Since my heart very strongly lies in Austria, my favorite country in Europe, let me describe the great annual festival that my wife, Judy, and I have attended on eight occasions in the past dozen years.

The Bauernherbstfest (Peasants Fall Festival) is held the third Saturday in September in Maria Alm, right in the Austrian Alps. The village is 45 to 60 minutes from beautiful Salzburg. 

From the Salzburg airport, the route we take goes through Bad Reichenhall, Germany, back...

I read the “Funniest Thing” about the American lady in Mexico asking how much alcohol she could take into the US and then how much she could take into Texas (April ’16, pg. 48). She was actually asking two valid questions, since state laws can supersede US laws even for transiting passengers.

I had alcohol confiscated at the Houston, Texas, airport several years ago upon my return from Mexico because I was over the Texas limit, which was lower than the federal limit...

I enjoyed the Feature Article “Biking the Backroads” by Jim Johnson (June ’16, pg. 22). Flory, my late wife, and I biked independently quite a bit. Twelve years in a row, each year we biked approximately 3,000 miles through Europe and North Africa during 2- to 2½-month tours, using a different route each time.

To delineate our routes, we used maps and books from a shop in the Netherlands: Fietsvakantiewinkel (Marithaime 13B, 6662 WD Elst, Netherlands; phone +...