An alternative to taking the expensive flight from Aswan, Egypt, to Abu Simbel is going by minivan with a driver and guide.

There are many tour companies on the Internet that offer this. We chose Select Egypt (28, 269 St., Maadi, Cairo, Egypt; phone/fax +20 2 2705 75 86 or mobile 2018 5460600, www.selectegypt.com) because they replied promptly and wanted no advance money.

In early February ’08 we were on a cruise aboard the Nile Stephanie with Grand Circle Travel (Boston, MA,...

Quentin Burke of Holtville, California, wrote the following to ITN readers: “Is it preferable to carry a timer or an alarm clock when traveling? Mostly, we’ve found it better to simply set a miniature digital interval timer to ‘eight hours’ for a night’s sleep than fumble with teeny buttons and worry whether we got a.m. or p.m. right on a so-called travel alarm clock. Also, a timer is handy to have in the pocket in certain instances to signal ‘Got to get back to the boat/airport/bus depot in...

Puerto Varas, or the City of Roses, in Chile, is just that, with rosebushes lining the streets, both in the median as well as along the curb. The setting with Osorno Volcano in the background is breathtaking.

On a March trip to the Lake District of Chile, our tours included a half day in and around Puerto Montt and a half day to visit Frutillar, a small, German-style village, also on Lake Llanquihue.

One day was spent going up Osorno, where there is a ski resort and spectacular...