I wrote this blog for the Toronto Star last year after a nice visit to Buffalo. From what I hear, things have improved even more since I was last in town… BUFFALO, NEW YORK – Mea Culpa. For years, as I recall, the head of media/public relations for Buffalo Tourism had been bugging me to come on down and check things out. I envisioned cool architecture and chicken wings and a nice Frank Lloyd Wright building Ihad heard about. I covered the Buffalo Bills off and on for the Star’s sports section in the early 2000’s, but I didn’t have Read more
Canada
We in eastern Canada hear a good deal about Vancouver and Victoria and the rest of Vancouver Island. Likely anyone who reads travel stories is familiar with Whistler and probably the Okanagan, home to lovely deserts, wineries and more. I’ve had a good deal of experience with those locations, so when the folks at British Columbia tourism last year suggested The Sunshine Coast, I jumped at the idea. Over the space of three or four days it became one of my favourite spots in Canada; kind of a cross between B.C. and California; with great hotels, lovely scenery, nice spas Read more
Summer’s (almost) here, and the time is right for getting your butt out of your chair and setting off to see some of this magical land we call Canada. With that in mind, I’ll be writing regular posts over the next month or two, looking at some of the marvellous places in Canada I’ve had the privilege of visiting in the seven years since I became a full-time travel writer. Hope you enjoy them. I know I sure did. First up: St. John’s, Newfoundland. 1. The people: I remember my first trip here for the Toronto Star’s Golf magazine. I Read more
Maybe it’s the booze. Or it’s the jet lag. Perhaps it’s that travel makes us feel free of our normal societal bounds. Whatever the reason, it seems a lot of us act like buffoons on the road – whipping off our clothes, carving our names into ancient relics and assuming ridiculous (or, worse, offensive) poses in sacred places – before posting our antics for all to see. It’s gotten to the point, I think, where you could call this an epidemic. The latest example comes from Malaysia, where the government has kept two Canadian women from leaving the country following Read more
David Whitaker was hired in May of this year as chief marketing officer for Brand USA, which was set up in 2010 to market the U.S. to the world. He served as head of Tourism Toronto from 2007 until taking the Brand USA job. Prior to his Toronto job the Georgia native spent 17 years with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. I sat down with him this week in Orlando at IPW, the massive, annual U.S. tourism session that attracts thousands of travel, trade and media types to talk business and book U.S. travel. Whitaker was in constant Read more
