MUSKOKA – The magic of Muskoka comes in a shiny, bright new package at JW Marriott The Rosseau Muskoka. I’ve been around the world and have yet to find a place I’d rather spend a summer’s day in then Ontario’s Muskoka region. I get up to the lake district north of Toronto several times each summer, and the sights and sounds leave an indelible mark on my consciousness; the sun’s rays bouncing off the deep blue water, the dark and bright green trees that arise out of the tiniest moss and lichen-covered islands and the quiet, rhythmic “galumphing” sound the Read more
June 2018
The damage has been almost entirely to private homes, far from areas frequented by visitors. But the volcano that has pummelled the southeast corner of Hawaii Big Island has certainly had an impact on the state’s vital tourism industry, officials say. I chatted by phone on Friday with Ross Birch, head of Hawaii Big Island Tourism. He told me there’s no doubt that the uncertainty has hurt his island’s economy. He also agreed that a lot of the concern isn’t necessary. “Less than 10 square miles has been affected by the volcano,” he said. “The island is 4,028 square miles.” Read more
NEW MEXICO – Five nights. Three distinct hotels I can heartily recommend. I recently had a great trip to beautiful and surprising New Mexico, checking out cliff dwellings, cool slot canyons, art galleries and UFO museums, not to mention a museum dedicated to rattlesnakes and one of the best barbeque joints I’ve been to, a place in Albuquerque called Rudy’s Country Store and BBQ. I also got to stay in some very nice hotels along the way. In Albuquerque, a city I’d never been to before, I stayed at the Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown, a terrific property in a great location. Read more
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Grain silos turned into a zipline course. Gardening as a competitive sport. And an abundance of glorious architecture. There’s a travel cliché that gets kicked around a lot, where someone says, “If you haven’t been to Destination X in three years, you haven’t been to Destination X.” With apologies to the cliché police, it wouldn’t be a stretch to use that kind of phrase about Buffalo. I was in town a few years ago to have a look at the improving waterfront and other areas of this surprising city. I went back early last week for another Read more
**This is a post written by me on behalf of IHG Hotels. All opinions are my own. Many Canadians like you and me either have or plan to draw up a bucket list of great places to travel. But a study by IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) finds that almost nine in ten of us feel we’ll never make our dreams come true. With that in mind, IHG has partnered with an old friend of mine, Canadian author/travel writer Robin Esrock, to create a Great Canadian Bucket List that offers 25 unique experiences to inspire travel through this great country of Read more
