Canadian national parks, luxury hotels in Florida, top resorts in the Caribbean, and great islands in Hawaii. U.S. News and World Report has come (LINK) out with its annual list of top destinations and hotels around the world, and there are a few surprises and famous names in the group. Here are some of the top 10 lists they published today (Feb. 6, 2024). TOP WORLD DESTINATIONS Paris (hosting the Summer Olympics this year) Bora Bora (who hasn’t dreamed of an overwater bungalow in Tahitii?) Glacier National Park, Montana Rome (heading there in three weeks; such an amazing city) Swiss Read more
February 2024
Canada will smash through its 2022 visitation numbers for Florida when official stats are released later this month. The final tally isn’t in, but VISIT FLORIDA officials attending this week’s Florida Huddle event in Miami said 2,790,000 Canadians made their way to the Sunshine State in 2022. Statistics for 2023 show 2,803,000 Canadians visited Florida in the first nine months of the year, which is already ahead of 2022 as a whole. Preliminary statistics also show Canadian airlift to Florida in every month of last year was ahead of the same month in 2019, said Jacob Pewitt Yancey, director of Read more
It’s been six months since the Maui wildfires, and I still can’t believe it. I was sitting in my little back yard in Toronto working on a story on a lovely summer’s day last August 8 when I saw a note from my sister on Facebook to suggest something had happened in Lahaina. I had no idea. I checked the news and was dumbstruck at how a place I have visited 50-60-80 times over the years and loved with all my heart had been almost totally destroyed. I was on Maui in October of last year and saw the damage Read more
It’s a great matchup on paper, with the NFL’s top quarterback (Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, a number 10 draft pick) against San Francisco 49ers signal caller Brock Purdy, a kid taken last in the NFL draft in 2022, 262nd overall. It’s also a fun matchup of cities that are quite unalike; one smack dab in the middle of the American heartland and solid as Midwestern rock; the other perched on the edge of the continent and known for its breezy, live for today attitude. Here’s a look at the two cities. Full disclosure: I grew up in Read more
BARBADOS – I’m dining at the elegant, glitzy Oro restaurant on the ninth floor of the 02 Beach Club and Spa in Barbados, trading business talk with Jacqui McDermott, Sales and Marketing Manager for O2 and Ocean Hotels Group Barbados. It’s a relatively new property, only two years old, and a lot of advisors aren’t yet familiar with what they offer. “02 Beach Club and Spa is aimed at people who don’t want to compromise,” McDermott tells me. “They’re looking for a little elegance. They want a five- star property but they like the convenience of an all-inclusive property. They Read more
