Asleep in St. Barts: On this glamorous isle pillow talk isn't cheap
It's hard to show off around here, because St. Barts (as the cognoscenti call it) is such a little place, only 11 miles long and 2-1/2 miles wide. Loaded with prestige, yes, but where to find it?
( BY ROBERT CROSS, Chicago Tribune, 10/21/2002 11:17 AM PDT)

Good rooms at a good price are hard to find in London, but we did
We were on a mission. Go to London and find at least 15 quality hotels where two can stay for $150 or less a night. That's right. Not 150 pounds, but 150 dollars, including breakfast and tax (the dreaded VAT, a k a value-added tax, at 17.5 percent).
( BY CAROLYN MCGUIRE, Chicago Tribune, 09/23/2002 01:23 PM PDT)

Catch cabin fever -- and see the world
JET-LAGGED and cranky, I lingered more than two hours in line waiting to trade my passport for a cabin key. When I finally unlocked my shipboard stateroom, I found the quarters dolefully furnished in an Elvis-era motif of fading Formica and stuffed Naugahyde.
( By Dan Leeth, TIMES CORRESPONDENT, 09/22/2002 10:44 AM PDT)

Mystical, magical places
WHITEFIELD, N.H. - The hotel isn't as formal as it once was. There are no long gowns or tuxedos in sight. But the reopening of the Mountain View House this summer represented a 50 percent jump - from two to three - in an all-but-extinct species in New Hampshire: the grand hotel. Next year, a rebuilt Wentworth by the Sea in New Castle will make it four.
( By MIKE RECHT, The Associated Press, 08/26/2002 08:10 AM PDT)

Fairways & spa days
Maybe I should have been standing on the first tee, preparing to hit a drive into the nearest sand trap. Instead, I was lying face down on a massage table -- and feeling pretty good about it.
( By Michael Martinez, Mercury News, 08/26/2002 11:41 AM PDT)

When good reservations go bad
You arrive at your hotel, stride up to the front desk happy to be there and tell the receptionist you have a reservation. The clerk ponders the computer, then tells you have no reservation. You produce your reservation confirmation number, and you are told again, "We have no reservation in your name." You protest. Again, you are told you have no reservation and the hotel has no vacancies.
( BY ALFRED BORCOVER, Chicago Tribune, 07/29/2002 10:25 AM PDT)