LAS VEGAS – The busiest intersection in this city, Las Vegas Blvd. and E. Flamingo Rd., was marked not long ago by the parking garage at an old-school casino named Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon. Today you’ll find one of The Strip’s sleekest celebrity restaurants, Giada, with giant windows looking out on the passing parade. Not only that, the restaurant is inside the sleek, new Cromwell Hotel, refashioned from the bones of Bills into a posh, boutique property. If there’s a symbol for how Vegas has changed, Giada and the Cromwell might be it. You’ll still find those maddening escalators Read more
LAS VEGAS – My trip to Vegas in January was my third in the last four years or so. Yet I had a huge whack of new experiences, which tells you a lot about the choices in this town. We flew in on Air Canada rouge, which was just fine, and we had hotels and meals taken care of by Expedia.ca. I had my first trip to the Neon Museum, just north of downtown, where you’ll find a vast collection of old neon signs from places like the old Stardust and Binion’s Horseshoe and other casinos. I went during the Read more
In case you hadn’t noticed, the red and white Christmas cards at Shoppers Drug Mart have been replaced with red and white Valentine’s Day cards. V.D. rolls around again on Feb. 14 this year, as it is wont to do. Hotels consistently try to cash in on husbands and wives looking for a quick getaway, or just a quickie, with package deals for breakfast in bed or flickering candles or chocolates and champagne. This year, they’ve been a sexy gift with the release of the film Fifty Shades of Grey, based of course on the scandalous books of the same Read more
LAS VEGAS – I used to think I wasn’t a Vegas guy. That seems to be changing. The scale of the city, with its towering hotels and spraying fountains and oceans of pulsing lights, can be overwhelming at first. But the more I get to know it the more I find it to be a truly remarkable place. People came here years and years ago when there was little but rocks and dry desert scrub, and they’ve turned it one of the tourist meccas of the world. And also the most popular U.S. destination for Canadians. All of this is Read more
Flying United Airlines earlier this month was anything but a unifying experience. My wife and I were booked on a flight from Maui to San Francisco. A half-hour or so before it was to leave, gate officials told us that, because of headwinds and other factors, the plane was too heavy and that they needed 20 passengers to volunteer to take other flights. Their offer? A measly $200 U.S. Most passengers around me shook their heads, and the offer was soon upped to $500. Even then, only a few folks took the bait. I thought they’d wait for more volunteers, Read more
Expedia’s climb in Canada has been remarkable. Fifteen years ago, Expedia.ca was just coming into existence. Most Canadians looking for hotels at the time used something called a land-line telephone at home to book hotels or even went without reservations and cruised the highways of Canada and the U.S., or the streets of Europe, looking for flashing vacancy signs in hotel windows. Now, Expedia.ca is the largest on-line travel service provider in the country and does $12 billion gross in business in Canada per year; a target they reached back in 2012. From zero hotel properties and zero airlines in Read more
I forgot just how big the Big Island of Hawaii really is. It’s been a few years since my last visit, and I hadn’t remembered that the Big Island, the most southerly in the Hawaiian chain, was as big as the other main islands put together. Impressive, and so much diversity, too; cities and fun towns and cool villages and fiery volcanoes and so much more. Here’s a photo display of some of my favourite moments….
