From 1821 to 1914, more than 44 million people left Europe heading for North America, and, of those, over seven million sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany. To trace their travels, in Bremerhaven the Deutsches Auswandererhaus, or German Emigration Center (Columbusstrasse 65, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany; phone +49 [0] 471/9 02 20 0 or fax 9 02 20 22), has been open to visitors since 2005.

My husband, Karl, and I visited this harbor-side museum on July 4, 2011. The DAH was the winner of the...

I cruised on the Queen Elizabeth, Dec. 15, 2010-Jan. 5, 2011, embarking in Southampton, England, and visiting Madeira, then crossing the Atlantic to Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, Dominica and Tortola before recrossing the ocean to Ponta Delgada, Azores, and Southampton. Excluding airfare, the cost for my inside, single cabin was $8,010.

My category 7 cabin, No. 4163, was located very close to the bow. It was extremely noisy and, for me, uncomfortable, even in the least seas. In my...

I had heard about the beauty of the Rhodopen Mountain region in the south of Bulgaria and took a cycling tour, Aug. 14-21, 2010, with Penguin Travel (9 Orlej Str., 1421 Sofia, Bulgaria; phone +359 2 400 10 50), which I found online.

The price, €710 (near $977), included ground transfers from/to the Sofia airport, hotels, breakfasts, dinners, my single supplement and bicycle rental.

Penguin required a minimum of two people for the tour to run. Luckily, a man named Don also...