Travelers' Intercom

The upside of high gasoline prices in Sweden is that it encourages people to bike to school, work or shops. And since southernmost Sweden, the region known as Skane, has so many cyclists, it has developed an extensive system of bike lanes and trails, including converted rail lines, to accommodate them. That plus terrain ranging from level ground to rolling hills makes Sweden an unusually bike-friendly country. Another plus for travelers — English is almost a second language there.

My husband, Fred, and I have taken up cycling in our retirement, and since we have relatives in Lund we...

While awaiting information relative to a traveling companion who had been taken to the Wrexham hospital on May 23, ’05, my wife, Evie, and I spent several hours in the lobby of The Hand Hotel in Chirk (Church St., Chirk, Wrexham, LL14 5EY, Wales, U.K.; phone +44 1691 773472, fax 772479 or visit www.handhotelchirk.com).

We received assistance in calling the hospital, and everyone we spoke to during our brief stay in the Hand Hotel was extremely cooperative, friendly and polite. We were quite impressed.

We also had an excellent, reasonably priced lunch in the restaurant of this...

My wife and I drove a rental car through Slovenia, May 20-28, ’05. We traveled from Venice and drove most of the interesting roads in Slovenia, which is full of beauty in all varieties and can be visited at a very reasonable cost.

We contacted the Slovenian Tourist Office (2929 East Commercial Blvd., Ste. 201, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33308; phone 954/491-0112) and they sent us a booklet called “The Countryside, Tourist Farms” which gave information about booking accommodations at Slovenian tourist farms, called kmetij Slovenije.

The tourist farms are rated on a scale of one apple...