When we think of buses in Central or South America, we often think of old buses where people ride on the top. Well, our bus from Cusco to Puno, the Gateway to Lake Titicaca, was the Inca Express (office in Puno and Lima and at Av. La Paz C-32 Urb El Ovalo, Wanchaq, Cusco, Peru; phone 084 247887, www.inkaexpress.com) and was large and quite nice.

The trip took nearly 10 hours and covered about 235 miles. We stopped often to visit missions or to take a rest stop and eat.

All...

In October ’08, I flew to Sydney on United and then immediately connected to a flight to Canberra on Qantas. My bag was checked “through” to Canberra, though I had to claim it, of course, and go through Customs at Sydney.

After asking three people, I discovered that there is a “Qantas domestic transfer” desk hidden away in a corner of the international terminal. I expected I could drop off my bag there, but, after waiting in line, I was told that I’d have to travel with my bags on an...

In the letter “Scoping Out Bargain Airfares Online” (June ’09, page 15), the writer runs through an interesting litany of what he had to go through to achieve a reasonable air travel expense from Los Angeles to the Philippines.

I applaud his diligent work, however I have learned to deal with equally challenging air travel arrangements by relying on my travel agent, Cheri Schwartz of Tubby Lohmer’s Travel (1826 Tower Dr., Stillwater, MN 55082; 651/439-3522, e-mail cheri@tubbystravel....