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August 2008 issue

Cusco restaurants

While vacationing in Cusco, Peru, April 23-May 17, 2008, and going to school there for Spanish lessons, I had opportunities to try many good restaurants. I am pretty convinced that it would be hard not to find a good meal in Cusco.

Look for the “Meñu del dia” outside a restaurant or ask if they have one. It usually includes a soup, entrée, dessert and coffee or tea and generally runs from 11 to 18 soles ($4-$6) — a good deal.

Here are some good places.

Kusikuy (Calle Suecia 339, www.kusikuy.com) — off the Plaza de Armas and through the archway to the left of the...

October 2007 issue

Early dining in Paris

Well off the usual tourist track in Paris is a very French restaurant that serves wonderful 4-course meals for €24 (about $32). It is À la Biche au Bois (45 avenue Ledru Rollin, Paris; phone 01 43 43 34 38), located in between Métro stops Gare de Lyon and Ledru Rollin. It also can be reached by the No. 29 bus.

I was there in September ’06 and had a dish of two slices of pike mousse with herbs and a sauce; a good piece of beef, rare; a huge dish of French fries; a selection of cheese, from which I picked chevre and Pont l’Evêque; green-apple sorbet, and a glass of the house wine, red...

March 2008 issue

Re tours’ expected hotels

My wife and I have been either traveling or living abroad for nearly 50 years. With rare exceptions, we have always traveled independently. Being 69 and 71, respectively, and getting a little leery of traveling by ourselves to the more underdeveloped parts of the world, we decided that we would experiment with group tours.

We took a trip in May ’07 to Morocco with Odysseys Unlimited (Watertown, MA; 888/370-6765) and in September ’07, Vantage Deluxe World Travel’s trip to Croatia and Slovenia. (It turns out that Slovenia and Croatia are countries which even older people can visit...

December 2007 issue

Bright future

A reader wrote that he and his wife travel with 100-watt lightbulbs to replace the 40-watt ones often provided in hotel rooms (July ’07, pg. 37). Well, we’re cautious about using our high-wattage American electronics (dryers, curlers, irons, etc.) while traveling abroad, since the power situation is different than what we have in America. Using a 100-watt bulb in a foreign country just might result in a problem.

While in Rome a few years ago, my friend plugged her battery charger for the videocamera into the adapter and blew all the fuses in the hotel room. That was quite a surprise...

September 2007 issue

Int’l Expeditions’ quick save

We were ﬂying home on Feb. 26, 2007, after a trip to the Antarctic with International Expeditions (One Environs Park, Helena, AL 35080; 800/633-4734, www.ietravel.com). Our group was booked on Aerolineas Argentinas (800/333-0276, www.aerolineas.com.ar) ﬂight AR2892 from Ushuaia (USH), Argentina, to Buenos Aires International (EZE).

Our guide, Greg Greer, informed us to watch the departure ﬂight monitors in Ushuaia for any changes. Five minutes before boarding, the monitor changed our arrival airport from EZE to the Buenos Aires domestic airport (AEP). The domestic airport where we...

April 2008 issue

Madrid museum

While in Madrid on a weekend in April ’07, we opted to skip the Prado on this trip due to long lines and check out the Museo Sorolla (Calle General Martinez Campos, 37, 28010 Madrid, Spain; phone +34 91 310 1584).

Located in the home of the Spanish Impressonist Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923), this museum on this terrific single artist is easy to get to by metro. It’s just four stops north on the No. 1 line from Puerta del Sol.

The collection includes photographs, paintings and even paintbrushes used by Sorolla. You enter through a lovely garden which was influenced by the...

May 2008 issue

Wine tasting in Chile

My wife, Bonita, and I along with another couple in early 2007 booked the trip “Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego & the Chilean Fjords” with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA) for January ’08. Since we all are wine lovers and enjoy Chilean wines, we also booked the pre-trip to Chile. But the pre-trip included only one winery visit, so I worked out several days on our own in Chile to visit more of the wine country.

You can imagine our disappointment when in late October we received notice from OAT that the pre-trip had been canceled. At no additional cost, I was able to work...

October 2008 issue

Serendip serendipity

My wife, Danielle, and I took a segment of the Seven Seas Voyager’s 2008 world cruise, sailing from Singapore to Mumbai, in March ’08. It was scheduled to stop March 22 and 23 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, but two days before our arrival the captain canceled the port, citing security concerns.

We had already made arrangements with a Colombo tour operator, Nizam Lantra of Silan Travel Services (264/11, Artigala Mawatha, Talangama North, Sri Lanka; phone +9411 4935387, fax +9411 2790482, e-mail lantra@sltnet.lk or visit www.silantravel services.com), for us to hire a car and driver and spend...