Features

May 2006 issue

Uganda — habitat for diverse wildlife

—John Chatfield, Contributing Editor

As Dickens once wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....” So it was on my July ’05 African wildlife adventure to Uganda.

The worst was trying to find the mountain gorillas in the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. The best, finally finding a family of 18, shyly hiding in the thick underbrush. Unfortunately, we were never able to get a clear look at these fantastic animals.

Uganda is not only known for gorillas, as we had earlier seen the vast offering of wildlife of this beautiful country in the Bwindi...

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July 2006 issue

Looking for luxury in Africa

by Misty Patton, Thornton, CO

You could imagine my delight when my fiancé and I decided a honeymoon in Africa was in order. After all, what better way to begin our new life together than by celebrating with an exotic destination?

Looking for luxury

However, we didn’t want a walk down the Frommer’s budget-minded path for our honeymoon; we wanted something truly special. Searching the Internet provided the names of a number of companies specializing in safaris. But after contacting these companies we began to feel defeated, as each one sent identical brochures and...

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May 2005 issue

Whittle while you wait

What do you do to pass the time in an airport waiting for a flight? Have any insider tips to make the interval more pleasant? ITN asked readers those questions. Responses appear below. If you have further ideas to contribute, write to Whittle While You Wait, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818, or e-mail editor@intltravelnews.com (please include the address where you receive ITN).

I take the current copy of ITN to read at the airport while waiting. Sometimes I’m surprised and the issue includes an article that covers my destination. Jerome Hirt Horsham, PA

Sadly,...

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November 2006 issue

A Cultural Tour of Turkey

—by Steve Emmett, Solano Beach, CA

It was already May of 2006 and time for another trip abroad, so after perusing issues of last year’s International Travel News and sending several e-mails to three different companies, my wife, Yuki, and I elected to use Cultural Folk Tours (San Diego, CA; 800/935-8875, www.boraozkok.com) for a trip to Turkey.

As you can imagine, it’s not possible to visit all of Turkey in 18 days or so, so we had to make some choices. Western Turkey, bordering the Mediterranean, is lovely and seems to have more Roman ruins than Italy and Greece combined,...

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August 2005 issue

Tonga — a South Pacific paradise

by Penny Strohl, Oakland, CA

Having stopped at the tiny Tonga airport on our way to New Zealand a few years beforehand, our curiosity was piqued and we were determined to return and find out more about the “Friendly Isles.” Wendy Schatz of Travel Downunder put together an economical and near-perfect package for us.

On Nov. 9, ’04, we flew from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where we picked up a 9½-hour flight to Samoa. After a one-hour stopover, we continued on the 1½-hour flight to Fua’amotu International Airport on Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu.

Our first stop was...

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November 2005 issue

Spain plus Italy and Corsica — cruising with Swan Hellenic

by Beth Habian, Features Editor

he architecture spoke the loudest — the hushed whisper of a fourth-century Italian basilica, the resonating refrains of a Gothic Spanish cathedral and the swelling scream of Gaudí’s unfinished masterwork, reaching for the sky. But there were other voices, too: the delicate trickle of fountains, the papery rustle of palm trees swaying in the wind and the excited chatter of bustling crowds vying for goods in the local marketplace.

The Mediterranean was calling, and I came a’runnin’!

And what better way to travel the Mediterranean than by...

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February 2006 issue

Walking Norway’s western fjords

—by Yvonne Michie Horn, Santa Rosa, CA

The stones were rough cut — some much larger than others, some demanding a bit of a stretch to get to the next — but each had a worn spot where one’s foot just wanted to go. The stones meandered in a sort of staircase, and indeed that is what they are, placed by 12th-century Cistercian monks to ease a steep portion of the 3,000-foot climb between their monastery on the banks of the Sorfjorden and the plateau high above.

Did the monks organize themselves into a sort of ecclesiastical chain gang and quickly put them in place? Or perhaps...

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May 2006 issue

Hiking the southwest coast of England

by J. Norvill Jones, Alexandria, VA

England is a land of walkers and paths to accommodate them. And none surpasses the splendor of England’s longest footpath, the 630-mile South West Coast Path, which runs from Minehead on the Atlantic around Land’s End to Poole in the English Channel. In May ’05, I had the pleasure of hiking 120 miles of this path.

South West Coast Path

More than a decade ago, an English friend, knowing of my interest in hiking, gave me a book about the South West Coast Path. Years later, looking for an outdoor activity for spring, I decided to...

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