This coming year promises lots of great activities from coast to coast. Here are a few things to keep in mind. ALBERTA The new Glacier Skywalk on the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper will open to the public next spring. The design was honoured with a 1st prize award at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona. Highlighted vistas and interpretive stations will lead guests to the grand finale of the Glacier Skywalk experience: a glass floored walkway 280 metres (918 feet) over the breathtaking Sunwapta Valley, complete with cascading waterfalls and active wildlife below. BRITISH COLUMBIA Vancouver will host Read more
Canada
To somewhat borrow a phrase from the band Simple Minds, “Don’t You Forget About Us.” It has often seemed to me that Americans forget about the impact Canadians have on their economy when it comes to tourism and travel. We’re easily their biggest market, but the Americans often get all jazzed and doe-eyed thinking about markets like China and Russia and Brazil and forget about those of us up here in Canada. I understand how that can be. I mean, I’m often critical of Canadian tourism for falling in love with the same countries and getting all exotic and in Read more
ANTIGUA – I was clearly out of my league. It was my second day in Antigua, and I was on a driving tour of the south side of the island. I’d heard something about a yacht show in Falmouth harbour, but wasn’t quite prepared for what I found. I pulled my Toyota SUV into a parking area and walked towards a gate leading to the main harbour, where I was confronted by around 100 gleaming, white, monstrous (mostly) charter yachts. I had stumbled on the annual Antigua charter yacht show, held here in part because of the incredibly zig-zaggy protected Read more
Celebrities and travel, it seems, go together like popcorn and butter. Travelocity.ca has released the results of a new national survey which showcased the top 12 celebrity travel moments of 2013. Interestingly, Canadians appear to be evenly split on pop prince Justin Bieber, whose much publicized brawl in Britain earlier this year, tied for both the most and least memorable moment of 2013. “Bieber’s antics while travelling the world have been highly publicized and this was really the moment that started it all,” said Travelocity.ca resident travel expert, Brian Simpson. “So, it’s no surprise it’s the moment that resonates most Read more
WANDERING THE NAPA VALLEY IN CALIFORNIA – I often tell folks in Canada that I vastly prefer Sonoma Valley to Napa Valley when it comes to wine tasting and generally tooling around. But I think I have to them back on pretty even ground. I spent a lovely day in Sonoma a week or so ago. We then drove over to Napa for a night at the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel and Spa, which doesn’t look like a chain hotel. There are lovely flowers and a really nice-looking, free-form pool in a courtyard surrounded by large trees. They had an Read more
