AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – You gotta love the Kiwis. They have a reputation of being something like we Canadians. But when it comes to tourism, they certainly seem to be more “out there” than we are. I’ll have some examples of this coming up in the next week or two, as I take you on a tour of Matamata (where they filmed much of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit), Rotorua (where I rode a sail-powered go-kart and a spinning contraption called a drift-kar), Picton and Marlborough (a wine tour and a kayak trip), Kaikoura (a chartered plane Read more

Maybe I’ve had it wrong all these years. Like many folks, I’ve gazed over the years at those advertisements for shimmering villas on the shore of an equally shimmering Caribbean Sea and thought, “Yeah, renting one of those would be great. But it’s way out of my league.” I’ve always been more of a hotel guy in my travels. But villas are arguably more popular than ever, as folks tuned into renting private homes discover a wonderful alternative to the same-old hotels in the same-old destinations. Not only are they often cheaper than a hotel of similar quality (sometimes FAR Read more

ST. MAARTEN/ST. MARTIN – Fine, flavoured rum. Sweet-smelling local soaps. And a dreamy beach resort with one of the best massages I’ve ever had. I had the good luck to spend roughly 24 hours in St. Maarten (and an hour or so on the French side, St. Martin) following my Caribbean cruise with Sea Dream Yacht Club. And found a lot to like. We started our day (my wife was with me, which is always great) in Marigot on the French side, where we strolled through the waterfront markets and bought some trinkets to take . home. It feels a Read more

There’s a new app in town, and it makes easier than ever to book that trip you’ve always dreamed of. Aeroplan recently unveiled a new (and free) app that makes it dead simple to book flight rewards using your Aeroplan miles. Customers with iOS, Android and Blackberry mobile phones (still lots of folks using Blackberry) may now download the app from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and the Blackberry App World. “We know it’s increasingly important for our members to have useful travel tools when they’re on the go, and making our app available for flight reward bookings Read more

Like many great ideas, this one had a lot of help from a trip to the pub. James Whittle and Tom Caulfield had hardly any experience in rowing, but that didn’t stop them from recently completing an insane, 54-day row boat trip across the Atlantic Ocean in a ship they called Tempest Two. I was lucky enough to catch up to the two British lads recently at Sugar Bay Resort in Barbados, where they were recovering from their ordeal – and trying to make sense out of a return to something like a normal life. “I think I was inspired Read more

This is shaping up to be quite a Leap Day for travel lovers. It’s barely noon in Toronto and I’ve already seen several really, really good deals for folks looking for travel bargains. Here are a few I’ve noticed so far… Air Canada Vacations: I got an email just after noon EST to say folks can save up to (yes, it seems there’s always that famous catchphrase, “up to”, but still) 50 per cent on trips to the Caribbean and Mexico with ACV. You also can get Aeroplan bonuses of 2,900 miles until March 3 for May and June departures, Read more