I had some wonderful visits in the U.S. and Canada this year, including a monumental train trip from Colorado to Utah, a wonderful six days in Prince Edward Island and great stays in Los Angeles, southwest Ontario, southern Florida and northern California. I also got to visit one of my fave islands, Molokai, and spent four nice but sobering days on Maui to see how they’re recovering from the devastating and still unfathomable wildfires. It wasn’t all pretty, but I had many a remarkable experience and more than a few great meals along the way. Thanks to everyone who helped Read more
train travel
Easy, relatively quick and surprisingly restful. I recently took the Caledonian Sleeper car from London to Edinburgh and on to Inverness for an overnight trip. I hadn’t slept on a train since, I believe, 1979. I was intrigued by the idea, especially since my 91-year-old father and his 92-year-old lady friend recently slept three nights on a train between California and Buffalo. I was greeted by a company employee outside the train at Euston station in London and headed to my assigned cabin, a Club Room En Suite. I had a comfortable but narrow bed with a bunk bed on Read more
A new, high-frequency rail corridor for eastern Canada, a splashy new W Hotel in Sydney, and a Jamaica travel expo for Toronto. Today’s travel notebook. HIGH-FREQUENCY RAIL BETWEEN TORONTO AND QUEBEC MOVES CLOSER I’ll believe it when I see it, but the Canadian government today announced the launch of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for what could be a future, high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City. The RFP process will be ongoing until summer 2024. Following the evaluation period, the government will select the group who will become the private developer partner to work collaboratively with VIA HFR Read more
Today’s travel roundup includes news on air passenger protection rules for Canada, a boom in European tourism, and an item on how major U.S. destinations are hoping to restart major tourism from China. I also have a note about the new Eastern and Oriental Express train’s Malaysia trips. AIR PASSENGER RIGHTS IN CANADA Today, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is launching consultations on proposed amendments to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), and invites Canadians to participate. The Budget Implementation Act introduces changes to the Canada Transportation Act (the Act) to clarify, simplify and strengthen the Canadian air passenger protection regime. The CTA will have Read more
News about LGBTQ+ travel, plus a Nova Scotia golf update and European train travel item. My news roundup for today. Canada Ranked Safest Country in World for LBGTQ+ Travelers Canada ranked at the top of the 2023 list as the most LGBTQ+ country in the world for the third year in the row. Journalists Lyric and Asher Fergusson run a travel site dedicated to LGBTQ+safety. At the beginning of March, they published a report called “The 203 Worst (& Safest) Countries for LGBTQ+ Travel in 2023.” CIC News says they reviewed every country’s individual laws and gathered data from Read more
