In July-August ’03, my friend Carol and I traveled in Uganda and Ethiopia with arrangements we had found on the Internet and booked by e-mail. Making the arrangements was a real pleasure, especially remembering the difficulties of arranging travel to Africa even a few years ago using slow mail and poor phone/fax connections.

This came about because we were going to be in Ethiopia on a medical tour for two weeks in August anyway, so we decided to do some additional traveling on our own...

My husband, my parents and I departed on Dec. 16, ’02, for an 18-day trip to Egypt that included sightseeing around Islamic and Coptic Cairo; the Sakkara necropolis; the Giza pyramids; several days in Luxor to visit the temples and West Bank; a cruise down the Nile; the Aswan area; Abu Simbel, and diving in the Red Sea.

As we travel, we are always interested in local culture, history, art, unusual architecture, religion, geography and native plants and animals. Egypt does not...

My wife and I spent four days in Romania with a local guide at the end of October ’03. In addition to seeing Bucharest, we traveled into the mountains and saw the wonders of Sighisoara, Brasov and Sinaia, plus some wonderful villages still not overrun with tourists.

Our guide found us fantastic lodgings in bed-and-breakfast homes which averaged about $14 per night. Romania is still one of the cheapest places on Earth. Great meals could be had in Bucharest for under $20 a couple,...