Kudos to Canada. And a nod to Hawai’i, as well. A study by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection has anointed Canada as the safest country on the planet for 2024. Montreal came second in the world for safe cities, beaten only by Honolulu. Berkshire Hathaway nalyzed the responses of 1,702 travelers who were polled between August 24 and September 13, 2023, along with third-party data sources to evaluate concerns such as terrorism, weather emergencies, health measures, and the safety of underrepresented groups. The Berkshire Hathaway rankings also take into account data and information sourced from the U.S. State Department, The Economist, Read more
Australia/New Zealand/PAC
Pedestrians are getting a permanent break in Banff. Hawaii Tourism Boasts Strong Holiday Numbers. And indigenous tourism is poised for a Canadian boom. A few travel tidbits for today. BANFF PED ZONE NOW PERMANENT Banff’s popular downtown pedestrian zone is now a permanent feature in the wildly popular Alberta destination. Town officials have decided to keep the zone in place from the May long weekend to Thanksgiving weekend every year. Canadian Press reports the town decided to permanently fund the project, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of its annual operating budget. “It is, however, still unclear whether Read more
Tremendous food and wine. Super comfortable seats. And, best of all, some of the nicest crew I’ve ever spent time in the air with. My wife and I recently flew from San Francisco to Auckland and then on to Sydney with Air New Zealand. We got upgraded from Premium Economy to Business Premier about a half-hour before boarding, and were understandably thrilled. Business Premier for long-haul flights features wide, comfortable seats. We were flying at night so there was soft, purple-pink mood lighting that was very relaxing. We were given a glass of sparkling wine (I could’ve had water or Read more
Travel rewards programs are a great, no-cost way to save money and earn valuable points towards great trips. And Air Canada’s Aeroplan is one of the best for Canadians. With help from Aeroplan, you can turn your travel dreams into reality with endless redemption opportunities on flights to more than 1,300 destinations worldwide through the biggest network of airline partners. Better still, there are no restrictions or blackout dates to hold you back. I’ve been an Aeroplan member for a good 30-40 years now. I’ve used my points to book dozens of great trips around the world; Europe, Hawaii, Vancouver, Read more
A new study rates Canada as the second-best country on earth for 2023, behind only Switzerland. The study, conducted by global marketing and communications services company WPP and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, looked at 73 country attributes; terms that can be used to describe a country and that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation. Various attributes and nations were presented in a survey of more than 17,000 people from across the globe from March 17 to June 12. Each country was then scored on each of the 73 country attributes based on Read more
