While my husband, Pete, and I were in Croatia, Sept. 20-Oct. 6, 2015, we spent six days touring from Zagreb to Split. Our arrangements were booked through Marina Juras, who owns Cromotion (V. Podbrezje 28, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; phone +385 1 6555 120, www.cromotion.eu), a small travel agency in Zagreb.

I found the website on TripAdvisor. The reviews of Marina, our guide Ivan and every Cromotion guide whom others had used were superlative, so I felt very comfortable in using her agency...

I read about the traveler who, while on a hiking tour in New Zealand, came down with a respiratory illness, left the tour and took a bus back to Queenstown but did not seek a physician because it was Saturday afternoon (Feb. ’16, pg. 16). Instead, she stayed in a hotel for a few days, then took her scheduled flight home, where she submitted a trip-interruption claim to her travel insurance company. Her claim was denied because she had no note from a doctor attesting to the severity of...

A few days prior to my taking an Odysseys Unlimited trip to Spain and Portugal in September 2015, I was sickened with a blood infection that required a 5-day hospital stay followed by several weeks of IV therapy and monitoring. Afterward, I made a medical care claim with my travel insurance company, Trip Mate (Kansas City, MO; 800/888-7292, www.tripmate.com). My medical claim was successful, with no major issues.

Based on what I learned during this experience, the points listed below...