Features

For people who like murder mysteries in exotic locales, here is a fun list.

• “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith is one of a series of six books set in BOTSWANA. The land and culture are also like characters in this delightful collection of detection pursuits and everyday African life.

• The “Mrs. Pollifax” series by Dorothy Gilman takes readers on adventures all over the globe. I particularly enjoyed the ones in Asia, including “Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha” (I subsequently got lost in the narrow alleyways wending my way through the back...

—by Vernon Hoium, Minneapolis, MN

When the temperature in Minneapolis reached 14 degrees below zero, it was time to think of visiting a warmer climate. In January ’05, my wife and I flew from Minneapolis to Malta via London. We purchased two separate tickets for the trip, traveling to London on Northwest Airlines and from London to Malta with British Airways, allowing us to have a 3-day stopover in London on our return trip. (The airfare from London to Malta was only $200 for the 3-hour-and-20-minute trip.)

Getting settled

Upon arrival in Malta we were met by a...

Improvisational travel is challenging, exhilarating and the ultimate expression of freedom because one can go where, when and with whom one chooses on a daily basis. It’s also exciting because it varies — sometimes wildly — from its more predictable counterparts: cruises and professionally organized tours with their frequently inflexible itineraries.

But such travel is not for everyone. Sometimes surprises are happily serendipitous, sometimes they’re edgy and provocative, but often they’re mixed bags with a little more “adventure” than one bargains for. Such was the case on my...