Travelers' Intercom

We took a fascinating trip, called “Life Along the Mekong River by Barge,” with Road Scholar (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768), Sept. 27-Oct. 11, 2011.

Everything about the trip was perfect, but the air travel was a challenge: Atlanta-Los Angeles-Hong Kong-Ho Chi Minh City westbound and Siem Reap-Bangkok-Hong Kong-Los Angeles-Atlanta return.

Of course, the LAX-Hong Kong legs were the ordeals — 14½ and 13¼ hours, respectively. That’s why ITN readers may be interested in a strategy to get ample legroom for about $7 per hour.

Road Scholar had booked our flights on Cathay...

I returned March 13, ’04, from a month-long trip to Honduras, Guatemala, Yucatán and Belize with Adventures Abroad (Richmond, B.C., Canada; phone 800/665-3998). I found them very thorough in covering the architectural and cultural parts of those countries.

One week into the trip, our group of 12 plus a driver crossed the border from Honduras into Guatemala. At 11:30 a.m., about 74 kilometers from Guatemala City, a Toyota pickup cut us off on the main, busy highway and five or six armed men jumped out, shot into the air with a large gun, overtook our van and kidnapped us.

Our...

A reader mailed ITN a copy of her letter to Great American Travel, as follows.

We booked the “Land of the Maya” cruise on the mv Discovery, Jan. 27-Feb. 23, ’04. From the deck plan you provided us, we selected cabin No. 7105 on the promenade deck. Aboard ship, we took a picture of the actual deck plan.

It is clear that cabin 7105 is no longer the size or configuration of adjacent cabins. It has been reduced in size and reconfigured to provide access to an adjacent unit.

We would not have selected this cabin if our information had been accurate. I suggest you acquire a...