The man across the aisle on a flight from Boston had tattoos up and down his arms. A little girl who was coloring in her book asked him if she could finish doing his art project. He laughed while she used her felt tips to decorate his hands.

If you think of train rides as Amtrak’s tiresome, smoky, jerky, never-on-time ordeals, put a trip to Japan on your itinerary and experience the bullet train. They sail along at 160 miles an hour, and better than flights that dump you in far-from-city airports, the Shinkansen takes you from downtown Tokyo to downtown of every major Japanese city. And  also unlike Amtrak and all airlines, they depart and arrive exactly on the minute their schedules promise.

Next time you're in New York City, it's almost a requirement that you have at least one deli lunch or dinner. Our favorite is the Second Avenue Deli, a popular noshing place that was in Greenwich Village for more than 50 years. Three years ago, it moved uptown to Third Avenue and 33rd Street, but the restaurant still retains its famous name and great menu.

Although prices are not as low as they were in the 1950s, Second Avenue Deli still has the best, highest-stacked, artery-busting pastrami on rye in town. Add a couple of kosher pickles and a side of potato salad, and one platter has enough calories to keep a whole platoon of New York cardiologists wealthy for years.

Still the best and oldest of all of Las Vegas' many dinner theater offerings is "The Tournament of Kings" at the appropriately named Excalibur Hotel. The buildings and grounds of the resort are gaudily designed to resemble a Medieval castle, so where else can you have dinner brought to you by bosomy serving wenches while you wait for the jousting to begin? If you ask the maitre de for a “round table”, he’ll smile politely at the joke he’s heard a million times before.