When I was living in France my grandson and his father visited me one time. We decided to take a road trip to Belgium and stopover in Luxembourg. It was during the hottest summer of Europe in 50 years! We started from Bourg en Bresse, France early in the morning, planning to stopover in Luxembourg to do some sightseeing before spending our first night in Belgium in a town called Bastogne. It took us nearly 6 hours to reach the Luxembourg border because we drove at a leisurely pace, as I wanted to let my grandson and son-in-law see some of the French countryside, stopping only once at a rest stop, and again at Metz a historic city in the Lorraine region of France, near the German frontier. There is a gas station on the Luxembourg ... read more

July is probably the best summer month to travel around in France and the rest of Europe. So one warm July day we drove to Chambery a charming and peaceful town in the Rhone-Alpes region of France, close to some of the best ski resorts in Europe. It was going to be at least a two hour drive from Bourg-en-Bresse, the city where I lived in France to Chambery, so on that July morning we left home around 8, stopping only briefly at Aix-les-Bains another beautiful spa town at the foot of the Alps. The reason we didn't stay long at Aix-les-Bains was because I had been there before, but not to Chambery, which I was told is just as attractive as Aix-les-Bains, both towns situated near the shores of Lac du Bourget (Bourget Lake) the ... read more

I lived in France for 8 years. It was a great inter-cultural and gastronomic experience for me. It was also a period of extensive travel to many other European countries, and within France itself. The European road network is excellent and stretches far and wide. One of my domestic trips was to Yvoire a very attractive little village on the southern shores of Lake Geneva. It was a nice spring day in March when we set out for Yvoire from Bourg en Bresse, the city in Southeast France where I was living at that time. Both Yvoire and Bourg en Bresse are in the Rhone-Alpes region of France, but we figured it would take a little over two hours to drive the distance of 150 kilometers or 94 miles. We had also planned to stop and ... read more

I have traveled to Penang, Malaysia by air, rail and car. That was during the period when I lived in Bangkok, Thailand. The city became almost like a second home to me as I went there so many times. I have often come across frequent travelers who like to talk about their favorite cities they have either been to, or worked/lived in. None of them have ever mentioned Penang as being their favorite. Well, for me this city has been my top destination for many years. So when people ask me about my favorite Asian city, I always answer them, "Easy question....it's Penang," and unless I see another new city or town that I really like, I doubt that my opinion will change. I like Penang for a number of reasons. It is a multi cultural ... read more

During our Vietnam visit we bought a package tour in Hanoi and joined a tourist group to travel to Ha Long Bay. It was a day trip and our expectations were high to see this popular travel destination. On the second day of our visit to Hanoi, we traveled by a tour van to Ha Long Bay which is listed as a must see attraction in the tourist brochures. The tour guide came to pick us up at our hotel around 7 in the morning. He seemed pleasant enough and spoke fairly good English. The distance from Hanoi is about 155 kilometers or 96 miles, so in theory it should have taken us 3 hours maximum to reach Ha Long Bay. As it turned out it was more like 4 hours as we had to wait ... read more