American dream tour
My husband and I plan a month off next April to drive across the United States. Our provisional route is Los Angeles to Las Vegas and down to Phoenix. Then we follow the Mexican border and the coast to New Orleans, where we fancy a week near a beach before flying back to LA and home.
What sights should we visit, does anywhere in the New Orleans area offer nice beaches and a chilled atmosphere? Are there any safety considerations in driving near the border?
Lorna Saunders, Croydon
This will be an incredible journey with scenery and sights to blow your mind.
Between LA and Las Vegas, take a detour to Death Valley for its incredible landscapes: sand dunes, salt pans and weird rock formations.
Travelling from Phoenix to the border you'll go through Saguaro National Park, where forests of giant cacti tower around you.
In New Mexico on Highway 70 is the White Sands National Monument, with its dazzling sea of pure white dunes lasting mile after mile.
After crossing into Texas, go to Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande, which is the border between the US and Mexico. The park has an amazing variety of fauna: mountain lions, black bears, collared peccaries (pig-like mammals) and white-tailed deer among many others. This is worth a couple of days. Further south along the Rio Grande is Los Dos Laredos, an intriguing city in two countries, divided by the river.
Soon afterwards you hit the Gulf coast and miles and miles of untouched beaches and small, quiet towns. South Padre Island is a resort with beautiful, clean beaches. Nearby Padre Island is a National Seashore (or park).
From here go north, away from the border, to supercool Austin, the self-proclaimed 'live music capital' of the US. Check the free weekly Austin Chronicle for gig listings.
Back towards the coast, Houston is full of great restaurants, bars and clubs. Galveston, by contrast, is a refined seaside town with gorgeous Victorian houses.
From here the freeway takes you into Louisiana and Cajun country. For the real Cajun experience, give Lafayette a miss and head straight for the small towns, bayous and rural back roads.
The Louisiana coast and the remote Cajun coast are not that brilliant. The Texan coast south of Houston is better for your beach break, or finish up in laid-back New Orleans, where the motto is: 'Let the good times roll.' Take a paddle-boat cruise on the Mississippi, wander the French Quarter, sample creole food and listen to jazz. This city is truly a highlight of the US.
We have no reports of any border problems, but it's best to seek local advice when you get there.
A-level Germany
To practise my A-level German skills, I'm off for a night in Frankfurt at the end of the month. Five of us are going - three students and two teachers - so we need activities to suit us all: clubbing is out! Ideas?
Sean Williams, Norfolk
Frankfurt is Germany's financial powerhouse, but there's more to it than that. The south bank of the River Main has fine museums - the Stadel Art Institut and the Deutsches Filmmuseum are arguably the pick of the bunch.
The house where Goethe was born is worth a look, and make time to go up the 200m Maintower, which has great views. The Romerberg and nearby cathedral are great places to wander.
Several traditional beer cellars are worth a look, but your best chance of getting your teachers to explore the local night scene must be the Ebbelwoi cider taverns in the Sachsenhausen district.
If drinking is out, pick up a copy of Journal Frankfurt from newsstands - it has listings of films and plays reflecting the variety of evening options. You can test your German skills at www.frankfurt-tourismus.de.
Egypt with mummy
My wife reaches her half-century soon and is dropping hints that we should celebrate it by expanding her interest in Ancient Egypt by seeing the historic sites.
Two weeks would be the maximum and there may be a teenage son in tow. As first-time visitors I would not wish us to go it alone, but a guided tour should not be too restrictive - we'd like time to wander freely. Could you point me in any useful directions?
Alan Johnson, by email
Visitors to Egypt generally want to see Cairo, Luxor's ancient valleys and Aswan's mix of old and new. The sort of informal tour you're thinking of is sensible, as experts can give you some context to the wonders you're seeing while giving you time to explore. On the Go (020 7371 1113) runs trips that match your requirements and offers diving or a Nile cruise as extras.
Tours throughout the country are offered by Explore Worldwide (01252 760000) which has a laid-back, informative approach.
It's a good idea to read up before you go to get a feel for Egyptian history. The British Museum is a good starting place. It has a useful microsite www.ancientegypt.co.uk.
A wealth of fascinating memoirs have been written by well-known explorers. Egypt: A Travellers Anthology, compiled by Christopher Pick and published by John Murray at £16.99 is one to look for.
The Egypt Tourist Office (020 7493 5283) can put more meat on the mummified bones of your trip.
A leaning for Pisa
My husband and I and our children, aged seven, 10 and 12, are to spend two weeks in Tuscany in August in an apartment near Greve. We must leave the apartment on the final Saturday morning, but we don't fly home from Pisa until Sunday evening. Can you suggest somewhere to stay on the Saturday and good ways to spend our final hours. We will have a hire car.
Charlotte Montague, Ilkley
Pisa is lovely and best known, of course, for an architectural project gone terribly wrong: the Leaning Tower. Set among the sprawling lawns of Campo dei Miracoli, one of the world's most beautiful squares, the tower, with the cathedral and baptistry, forms the most extraordinary concentration of Romanesque splendour.
Sited on a waterfront boulevard, the Royal Victoria Hotel offers old-world luxury. A family suite is £148 a night.
Lucca, just north of Pisa, is a pretty walled town with a Romanesque cathedral with an exquisite facade. The Torre delle Ore (city clock tower) can be ascended via 207 steps for sweeping views and the Piazza Anfiteatro, built on the foundations of the imperial amphitheatre, is filled with arty shops and cafes.
Piccolo Hotel Puccini is a friendly three-star hotel, with double rooms at £57 a night.
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