Year after year, Europe tops the charts of travellers from around the world. It seems we just can’t get enough of classic European cities such as London and Paris, not to mention Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome, Zurich, Berlin and many others. With that in mind, the folks at TD Canada and Aeroplan and I are holding a Twitter chat about Europe on Wednesday, April 29 at 1 p.m. EST. Be sure to tune in (I’m at @jimbyerstravel on Twitter) and look for the #TDAeroplan hashtag. I’ll be chiming in with what I hope are useful tips and advice about using your Read more
Holland
The other day I talked about my favourite Canadian destinations and travel bits for 2014. Here are some thoughts (okay, a LOT of thoughts) about the U.S. and a couple Caribbean and European spots I visited during the year. Most surprising U.S. destination: Apalachicola, Florida. A super-relaxed, fun town in a quiet section of the Florida panhandle with just the right mix of old-time charm and trendy, new shops. A very good brewpub, too. Most wonderful host: The delightful Anthony Hunte of Hunte’s Gardens in Barbados. A lovely man, great conversationalist and incredible gardener. His garden is always the highlight Read more
BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA – I’m standing in a pretty mountain bowl at Sunshine Meadows with small hills all around dotted with white and yellow flowers. The sky is that famous shade of Alberta blue and the deep grey hills are patchy with winter’s leftover snow. Our guide, Thalia Christou with White Mountain Adventures, points out the yellow Alpine Butter Cups and the western anemones, which look like yellow and white crocuses but grow interesting, fuzzy bits to stay warm. They look like they’ve grown hair in summer, causing Christou to refer to them as “hippie hair flowers.” We spot Read more
AMSTERDAM – Sometimes it’s good to listen to the tourism folks. Okay, it’s almost ALWAYS good to listen to the tourism folks. In this case, I have to give credit to the lovely Henny Groenendijk, who represents Visit Holland . I’d been promising to go for years, but somehow never got around to it. This time, I made Holland the focus of my trip to Europe. I’ve written in the past few days about surprising Rotterdam and about my great bike ride in Holland. But I want to give Henny a special shout-out for booking me a room at the Read more
ROTTERDAM – I have to give the people of this city credit. After World War II, after they sifted through the ruins of a city mercilessly bombed by the Nazis, they made a bold decision. Rather than try to make everything the way it was, they opted instead to take their clean slate and rebuild a modern city. The decision has had mixed reviews, but there’s no doubt Rotterdam today stands out with a very different style than Amsterdam. If you ask tour guide and local artist Willem Besselink, that’s a good thing. “Before the war, the city looked much Read more
