Having only two weeks to spend in Cambodia and Vietnam, my husband, Paul, and I decided to do an independent tour rather than a group tour.After visiting family in Singapore, we flew to Phnom Penh to start our tour, which had been arranged by Indochina Odyssey Tours (Sai Dong, Long Bien, Hanoi 10000, Vietnam; www.indochinaodysseytours.com). It took place Jan. 18-Feb. 1, 2016, and cost $2,172 per person, including three internal flights.We were extremely pleased with the design of our trip,...

“Colorful” is an understatement when describing the Portuguese island of Madeira’s annual Flower Festival.For my third visit to this lovely island, I decided to travel April 4-17, 2016, in order to see this wildly popular festival being held April 7-17 in the capital of Funchal. During that time, at least four huge cruise ships were in port for a day or two at a time, and most of the hotels were full.I was fortunate to be able to stay at my favorite HomeAway.com property,...

At the end of a stay in Kenya in July 2016, the flight my wife, Sandra, and I would take from the game camp was to arrive in Nairobi around noon, but our KLM flight home wouldn’t depart until almost midnight, so our tour operator, BushBaby Safaris (110 Victoria St., Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal 3000, South Africa; phone +27 34 212 3216, bushbaby.co.za), offered some options to fill the day.Two of the options were the Giraffe Centre (phone +254 208 070 804, giraffecenter.org), where we could...