February 27I enjoyed your article, Sebastian Faulks in California. As a fan of Yosemite, I'd like to add some comments. You can stay in pre-erected tents at Curry Village for about $30 a day, which will just about accommodate an average family. Spartan for a hotel room, but the beds are comfortable and the common shower rooms are better than they sound. Breakfast at the Curry campsite is “all you can eat”, fast, and very good. The bar is generally heaving up until about 10pm, after which time most people are thinking about sleep (something about that air). Yosemite is my favorite place in the world, and I’ve been around the block a few times. My preferred route in from San Francisco (better views). Las Vegas is about six hours of very scenic driving away, which after five days of “roughing it” is incredibly decadent and fun for a couple of nights. I could go on forever. I’m glad you liked it, and I bet you'll be back. Larry, by email
February 23
Do you know of anyone who does package ski deals to anywhere other than the resorts on the Eurostar line to Aime/Moutiers/Bourg St Maurice?We are especially interested in going to Chamonix and are sure you can get there via Paris by train, but are there any companies that do this? Or are there cheap train deals to Chamonix? Any ideas on this or other resorts reachable easily by train? We want to be "green" and also don't like flying... well, it's more the crashing really. David and Angela Silverman, by email
Mark Frary, ski correspondent of The Times replies: Many tour operators specialising in self-catering holidays should be able to help you. For example, the independent tour operator Peak Retreats (0870 770 0408, www.peakretreats.co.uk), which specialises in self-catering holidays in lesser known French resorts such as St Jean d’Arves and St Gervais les Bains. The firm can organise rail tickets to stations serving many of its resorts, by Eurostar to Paris and then either TGV or slower regional trains depending on your destination. Alternatively, French Travel Service (0870 2414243, www.f-t-s.co.uk) has many years’ experience of organising holidays to France by rail. The company has holidays in Chamonix from March 23 onwards at the three-star Hotel La Vallée Blanche starting at £248 per person for three nights’ bed and breakfast, including standard class rail travel from London Waterloo or Ashford. You could always book everything yourself. Rail Europe’s UK website (www.raileurope.co.uk) allows you to book French trains easily online. Chamonix is perfectly accessible by train, as is the spa resort of St Gervais les Bains, chichi Megève or the medieval Alpine town of Briançon for access to the slopes of Serre Chevalier. The resort websites at www.chamonix.com, www.st-gervais.net, www.megeve.com and www.serre-chevalier.com will help you with finding accommodation.
February 23
I was one of the cousins in Tina Gaudoin's group. If one wants to get a real idea of travelling in Burma, there is a really good book out by Amy Tan called Saving Fish From Drowning. I enjoyed this book tremendously since having been to Inle Lake - she reflects on the military regime and a group of Americans on holiday. Visitors to Myanmar are a strange bunch .. it seems we all feel slightly embarrassed being there but then again the people are so kind and generous despite their lack of basic needs. Christine van Seggelen Athens, Greece
February 21
I was interested to read your piece on the pros and cons of travelling in Burma and noted that you mentioned the lobby group, Burma Campaign UK. I wondered if you knew of the existence of a charity, Prospect Burma, which gives scholarships to Burmese refugees (and indeed some Burmese in Burma) to study at universities on the condition that they will bring their expertise back to Burma when democracy has returned there. As a volunteer at the charity I know that several donations have come from tourists returning from Burma who feel that they would like to give “conscience money” once they have seen the conditions in which most Burmese live. The charity is supported by Aung San Suu Kyi who has given some of her Nobel prize money to add to the fund. Lindy Ambrose and Tom Reid
February 20
Thank you for the article by Tina Gaudoin "Travels with my great-aunt" and the comment by Cath Urquhart in the February 18 Times Travel section. I am a Burmese, resident in UK since 1978, and naturally I have closely followed the debates about my country. I was unable, due to restrictions imposed by the military government, to return to Burma for eight years, but since some regulations were relaxed, I have been back almost every year, often with English friends to see my parents. Many of them ask, should we be going to Burma? Many Western leaders say not to, but I do not agree. I do not believe in isolating the people of a country just because they were unfortunate enough to have a military dictatorship imposed upon them at gunpoint. Discouraging tourists to go into Burma would in fact play neatly into the hands of the military dictators. Without tourists, the world will not know what is going on inside Burma. Then there is this issue of tourist dollars propping up the regime. Do you really believe the amount tourists are spending now in Burma is actually supporting the regime? Is that how they are able to buy arms from China? Grow up, will you? As I see it, the only practical benefits by the tourists being in Burma are to the actual people themselves. One or two dollars may feed a family of four in the village or in a suburb of Rangoon where the main earner lost his or her job with the factory closure. Visitors spending there actually hand the money (OK, in local currency) to the people selling drinks or food or some handicraft. Peter Soe Wynn, Leeds
February 15
Almost weekly, I read about a new airline starting up flights, and I'm sure there are lots I haven't read about. As an example, unless I read about it, how would I be expected to know that Air Berlin flies from Stansted to Palma? Is there an easy way to find all the airline options and destinations in one place? Google it? I'd get five million matches for “airlines destinations”, most of which say something silly like “buy airline destinations on E-bay”! What I need is a website that lists all airlines and charters flying out of the UK and their destinations and weblinks. Does it exist? Ivan Erlick, London
