One of the world’s best beaches is getting bigger. Much bigger. I recently caught up with Brian Lowack, president and CEO of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater; one of the top destinations in Florida. He told me a beach renewal project that stretches from Sand Key on Clearwater Beach to St. Pete Beach will add 2.5 million cubic yards of sand, with roughly 200 feet of width. “It’s already great, but it’s going to be the most beautiful beach in Florida,” he told me in Toronto, where Visit St. Pete/Clearwater hosted media and travel agents at a Blue Jays-Yankees game. The cost Read more
Australia/New Zealand/PAC
Most Expensive Countries to Visit: Iceland on Top; Air Canada New Flights to Peru, Mexico and Belize
A study by the Forex Complex has named the most expensive countries for Americans (and presumably Canadians) to visit. The study tallied daily costs for a typical visitor, including hotels or other accommodations, meals, transportation and other common expenses. In US dollars, here are the 19 most expensive countries they came up with in daily costs. ICELAND, $401.40 AUSTRALIA, $280.99 FRANCE, $263.21 GERMANY, $258.47 ITALY, $257.67 UNITED KINGDOM, $256.50 CANADA, $241.34 JAPAN, $229.96 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, $217.78 GREECE, $198.84 SPAIN, $187.79 CROATIA, $185.65 PORTUGAL, $163.81 COSTA RICA, $161.34 JAMAICA, $151.38 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, $148.51 MEXICO, $145.78 THAILAND, $81.87 INDONESIA, $70.23 I Read more
The people who run the Global Liveability Index have come out with an exhaustive ranking of world cities. The top ten list is dominated by Europe and Australia, but Canada placed four cities in the top 20, which is nothing to sneeze at. According to Time Out, The Global Liveability Index rated more than 170 world cities based on five major factors. They are stability (such as the threat of conflict or prevalence of petty crime); healthcare (availability of over-the-counter drugs, quality of public healthcare); culture and environment (temperatures, levels of censorship); education (availability and quality of private education) and Read more
Sometimes I wonder about people. I was looking at my Threads social media account yesterday ,where I saw that someone worried about the demonstrations in Los Angeles asked if it was safe to visit Monterey, California. What?? Has this person ever looked at an atlas or a map? Did they bother to look at the map on their phone to see where Monterey is? Folks, it’s a good five-plus hours from L.A. to Monterey, which is a sleepy, tourist town known for its aquarium and lovely waterfront. Of course, it’s safe to visit Monterey. It’s like asking if it’s safe Read more
MSN.com has a very useful story on where the Canadian dollar goes the farthest. Knowing your foreign currency exchange rates is a great way to save money, as some destinations might surprise you in terms of their value. Many Canadians are avoiding the US these days for political reasons, but also because the dollar is still quite low. As of June 16 ,the Canadian dollar is still down at 74cents US, which means a US dollar will cost you at least $1.35. That’s not so bad in, say, Kentucky or New Mexico, but it could make a trip to a Read more
