I am a senior male and a solo traveller. I plan to travel to Vietnam in October. I am mostly interested in cultural/heritage sites and natural surroundings. I would also like to get a flavour of local culture/customs etc. Are there homestays available? I have 7?10 days and I am slightly budget-conscious. Is it very difficult to manage only with English?

Tour operators and local guides are known to arrange homestays on request, more so in the Mekong delta to the south than elsewhere in the country, but it remains an unorganised sector with few reliable reviews whereas you can find lovely places to stay all over Vietnam within budget parameters. I’m afraid you don’t have

I am planning to visit Turkey by myself in August/September. I have a budget of Rs 1 lakh for the eight-day trip. I want to visit Istanbul, Pamukkale, Cappadocia, Kusadasi and Izmir, keeping at least 2?3 days for Istanbul. Can I book guided tours for Pamukkale, Cappadocia, Kusadasi and Izmir from India? I am kind of keen on exploring Istanbul with a guide book and public transport.

I’m not sure where you are based, but non-stop economy class fares to Istanbul are available from Delhi for around Rs 50,000 (there are longer, one-stop hauls from about Rs 40,000—you can opt for them if you can make more time). The visa will take away Rs 4,700, which leaves you with about Rs 50,000–70,000

My preschool-going granddaughter scribbled with a pencil on a few pages of my passport. Though my daughter had erased it nicely, leaving no traces, my son asks me to get a new passport surrendering the present one, whether the traces are visible or not. What should I do?

I can tell you that under their re-issue guidelines, the Indian passport authorities view the passport as ‘damaged’ if the number is readable, the name legible and the photo intact (the guidelines don’t provide examples of the sort of damage being referred), and ‘damaged beyond recognition’ if it exceeds the above ambit conclusively. Now, we

We are a couple (aged 67 and 68 years) who would like to visit Tadoba in Maharashtra for 3-4 days with our 32-year-old daughter. Could you suggest the best time of the year to do so, and the names of some good resorts/lodges for our stay there? We have budgeted for 4/5 star resorts.

You’ve just missed the high season for animal sightings at Tadoba, which is the terribly hot peak summer (late-March to pre-monsoon June). However, Maharashtra’s largest national park is prettiest in the monsoon (up to September), during which time it gets incredibly lush and green, even though wildlife is hard to spot in the dense foliage

We are planning to go on a holiday to Austria, Vienna and Budapest in September. We love adventure, history and exploring places. Could you please suggest an itinerary that will involve a bit of everything? We were also considering hiring a self-drive car in Vienna or Austria. How feasible is this option? Feel free to suggest lesser known places.

A self-driving holiday in Austria and Hungary is not only a feasible option, but also quite a lovely one, especially when your budget is fairly flexible. (The drive from Vienna to Budapest offers many possibilities too, but more on this later.) You will find tons of useful tips on driving in Europe on the well-regarded

We are a family of three (my wife, our 2-year-old daughter, and I) planning a week-long trip to Sweden in mid-August. We are planning on booking our tickets via www.momondo.in. The prices offered seem too good to be true. Could you please advise on this? Also, what will be the best ways to commute in and around Stockholm? We would like to visit the northern part of the country.

Sure, Momondo has been around a long while; it was the first flight search engine when it launched back in 2006. It has since grown to be a well-regarded meta-search engine (like www.skyscanner.co.in or www.kayak.co.in) that collates and compares travel deals from airlines, online travel agents and flight data wholesalers, so you will do the

We are a couple, aged 60-plus, planning on visiting Kumarakom, Munnar and Thekaddy for 4-5 days from Kochi in the first week of October. Please suggest a relaxed/sedentary itinerary for a budget of Rs 1 lakh.

Well, it’s not going to be a relaxing vacation if you try to cover Kumarakom, Munnar and Thekkady in 4-5 days, so you should ideally stay at least for a couple of nights in each. Follow this circuit or, rather, a rough square on the map: Kochi to Munnar (150km/4hrs), Munnar to Thekkady (85km/2.5hrs), Thekkady

We are a family of four planning to visit the Andaman and Nicobar islands for 7-8 days in July, on our own. Please advise: 1. We want to go there by ship from Kolkata and return by air. 2. Could you suggest a good itinerary, since this is off-season? 3. Will this be a suitable time for scuba diving?

The ships that ply the route are seaworthy, but just about serviceable because they are inexpensive, state-owned means of transporting goods and people to and from the faraway islands to mainland India. But that’s not the biggest problem for your plans. July isn’t merely off-season in the Andamans. Since nearly everything in the islands, from

My sister-in-law and I plan to visit Spain, perhaps in September. We are both 50-plus, avid and frequent travellers interested in history, music, art, literature and food, and we love to walk/hike. Could you suggest a 3-week itinerary with mid-range places to stay. Do you think that there would be a problem with visa if we apply for one with a tentative itinerary?

I wish I could tell you that three weeks gives you plenty of time, but Spain is, well, Spain, and I dare say you will be easily overwhelmed, especially when so many wonders of this epic land match your particular interests. I am sketching a broader itinerary to tempt you, but you will have to

What will be the budget for two (my wife and I) for a vacation to Bora Bora?

Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The only international airport in French Polynesia, the Faa’a International Airport, is located in capital Papeete (located in the island of Tahiti). There are no direct flights to Papeete from India. You have to take a combination of flights.