by Don and Betty Martin, Columbia, CA

We had our faces pressed against the cool window like kids outside a candy store. However, we were enjoying scenic candy as our train climbed through a steep, wooded valley toward the noted Swiss Alps resort of St. Moritz.

Each twist in the tracks brought a new alpine vision: verdant pasturelands glowing greenly in the sunlight; cascading streams milky with glacial silt; villages with slender church steeples standing like architectural...

We’ve traveled through various wine regions before, but never have we been so impressed as during our cruise along Portugal’s Douro River in the heart of port wine country. It was late summer 2004, just before the harvest, and the hills ascending from the river were covered with vines in martial array as if they had been laid out by master surveyors.

These views, along with shore excursions to wineries, side trips into towns and villages and a day-long visit to fascinating Salamanca,...

by John Scheleur, Arnold, MD

To mark my 60th birthday with something more than just an attempt to blow out 60 candles, my wife and I set out in September ’04 to walk across northern England, following the 84-mile path of Hadrian’s Wall. ‘Why in the world would a man want to travel over 3,000 miles to do this?’ you are asking. Well, he must have a love of history, a love of England and a love of the outdoors — and, according to my wife, be slightly deranged! It turned out to be a...