New data from Reservatons Group, which includes Hotel Planner.com, shows the most expensive cities in the US. For hotel stays for Thanksgiving. It’s quite a gap, and quite interesting to see. Here’s the top 10 New York City,  $786 Nashville $348 (hands up everyone who expected Nashville at number two) Las Vegas, $345 Chicago, $308 Columbus, Ohio, $285 (also a surprise, unless there’s an Ohio State football game on) New Orleans, $276 Pittsburgh, $275 (a tie) San Diego, $275 Miami, $242 (anyone else think Miami would be higher than Pittsburgh?) Orlando, $239 CANADIANS WORRY ABOUT TRAVEL COSTS  A new study Read more

The people behind the 50 Best websites have come out with a list of the 50 top restaurants in North America. And there’s a ton of Canadian content, including two of the top three! Coming out on top overall was Smyth in Chicago, followed by Eight in Calgary and Pearl Morissette in Niagara wine region, Ontario. That’s two Canadian restaurants on the podium, which is quite something. Here’s the top 20 for 2027 Smyth, Chicago Eight, Calgary Pearl Morissette, Lincoln, Ontario Dakar NOLA, New Orleans Mon Lapin, Montreal Albi, Washington D.C. Atomic, New York City Quetzal, Toronto Taniere 3, Quebec Read more

Berkshire Hathaway recently completed a study of the world’s safest cities and countries, and it’s fabulous news for Canada. Montreal was named the world’s safest city, and Canada was named as the world’s safest country. Here’s the top 15 for countries, and note the dominance of European nations (none in the top five, but ten in the top 15). I also love seeing New Zealand and Australia on the list, as they are two of my fave countries to visit. Canada New Zealand Australia Iceland Japan Austria Ireland Netherlands Denmark Portugal Norway Switzerland Italy Spain  Germany Here’s the top 15 Read more

Cardiff, Wales is emerging as Canada’s hottest trending travel destination, with flight searches skyrocketing by nearly 1,046 per cent year-over-year, according to Skyscanner’s Travel Trends 2027 report. With 80% of Canadians planning to travel as much or more in 2027, travellers are increasingly looking beyond traditional hotspots for destinations that offer memorable experiences and greater value. Bryan Batista, CEO of Skyscanner, comments on the emerging travel trends: “Travel is entering a new era. As people become more intentional about how they spend their time and money, they’re making different choices about where they go, how they book and what creates lasting value.” Read more

A look at a lovely hotel and a fantastic attraction on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu, a look at new Hyatt hotels across Canada, and a taste of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region in Toronto. Oh, and an Explora Journey’s Black Friday cruise sale! All in today’s blog post.   O’AHU NORTH SHORE: A COOL HOTEL AND THE FAB POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER Tourism representatives from the north shore of O’ahu were in town recently, giving me a chance to hear more about a terrific part of Hawai’i. I’ve been to the north shore many times, including a visit to the Polynesian Cultural Read more

 I stopped in at a recent Scenic/Emerald workshop in Toronto to hear more about the magnificent Emerald Yachts from Emerald Cruises. There are three at sea now, the Emerald Azzurra, the Emerald Sakara and the new Emerald Kaia, which launched in April of this year. Emerald Azzurra and Emerald Sakara each have a capacity of 128 passengers and have nearly a one-to-one guest to crew ratio. Emerald Kaia has up to 95 crew members. Because the ships are relatively small, they can get into ports that other ships can’t. A monster cruise ship with several thousand passengers might have to dock Read more