Here Are Few of Her Favorite Things

What I learned on my summer vacation:

The French Polynesian island of Huahine is a good place to live. “We have no poison snakes,” a native said, “and no poison plants. You can walk barefoot anywhere on the island without fear.”

The South Island of New Zealand is a good place to live, a native told me. “We have no poison snakes,” he said, “and no lions either.” There is one poison spider, he admitted, but you learn to avoid it.

The rustic Glacier Bay Country Inn (Box 5, Gustavus, Alaska) is a splendid place to stay when you call on Glacier Bay National Park.

Outside are forests of spruce and meadows of wildflowers; inside are log ceilings, down comforters and rocking chairs. Innkeepers Annie and Al Unrein own this homestead, which is 50 miles west of Juneau. It could be in Austria.

The rustic mountain hotel Rosa dos Ventos (at an elevation of 4,000 feet, between Teresopolis and Friburgo in Brazil) is a splendid place to retreat from the heat and crush of Rio de Janiero.

Outside are lakes, pools and rich stables; inside are log ceilings, a wine stube and an enormous hearth. It was originally a private farm. Owner Helenio Waddington runs this alpine lodge that’s a 90-minute drive west of Rio. It could be in Austria.

The price of a two-hour car rental on Bora Bora is about $25. That did get me around the island with time for photographs and a snack. The price for 24 hours is about $38.

A favorite drive on the Big Island of Hawaii is north along the Kohala Coast to where the road ends at the Pololu Valley lookout. In the rain, the sheer cliffs could be Scotland.

I’d like to live in the last frame house on the right--the one with the battered fence and the yapping dog and the wide porch that faces the sea.

A favorite drive in Northern California is west from Glen Ellen (home of a pleasant Sauvignon Blanc as well as the writer Jack London, whose ranch is now a state park) toward the small town of Cotati.

From California 12 north of historic Sonoma you turn on Warm Springs Road and meander up a hillside of vast oaks, madronas and redwoods. It is a shade-dappled lane. Old farms and vineyards spill off to left and right as you climb narrow Sonoma Mountain Road.

Beyond the wooded crest, turn left on Pressley Road and you will be on your way to Petaluma and the highway south to San Francisco.

Finland has 187,833 lakes, according to a recent count. “We always said we were a land of 60,000 lakes, and we hoped that was not too much of an exaggeration,” a Finnish woman said. “This year the government made an official count and found we have three times that many--although some, I admit, are small.”

The hot, sultry temperature in Singapore, that island so close to the Equator, varies only a few degrees from day to night and from what elsewhere is called winter and summer. The seasons are the months of monsoons (November to January) and those of occasional showers (February to October).

“The good thing about our climate,” a Singapore banker said, “is that it is absolutely predictable. Travelers like that. It makes packing easy.”

Personally, I like a little surprise in my travels. Especially if it comes as a cool breeze on a warm day.