Tours in Review

March 2008 issue

Algeria with Adventures Abroad

Here are some highlights of an 11-day tour to Algeria I took Oct. 27-Nov. 6, 2007, with Adventures Abroad (1124 Fir Ave., Ste. 101, Blaine, WA 98230; 800/665-3998). The land price of $2,290 included dinners and breakfasts. The single supplement was $400; insurance cost $334, and round-trip air from Miami to Algiers was $1,525.

Our group of 13, a few Canadians and the rest Americans, began our tour staying at Hôtel el Djazair in Algiers, which was truly deluxe. On the first day, we had a city tour and visits to the 17th-century Casbah, the Bardo Museum, the Museum of Islamic Art and...

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August 2008 issue

Wild African Ventures tour

Kenya Deborah Urquhart at Wild Africa Ventures, Inc. (10505 Wheatland Ave., Shadow Hills, CA 91040; 800/358-8530, www.wildafricanventures.com), made all the arrangements for my family’s 11-night trip to Kenya, and everything went exactly as planned.

Our September ’07 trip cost $3,880 per person. One single supplement was $1,224.

The food at Ol Tukai Lodge in Amboseli National Park was especially good, but there were so many people at dinner that it was extremely noisy. It is a much larger lodge than we prefer.

Our next stop was Samburu Lodge for three nights. This is a...

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February 2007 issue

Spain with Alto Aragón

“Basque Hills and Coast” was a wonderful guided hiking holiday in Spain that my husband and I took with Alto Aragón (31 Heathside, Esher, Surrey, KT10 9TD, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 1869 337 339 or visit www.altoaragon.co.uk).

Our tour, Sept. 17-24, 2006, began and ended in Bilbao. The cost of approximately £875 (near $1,696) per person included airport pickup and dropoff, very nice hotels, great food (all meals were included), wine and, most importantly, the services of Richard Cash, who is an excellent and accommodating guide.

Richard and his partner, Nicola Forsyth, are English...

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August 2007 issue

Orient Odyssey to China

To celebrate their 10th anniversary as a company, Orient Odyssey (1385 Gulf Rd., Ste. 203, Point Roberts, WA 98281; 800/637-5778, www.orientodyssey.com) offered a 10-day trip for September ’06 that I could not resist. It was to Guizhou Province in southeastern China, and the price was $1,430 from Vancouver, B.C. (In 2007, Orient Odyssey offers this trip as a 12-day itinerary for $1,990 from Los Angeles or New York.)

Guizhou is a place of beautiful scenery and 48 ethnic minorities, many of whom still maintain their original lifestyles, dress and unique cultural traditions. Now an...

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March 2008 issue

Peru with ECS Travel

My husband and I had never done a customized tour before, but we couldn’t fit a regular tour into our schedule. For a trip we took Nov. 23-Dec. 9, 2007, Eliu Campos of ECS Travel (Los Pinos St. 156 Of 502, Miraflores, Lima, Peru; phone +51 1 2429716, fax 2428671, www. ecstravel.com) made all the arrangements, and there were no glitches at all! Eliu answered all my pre-trip questions via e-mail, which I have found to be a rare thing.

We were met in Lima at the airport and escorted to our hotel (I had a hand in picking all our hotels), and from then on all our transports, tours,...

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October 2008 issue

South Africa, Botswana & Zambia with Africa 2000

A query in ITN’s “Person to Person” section led to a deluge of recommendations for Africa 2000 (P.O. Box 1204, Hilton 3245, South Africa; phone +27 33 3433911, fax 3431786).

My husband, Frank, and I and three other couples (a very nice group size) worked for many months with the Africa 2000 owners, Gill and Graham Maskell, to develop a trip which suited all our interests and budgets. The result was the trip of a lifetime, March 25-April 17, 2008.

The cost, including our airfare from Phoenix, was about $28,000 for my husband and me. Everything was included except lunch and...

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February 2007 issue

Mountain highlights of Iceland with Borton Overseas

My friend Kathleen and I traveled to Iceland with the Colorado Mountain Club on a hiking/walking tour, “Mountain Highlights,” with Borton Overseas (5412 Lyndale Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN 55419; 800/843-0602, www.bortonoverseas.com). The land price for the 12-day tour was $3,200, and airfare on Icelandair from Baltimore-Washington International Airport was $1,178.

This excellent tour, June 24-July 6, 2006, was well organized. Oskar Bjarnason, our guide, was knowledgeable. The 27 other travelers on the tour were from Germany, Luxemburg, Australia, France and the U.S.

...

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August 2007 issue

China trips with Pacific Holidays

Dusty and Margi Miller took two trips to China in 2006 with Pacific Holidays (12 West 32nd St., Sixth Fl., New York, NY 10001; 800/355-8025, www.pacific holidaysinc.com).

The first, March 10-22, was to the Yunnan Province in southwest China. The current price of this tour, “Rediscovering Shangri-La,” starts at $2,595 with air from the West Coast.

Next, the Millers combined the “Silk Road Tour,” Aug. 10-22, with the “Gobi and Mongolia” tour, Aug. 23-31, at a combined cost of $12,654 from New York for two people. (In 2007, the 16-day “Silk Road” starts at $4,050 and the 6-day “...

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