A look at great things to do and see in New Zealand, plus an update from the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, a look at the new Marriott Bonvoy/American Express Credit Card, a rebirth for Lahaina, Maui business, growing Germany visits from Canada, and a big boost for San Diego tourism. NEW ZEALAND’S SUMMER IS APPROACHING Not quite ready to say goodbye to warm-weather days? As temperatures begin to cool across Canada, New Zealand is heading into its warm season, offering an easy way to extend sunshine a little longer.   From October through March, New Zealand has longer, warmer days that are Read more

A new report from Statistics Canada finds more Canadians are travelling to the U.S. than they were a year ago. And another study says more Canadians are willing to travel to the States than they were a year ago.   But both reports suggest Canadian travel to the U.S. has a ways to go to get back to the good old days.   Stats Canada’s report on October travel by Canadians to the States, issued today (Nov. 12), states that return trips from the United States by automobile and air totalled 1.9 million for the month. That’s up 3.0% from Read more

CANCUN – It wasn’t the Bali suite overlooking the pool and the ocean. It wasn’t the excellent coffee latte at the extensive breakfast buffet. It wasn’t the stylish, room. It wasn’t even the truly magnificent late day lagoon tour, which revealed perhaps the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen, completely with a flock of hundreds of black birds rising in the sky. No, I think one of the things I’ll remember most about my visit to the newly refurbished, all-inclusive Paradisus Cancun is the Sunday morning when I went for a walk on the beach, and then hit the coffee Read more

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