Travelers' Intercom

Travelers using Nadi International Airport in Fiji often face several empty hours before the next stage of their journey. I’ve used a number of the airport hotels there in the past; all were adequate though nothing special.

On my most recent visit to Fiji, however, on Oct. 16, 2010, our family stayed at a delightful new hostelry, The Fiji Orchid (Saweni Beach Rd., Lautoka, Nadi, Fiji; phone 679 664 0099 or, in the US, 800/224-0220 or 888/345-4669).

Managed by a hospitable staff and serving gourmet meals, this hotel turns those empty hours into a virtual mini-vacation on which...

Our family of 20 was planning a June ’11 visit to Ireland, where we would rent six vehicles. Our son mentioned that Visa would not provide insurance coverage on his rental, though it normally does when he uses that credit card to rent a car. Our daughter’s American Express card wouldn’t include insurance coverage, either.

Our own Visa credit card has always covered the insurance, but before we rented our vehicle we called the domestic hotline on the back of the card (800/698-0120), just in case. We were assured that we were covered. We booked online with our Visa...

New Zealand’s South Island has it all: alps, glaciers, rainforests, sandy beaches and swinging bridges, just to mention a few. And an excellent way to see it all is with Jan King’s New Zealand Travellers (169 Cable Bay Road, RD1, Nelson 7071, N.Z.; phone [64] 3 545 2546), an advertiser in ITN.

I had done this itinerary in ’97 with the previous owner of New Zealand Travellers and was so taken by the experience that I decided to do it one more time while this 72-year-body could still get around reasonably well. So on Jan. 5, 2011, I boarded Holland America Line...