We took our second Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) trip, “Real Affordable Costa Rica,” Oct. 12-24, 2006. Those interested in traveling to Costa Rica or Peru for the first time may find these trips both informative and well paced, even with the obligatory “gold factory” visit which allows travelers about two hours to purchase goods one can get at any shop in the country.

I had made the arrangements with OAT for four persons: my son, Aaron, and his wife, from Boise, Idaho, and my wife...

My wife, Dee, and I and another couple flew via military aircraft (I am retired military) from Florida to Crete in April ’07. Aside from our initial accommodations on the base, we had no previous reservations but relied on what we could book onsite. Dee’s Fodor’s guidebook gave us ideas about where we should go.

Most places were closed when we arrived for Easter, so we had to wait until Monday to contact a travel agent. At Spa Tours (with an office on the base and at Michelidaki 10,...

Busy Kokusaidori (Kokusai Street) in Naha, Okinawa, Japan, has many open-faced stores, bright gaudy colors and scads of neon signs. The enormous city market is situated off the main street and is something like an endless maze. On our visit we were tempted to drop bread crumbs like Hansel and Gretel in order to find our way back to the start.

Your choices are many, from souvenirs to fabric to wigs (I was surprised to find one displayed on an old mannequin with wrinkles and bags under...