My husband and I took a 2-month segment of a 4-month cruise on the Saga Rose, a British ship sailing from Southampton, England. The portion of the cruise we took left Southampton on Jan. 4, ’04, and we disembarked in Sydney, Australia, on March 4. The ship returned to Southampton via South Africa.

We booked our cruise through Saga Holidays in Boston (800/343-0273). Our grade E cabin, No. 329, was central and nice.

Regarding the item on the fingerprinting of visitors to Brazil (...

At the train station in Bucharest, Romania, in October ’00, my friend George and I were exposed to a scam similar to that in which another ITN reader and his friend lost $100 each at the same station (May ’04, pg. 11).

We arrived from Moldavia early in the morning, tired, hungry and with no local currency. The McDonald’s restaurant in the station refused American dollars.

While my friend remained in the restaurant, I decided to risk a $10 black-market exchange and picked out a...

One mistake we made planning our 4-week stay in Provence in 2002 was trying to stay in too many different places. We didn’t realize just how small and compact Provence is. It is enough to stay in two or three places, and all sightseeing attractions can easily be reached on day trips.

One such place to stay would be Orange, a really delightful little city. Orange is an interesting town in its own right, and the Roman theater especially is worth a visit. We also experienced a large and...