket lot in France; $6.18 at an Esso station in Italy, and $4.69 in Switzerland.

Even though gas was cheapest in Switzerland, everything else was so high that it more than canceled...

I traveled to Papua New Guinea (PNG), Aug. 12-29, ’04, using the services of a locally based company called Budget Tours. I paid them to make all my tour arrangements, including transportation within PNG, accommodations, guide services, etc.

I prepaid the land package, and my in-country PNG airline tickets were given to me on arrival. However, on several occasions lodgings and transfers had not been paid for by the tour operator by the time I arrived at particular locations on my...

For a 3-week trip to Sicily in May-June ’05, I purchased travel insurance from Global Alert! Travel Protection through M.H. Ross Travel (800/423-3632). (The claims are administered by Trip Mate; visit www.tripmate.com.)

Because my luggage was misdirected, I was required to make interim purchases.

While in Italy, I had occasion twice to call Global Alert! at no charge to me to make inquiries regarding the claim I would be making upon returning to the United States. I received...