This is in response to the reader’s letter on code-share tickets (Feb. ’09, pg. 30). I would point out that if the reader had booked and purchased his airline tickets from a travel agency specializing in the country of his destination, he would not have encountered the problem of not being booked on the flights he attempted to book on the Internet.

The benefits of working with a specialized travel agency that has a contract with the major airlines servicing that destination are as...

On a tour to Israel with Overseas Adventure Travel, Sept. 2-16, 2008, we had a guide named Marina Schiff (Jerusalem; cell phone 00972 52 3056467, Skype marina.ergas.schiff or e-mail maschiff@gmail.com).

An amazing historian, Marina has been a free-lance guide for many years and is fluent in English, Hebrew, French and Italian. Whether for organized groups or private individuals, she can make complete tour arrangements, including transportation (car, van or minibus).

Very...

I just finished reading the reader’s letter titled “Impressions of Russia” (March ’09, pg. 32) and disagree with his evaluation of Moscow as dirty, expensive and unfriendly.

My husband, Bob, our friend Carolyn and I arrived in the city in early June ’08 at the end of a 15-day Trans-Siberian Railroad trip arranged for us by Tim at T.E.I. Tours & Travel (Pleasant Hill, CA; 925/825-6104, www.teiglobal.com). Moscow is a beautiful city with friendly people, and to us it didn’t seem any...