Ask Joan

We, like a lot of Irish people, are affected by emigration. Our children are in New Zealand, the UK and Germany. We would all love to meet up somewhere next summer. We were thinking of Canada or the western US but are open to other suggestions. Ideally we would like to have a four-bedroom house or apartment with enough activities to keep everyone happy, some culture, some outdoor activity and some retail therapy. EG, Galway.

California would be a great place for you all to meet. There are flights from all four countries direct to either Los Angeles or San Francisco. Western Canada would be adding another flight and hours more to each journey.

The Central Coast area between LA and San Francisco has many lovely beaches, great towns and lots of things to do. You can be surfing the Pacific, tasting wine, shopping in towns such as Carmel, Monterey and Santa Barbara and visiting national parks. There are many fine houses to rent. Book accommodation direct from owners on vrbo.com and homeaway.com. You will need cars to get around. See visitcalifornia.com and nps.gov.

A friend and I are planning to visit a number of European capitals by rail next July – about eight or nine in the course of the month. "Inter-railing" for the over-50s! While she holds an Irish passport, she lives outside Europe and it appears there are two different types of rail pass – depending on whether or not one lives in Europe. Is the difference material? Is there a "one-stop shop" I could approach about route planning and advice on safe, but well priced, accommodation? DL, Dublin.
The main site for booking train travel in Europe for residents is interrail.eu and for non-European residents it is eurail.com. InterRail has discounts for over-60s and is better value compared to eurail. You can contact the railshop.ie, tel: 01-8665841 to make bookings or have questions answered.

If travelling in July, I would recommend you book your hotels. For museums, you should probably book the most popular ones. Use websites like booking.com and hotels.com to book hotels. There are discounts for accommodation and attractions with the InterRail pass.

I'm trying to organise a trip to London for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary (they haven't returned since their honeymoon). We are planning to go in April 2014. There will be six adults in total going, so I was thinking of staying in a hotel or would even consider an apartment. We'd need three bedrooms, if possible. We will fly into City Airport. My parents are in their 70s so we don't want to be walking too much. LS, Dublin.

London has changed a lot in 50 years and flying into City Airport will reveal how the city has developed eastwards. Three-bedroom apartments are not so common but I have found some. Expect to pay in the region of €250– €450 per night depending on location and quality. The following companies all have three-bedroom places: bridgestreet.com, in the City; collinghamapartments.com, near Earls Court and Grosvenor Road; Albertbridgeapartments. com, near Battersea and a short bus ride to Sloane Square and Knightsbridge; and dreamhouseapartments.com, for the City and Vauxhall.

Some of the budget hotels are quite good. PremierInn.com has a number of hotels around London at good prices and Parkplaza. com has some well located hotels on the South Bank and near Westminster Bridge.
Send your questions to jscales@irishtimes.com