While traveling solo in Turkey for 26 days in May ’09, I was in Olympos and wanted to visit the town of Kas (pronounced Kash). I waited near a small store at the top of a dirt road and took the first bus that had an open seat. The ride took three hours. In Kas, I got a room at the Ani Hotel (Recep Bilgin Caddesi No:12, Kas; phone 90 242 836 1791) for TRY25 (near $11) per night, including breakfast and free WiFi. The room was very nice, airy and bright, with facilities en suite. ...

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is so remote that it is not “on the way” to anywhere else, which is why it took me over 30 years to finally get there. Prior to a tour of South America, I visited Oct. 24-28, 2012, reserving a hotel online and booking tours upon arrival.

Situated in the southeastern Pacific over 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile, it is a small, triangular-shaped island with a main town of over 3,000 residents and an airport with a very long runway built by NASA...

I’ve traveled to many countries on several different airlines, always using the same Samsonite roller bag. It held up very well. However, when my husband, Mike, and I returned to Seattle after checking it through from Budapest via Amsterdam on a Delta flight on Sept. 13, 2013, we were surprised to see my suitcase appear on the baggage carousel wrapped in tape.

The outside zipper had been completely broken off, and the pull on the main zipper was gone. The name tag had been torn from...