WITH MY WIFE AND TWO TEENAGE DAUGHTERS WE ARE HEADING TO TORONTO IN SEPTEMBER FOR THREE WEEKS. SHOULD WE SPEND ALL THAT TIME EXPLORING EASTERN CANADA OR SHOULD WE VISIT NEW YORK? IF NEW YORK, WHERE ELSE SHOULD WE GO IN THE US? ALSO, WE NEED NEW LUGGAGE: WOULD YOU RECOMMEND HARD OR SOFT-SHELL? WE HAVE ALWAYS USED SOFT BUT IS THERE AN OUTSTANDING MATERIAL?
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P. NEEVE, YERONGA, QLD
Eastern Canada has an overabundance of gorgeous scenery and invigorating cities. On the other hand, the temptation to include New York City is hard to resist, especially for those teenagers, so I'd say go for it. You could include other US cities but NYC deserves five days at the very least, and you might be pushed for time if you try to include anything more.
A great way to do this would be to hire a car from Toronto, drive to NYC and leave it there. According to a local Avis agent based in Toronto, it quite often happens that car-hire operators in that city will end up with US-registered cars in their lot that must be returned, and they'll waive the usually steep one-way fee. The only way to find this out is to ring around the various operators when you get there; you won't find out over the internet. If this appeals, you could drive from Toronto to Montreal – another great city – then head south through Vermont, western Massachusetts and along the Hudson River Valley to NYC. Here's the icing on the cake – since it sounds like you might be doing this in late September, your timing is perfect for the "leaf peeping season", when autumn brings an amber blush to the rural landscape, creating heart-melting scenes at every turn in the road. The classic leaf-peepers route is Vermont's north-south Route 100, a wandering delight, which you can pick up if you cross the Canada-US border at Stanstead, 160 kilometres south-east of Montreal.
I'm totally on board with your preference for soft-sided cases since they weigh less, but there are now plenty of polycarbonate cases around and they're light as well as rugged, and well worth a look. My Samsonite 55cm polycarbonate case which I bought with frequent flyer points has been my most-used carry-on for about the last five years. It's been tossed in with the checked baggage several times and it is scratched but still perfectly functional, with years of misuse and abuse ahead of it.
MY WIFE AND I ARE INTERESTED IN SEEING MORE OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL THAN WE SAW A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO ON A GLOBUS 12-DAY TOUR. I AM LOOKING FOR A 20-30 DAY TOUR WITH ENOUGH TIME TO EXPLORE CITIES SUCH AS SEVILLE.
D. BOLEYN, WOLLONGONG
Most of the longer tours of Spain and Portugal also include Morocco, and there's good reason for this since Moroccan art and architecture are woven so deeply into the culture of the Iberian Peninsula. One that might fit your needs is Bunnik Tours' (bunniktours.com.au) 27-day tour of Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
As well as Barcelona, Granada, Valencia and Madrid, this tour spends two nights in Seville. Half of one day is a sightseeing tour, the rest of the day is at your leisure. This is fairly standard for most of the longer group tour itineraries. If you'd like more time in Seville, you could take the train there from Madrid, where the tour ends, just a 2½-hour trip.
Six days are spent in Morocco, where the bazaars, mosques, different food and drink, the distant echoes of Africa and the closer ones of the Sahara bring a completely different complexion to this tour.
Adelaide-based Bunnik Tours is a family business and their maximum group size is just 20. At a price starting from under $10,000 a person including air fares from Australia, this is also good value.
MY WIFE AND I ARE GOING TO EUROPE NEXT YEAR FOR FOUR WEEKS. MY WIFE HAS BEEN OVERSEAS BEFORE, ABOUT 30 YEARS AGO, FIRST TIME FOR ME. ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR A NOVICE? I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TRIP BUT AM ALSO QUITE NERVOUS.
A. COX, ALBURY
The surprises and discoveries that await the first-time voyager are a precious thing. I'm more than a little jealous. While the world can look daunting and even frightening when viewed from afar, and especially when you're sitting watching the evening news, once you get going it's like the roller-coaster ride, hang on tight because it's thrills all the way.
You'll also make mistakes and take a few missteps. Everyone does and the pitfalls are hard to avoid for the experienced traveller as well as the novice, but the best advice I can offer is travel slowly. There's far more in Europe than you could ever take in during a single lifetime. Faced with such dazzling wealth many gallop in the rush to see it all but it's like going to a buffet and trying to stuff a bit of everything onto your plate: you'll end up with not enough of the things you really like and too much of the things you don't, and probably feel bloated and confused. In four weeks, you could probably consider three countries as the maximum, and no more than eight stops.
CONVERSATION OVER TO YOU…
The question was: "Incidents of air rage are on the rise, and it's ugly. Ever been a witness, or just seen plain bad behaviour on a flight?"
From A. Wilkins: "I was in China waiting to board an aircraft that was delayed for several hours and the passengers were getting more and more steamed up with the staff on the gate and finally they started throwing fists. The staff fled, then some security guys came along and calmed every one down. We finally took off six hours late."
P. Jackson writes: "When I was boarding an aircraft in Brisbane a woman was sitting in a seat that was allocated to another passenger. He showed her his boarding pass and argued the point but she just told him to go and sit in her seat instead, which was much further back in the plane. Finally he had enough so he lifted her up, set her on her feet and sat down himself. She was really annoyed but there was nothing she could do about it."
"Not so much air rage as name and shame," according to D. McDonald. "We were on board an aircraft in Bali and all ready for departure but had to wait another 20 minutes for a couple who were late boarding. When they finally arrived one of the crew followed them all the way to their seat pointing at them just so everyone knew."
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