**This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BMO Insurance. All opinions are my own. It was the last full day of my visit to Dubai a few years ago. I was writing a travel story on Dubai for the Toronto Star, where I was the travel editor. I’d had breakfast at a fine, luxury hotel and was heading out to tour some of the old city, check out the markets and have a drink with a friend who was living in the UAE. I had no reason to expect anything would go wrong. But sometime in Read more
May 2018
Energy. Great food. And a little mystery. I’ve taken several trips to southeast Asia over the years and have come away hugely impressed each time. From friendly faces in a stunning bay in Vietnam to steamy food stalls in Malaysia and sleek hotels in Singapore, I’ve enjoyed a wide variety of experiences across Asia. George Town is a marvellous spot in Malaysia, with colonial architecture, a cool arts scene and magnificent food, while Vietnam’s Halong Bay is one of those “wow” spots you see photos of as a kid and think, “That’s a place I’ve got to see.” It’s easier Read more
Hawaii is open for business. I met with Hawaii Tourism officials on Monday at the IPW U.S. tourism event in Denver and that was their overwhelming message. Yes, there is some volcano activity on the east side of the Big Island of Hawaii. But it’s limited to 10 square miles of an island that’s more than 4,000 square miles in all. Erin Kinoshita of The Anthology Group, which does public relations for Hawaii tourism, said there’s been no significant impact on the city of Hilo, which is only a half hour’s drive from the eruption site. It’s almost 100 miles Read more
STRATFORD, ONTARIO – It’s a gorgeous spring day in southern Ontario, one of those days when the entire world seems to have woken up from its winter slumber and taken to the streets; discovering flowers in bloom and new smells and the feeling of sunshine on its collective faces. I’m standing near the Queen’s Jubilee Statue in the centre of town when a young woman in fashionably torn jeans (think Meghan Markle) and a black t-shirt decorated with a white skeleton on the front comes skipping along the sidewalk, looking for all the world as if she’s eight years old Read more
NEAR SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO – I’m hiking through the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, less than an hour from Santa Fe. Above me are swooping, surging, curving walls that bend and bulge in wild patterns of pale sand and dusty orange. There’s a tiny sliver of robin’s-egg-blue sky slipping through an overhead crack in the canyon walls. I step through a narrow gap in the rock and stroll into a wider opening with sweet-smelling evergreens and tiny plants clinging to life in the harsh desert climate. Suddenly a small monarch butterfly slides past my ear. I look up as Read more
