Features | International Travel News

February 2005 issue

The challenge — and rewards — of visiting southern Ethiopia

It is said that Ethiopia has an image problem, and indeed it has. Years of relentless media coverage of famine, war and rebellions have taken their toll. Unfortunately, this has made travelers pass on the opportunity to visit an area that is unique, not only to Africa but worldwide.

Deciding on a destination

Ethiopia has four faces, or destinations, that are more than adequately described in the Lonely Planet guide (2004 updated edition). Travelers with some limits on their time will have to make a choice. The eastern and northern sections contain the cataracts of the Blue...

October 2010 issue

A five-country tour of the Balkans

by Claus Hirsch, New York City, NY

In October 2009 I embarked on a five-country guided tour of the Balkans. Starting in Montenegro and ending in Serbia, the tour was spread out over a period of three weeks. During this time, the tour operator, Original World (Mill Valley, CA; 888/367-6147, www.originalworld.com), arranged for several groups, varying in size from three to eleven, to hop on or off the different “modules” that comprised the total experience.

General observations

Each of the five countries we visited can fairly be classified as a developing country, yet...

February 2011 issue

An aspiring insider’s tour of Japan

This Great Buddha colossus has smiled on the populace of Daibutsu, Japan, since

Like it or not, as a traveler I’m an outsider. Unfamiliar traditions, off-kilter frames of reference, the constraint of feeling the need to pack in as much as possible in a given length of time — no matter how I long to be an insider, an outsider I’m destined to be.

January 2004 issue

City markets & jungle trails — into the heart of Guatemala and Belize

by William Schoenemann, Port Ludlow, WA

Latin America is so close to the U.S., but for some reason (mainly security) many international travelers shun countries other than Costa Rica. My wife and I decided we should visit some of our neighbors.

Finding a reasonably priced trip that took in more than one country was not easy, but we finally decided to go with a customized itinerary from Global Travel, visiting Guatemala and Belize in February ’03.

Surrounded by volcanoes

We made our own arrangements on Grupo TACA airlines, which cost us a little over $400 each...

April 2004 issue

Visiting Vienna

by Russ Ellis, ITN

In October ’02, I was a guest on a 4-night tour of Vienna jointly hosted by Austrian Airlines and the Vienna Tourist Board.

Our whirlwind tour included visits to the Austrian Gallery Belvedere, housed in the Belvedere Palace; the MuseumsQuartier Wien, the world’s ninth-largest arts complex; the Albertina, once a Habsburg residence and now home to a comprehensive collection of over a million drawings and prints, and the Kunsthistorische Museum.

And what would a trip to Vienna be without visits to some of the city’s charming coffeehouses, where...

June 2010 issue

Finding reminders of royalty, World War II and the Communist era on a five-country tour

by Jennifer Petoff; San Francisco, CA

My husband, Scott, and I spent two weeks in Central Europe in May ’09 and were impressed by the richness of political history that we encountered on our journey. We visited Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava, each destination offering a window into the opulent lifestyles of kings and queens, the tragedy of World War II and the austerity of the Communist era.

Beginning in Berlin

We confronted the consequences of World War II almost immediately upon landing in Berlin. We took a taxi from the Berlin Tegel Airport to...

February 2005 issue

Tips on choosing a tour company

Many years ago I took my first trip with a travel company (which shall remained unnamed) and learned some hard lessons. It was a frustrating and expensive process, but it did pave the way for many other successful trips with very few unpleasant surprises.

As a single female traveler, I initially ask the tour operator questions on three subjects.

1. Is there a single supplement? If so, do you have a roommate-matching service? If so, is there a discount if I’m willing to share but you don’t find me a roommate? (On my first trip, the single supplement was not mentioned in the...

October 2010 issue

Ultimate Africa – going beyond the simple safari in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe

by Wanda Bahde, Summerfield, FL

For years, my husband, Ray, and I debated whether or not we should take Overseas Adventure Travel’s “Ultimate Africa” tour to Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Acquaintances who’d already taken the tour either raved that it was the best or warned that we’d be disappointed with the fewer animal sightings. We vividly recalled wildebeest migrations in Eastern Africa’s Kenya and Tanzania as a favorite travel memory.

Negative news reports about Zimbabwe’s political situation and a cholera epidemic compounded our quandary. Should we go?

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