This is a Hilton-family hotel about four blocks north of Grand Central station in Manhattan, a fantastic location for almost anything - shopping, sightseeing, whatever. If you're going to New York, and you're not sure which hotel to select based on convenience/proximity to a subway station, the Doubletree Metropolitan is a great option. It's about 1 block from the E train at 5lst (or possibly 53rd), check it, and that's the train that's the fastest ride to and from the Air Train and JFK terminals. It's one of the best places to stay if you're looking for easy airport access (and beat the extortionate cab rates to and from there).

Like all NY hotels now, it's a bit expensive at between $300-500/night, but their website sometimes has discounts and good packages, and in many cases you can get breakfast with the room, not a standard feature here in the States. And you can leave luggage there on checkout day for a small fee, so that you can see a few more things before heading out.

500 block of Lexington Avenue, E Train 51st or 53rd street, check the stops/your subway map
www.hilton.com

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If you've done the Budapest basics, you should absolutely take an afternoon and visit Bela Bartok's house museum in the Buda Hills. This is a hymn of praise not only to the conductor, but his passion for Hungarian folk culture.

Among the highlights: his oversized, primitive recording device which he dragged all over historic Hungary, having local residents sing their songs into it, and his furniture, most of which is handmade from various parts of Transylvania. The ladies who staff the museum can give you a tour in English and are very nice and accommodating.

While you are there, make sure you walk through the Napraforgo ut. housing estate, built in 1931 to house refugees from areas cut off from Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon. Architecture fans will delight in the display of creativity there, from Bauhaus to Arts and Crafts. Unfortunately, rich Buda residents are now buying all of them out and restoring them according to their own tastes, so the results of that could harm the ensemble, but you should go there anyway.

This is a great doubleheader excursion well off the well-trodden tourist paths.

It's best to go to Ferenciek Tere (metro blue line), look for restaurant Karpatia and wait for bus #5 just outside there. You go to the end of the line, i.e. Pasareti Ter, and look for the signs. The way to both is actually marked.

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Everyone interested in New York City, history and/or food should take Big Onion Tours' Multiethnic Eating Tour. It's a nifty way to learn about immigration and ethnic neighborhoods in New York, as it leads participants through the lower east side, Chinatown and Little Italy(which often overlap, strangely enough). You get commentary and picture-taking ops in all three areas, plus pickles, Jewish pastry, Italian cheese, dim sum and other typical offerings in each neighborhood. Guides are grad students in New York City history and culture. You can find out in advance of your visit when this and other theme tours are available at bigonion.com. The cost for the eating tour is $20, $15-17 concessions; all other tours are $15 and $12, I think. You should really take an afternoon and do this and/or others of their offerings--it's a great deal.

Delancey and Essex street, NYC; check Big Onion Schedule at www.bigonion.com

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Everyone interested in New York City, history and/or food should take Big Onion Tours' Multiethnic Eating Tour.

It's a nifty way to learn about immigration and ethnic neighborhoods in New York, as it leads participants through the lower east side, Chinatown and Little Italy (which often overlap, strangely enough).

You get commentary and picture-taking ops in all three areas, plus pickles, Jewish pastry, Italian cheese, dim sum and other typical offerings in each neighborhood. Guides are grad students in New York City history and culture.

You can find out in advance of your visit when this and other theme tours are available at bigonion.com.

The cost for the eating tour is $20, $15-17 concessions; all other tours are $15 and $12, I think. You should really take an afternoon and do this and/or others of their offerings - it's a great deal.

Delancey and Essex street, NYC; check Big Onion Schedule at www.bigonion.com

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My father and I just spent a pleasant 5 days in Ypres, at Camalou B&B. We found it to be a great base from which to explore both the salient and the surrounding countryside. Annette and Christian are great hosts - they treat their guests like old friends and they are a font of information about Ypres and anywhere else you would like to explore. Annette does great tours of the battlefields, but whatever you choose to do with your day, she will have some invaluable insider tip for you. The rooms are beautifully furnished and comfortable, the breakfasts hearty and family-style. Camalou is about 3.2 km from the center, which means you will need a car, but you are near roundabouts that will take you to any key towns in the salient, and you get to wake up to the sound of local roosters and dairy cows. At around 65 euros/night, Camalou is an ideal Ypres headquarters. I heartily recommend it.

351, Dikkebusseweg 8908 Ypres, Belgium;
tel: +32(0)57 20 43 42;
fax: +32(0)57 21 78 62;
email: info@camalou.com;
www.camalou.com

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If you're looking for inexpensive and advantageously located accommodation in Budapest, try Buro Panzio. This is a small hotel, only about l0 rooms, located just off Moszkva Ter, a major subway/tram/bus stop on the Buda side and therefore convenient to almost anything of interest. The rooms are clean, comfortable and air-conditioned, a rarity in any small hotel there. The young staff could not be more friendly and helpful. There is a good Hungarian restaurant next door and a local vegetable/fruit/bread/meat market just across the street. All this equals great value for money at about 60 euros/night. I could not have been more pleased with my stay there.

1024 Budapest II
Dekan U 3
+361 21 22929
buro-panzio@axelero.hu

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Try to fly into the renovated Domodedovo airport if you decide to come to Moscow. It isn't necessarily any faster-moving than Sheremetevo, but it is a precinct of the new Russia rather than the old: it's modern, relatively user-friendly and - most importantly - it allows you to escape extortionate taxis for the ride into town. There is an air train available there just outside the main terminal that costs just 200 rubles (as of May, anyway) and whisks you to Paveletskii station in about 45 minutes. There you can connect to the metro and anywhere else you want to go.

South-east Moscow

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Hotels in the District of Columbia tend to be very expensive, typically over $200/night. You can do much better just across the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, near the metro stations of Rosslyn and Courthouse. From there you can either take the metro back into DC or walk over the Key Bridge into Georgetown, where you can pick up an even numbered 30s bus or the metro to go further on your way.

www.arlingtonvahotels.worldweb.com/index.html;
www.arlingtonva.us

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Big Onion does thematic walking tours in the city. I've done their immigrant New York, Lower East Side and Central Park walks in the last couple of years, and they are not to be missed if you want to learn about the history and culture of the city. The tours are led by specialists in New York City history and travelers can check the schedule online. you should really try to squeeze one in when you are there.

schedule and tour descriptions at bigonion.com

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