We made the same journey last year. Two days is ambitious - allow three if possible. Best driving tip - in smaller towns, overhead traffic lights are easily missed - so look out for them at junctions. Best value accommodation - look for (often very small) "Chambre d'hote" signs in rural areas. These are often akin to chateaux with fabulous accommodation and in gorgeous locations. No need to book - you're often the only people there.
Janet Conroy
For a very cheap, clean, place to stay, I recommend Formule 1 - there's at least one of this chain of hotels on the outskirts of most towns and cities. You get bed and breakfast with shared toilet and shower; payment is automatic (if you've pre-booked) by credit card - and instructions are in English. With regard to driving, I advise always having in mind the next town you're heading towards as French road numbers aren't as well signposted as British ones and often just "change" for no apparent reason.
Ian Andrews
If you have kids, I would get a fly-drive package to say Barcelona - skip the overnight stops, the long and, for the kids, boring journey and spend more time enjoying things. Mind you, driving in Spain is a bit hairy at times.
David Hall, Horley
Whenever travelling through France we always use the Gites De France Bed & Breakfast Guide (English title French Country Welcome). We've stayed in a huge variety of places, usually rooms in a private house that have been converted to provide en suite accommodation. They are nearly all in small villages. Some of them will do an evening meal. Around £25pp a night for bed breakfast and evening meal would be on the expensive side.
If you can't find a current guide, the address to get one from is: Maison des Gites de France, 35 rue Godot-de- Mauroy, 75439, Parish Cedex 09. Tel: (1) 49 70 75 75.
David and Hilary Thomas, Stretford
D Heath wanted advice on how he and his family, with a nine and a 14-year-old, could experience Cuba, meet the locals and have fun.
I suggest you avoid hotels and stay in casas particulares (private houses that rent out rooms and usually provide meals). You will eat far better than in hotels and see day-to-day Cuban family life. If you don't speak Spanish, it is well worth the effort to learn even some basics.
Safety is not a problem, assuming you take normal precautions - Cuba is one of the safest countries you can visit, certainly far safer than the UK. You have thousands of beaches to choose from, most of them deserted. If you want a beach resort near Havana then there are a number on the north coast within 60km - avoid Varadero. You can increase your options by hiring a car, which is relatively cheap.
Get a good guide book - Lonely Planet or Travellers Survival Guide are the most detailed - and spend some time in Havana.
Tim Ferguson
We are an association of casas particulares . You can stay in one of our houses. You can share the house with a family with or without children or you can stay in an apartment on your own. It can be in old Havana, Vedado or anywhere around the island. Check the website at www.geocities.com/casaparticular
Carlos & Daniel
We have just returned from a tour organised by Havanatour. We stayed in hotels at Las Terrazas (a rural area west of Havana), Havana and Trinidad. Safety was never an issue in our wanderings around both Havana and Trinidad.
Four-star hotels will give you all the physical comfort you could wish for, and the beach near Trinidad is a dream. You cannot help but meet Cubans. You will be incessantly hailed with "Where you from?", so you need some basic Spanish. They will be very friendly and intensely curious about you, even inviting you to their homes, but often after a dollar handout as well.
Avoid 100% tourist areas like Varadero. I can give more details if the questioner wants to contact me direct.
Brian Light
brilight@dial.pipex.com
Clare Monk wanted to know what the weather was like in Thailand in August and September.
The rainy season starts in July with things getting gradually more wet as the year progresses. As a rule, the south of Thailand is generally wetter than the north. On the basis of this, it's probably reasonable to assume you will be seeing some showers during your trip.
However, Thailand has (along with the rest of the planet) been experiencing what can only be described as "weird weather", ie things are just not happening when they should! I was in Thailand in March this year and met some travellers in Chiang Rai who had abandoned the Phuket area to travel north because the weather was so awful down south - March is supposed to be "rain-free" according to the books.
Julia Knight
<bthis week's questions
I am a 21-year-old woman and I will be travelling to Africa this summer for a seven-day safari to the Vic Falls. However, the first two days of my holiday will be spent in Johannesburg. I have heard a lot about the safety problem there and I would like to get some information from other people who have been there about where I should stay, what I should and should not do etc.
M Gerritsen
Can anyone give us advice (especially do's and don'ts) about hiring a campervan in Canada, travelling in the Canadian Rockies with a campervan, using campsites in the Canadian Rockies, travelling by train between Calgary and Vancouver, walking in the Canadian Rockies and flights to Canada (Rockies). Is it cheaper to fly to the US and hire a camper there for travel in Canada?
Heather Skaife
• If you have questions or advice, please write to: Ask a fellow traveller, The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER. Or e-mail: ask.a.fellow.traveller @theguardian.com. We will publish the answers as soon as we can. We cannot answer questions we do not publish.
