I found an item on Yahoo News today, and I think it’s appalling. Yahoo quotes the Wall Street Journal as saying some Las Vegas hotels are charging people up to $200 (that’s US dollars) to reserve a chair by the pool. Not a cabana. Oh, no. Those can cost $1,000. This is just for a chaise lounge or chair next to the pool (where it’s probably 100 Fahrenheit, by the way.) It’s disgusting, it’s greedy, and it shouldn’t be allowed. A lounge chair for $200? Why not charge for water from the shower? Or for adjusting the thermostat? Why not Read more
Europe
I was at Toronto Pearson today at 9:30 a.m., and it was like another world. Hardly any cars at the departures level, only a few people in line for the Air Canada U.S. ticket window, and maybe 15-20 people that I could see in line for security. Which made me wonder? Was I just there at the right time, or are things improving at Canada’s busiest – and most vilified – airport? “We’re starting to see improvements on average wait times, both with departures and arrivals, but there’s more work to be done to provide reliability and consistency for our Read more
This story originally appeared in the Vancouver Sun. I’ve been lucky enough to play golf at courses around the world. Here are some of my fave memories. Not necessarily the best courses, but some of the most memorable moments. WATERTON LAKES, ALBERTA Jasper and Banff, not to mention Canmore, get a fair bit of ink in Alberta golf stories. But I loved Waterton Lakes when I played there a few summers ago. It wasn’t in the best condition when I played it, but a Canadian golf group called Lobb + Partners has been hired to make renovations. You can’t beat Read more
So, you think those of us who live in Toronto have it bad with Pearson Airport? Well, yeah, it’s been tough, with long wait times, lost luggage and general messiness. I’m not excusing our airlines or airports, but Pearson isn’t the only airport suffering right now. Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has had major problems, as has Montreal Trudeau. Perhaps the worst, however, is London Heathrow. LHR, one of the world’s busiest airports, has made the extraordinary move of asking airlines to stop selling tickets for outbound travel this summer. CNN reports that Heathrow will be limiting passenger traffic to just 100,000 departures per Read more
The United Nations’ World Tourism Organization has issued a list of the countries with the most visitors for 2021. It was, admittedly, a difficult year for tourism. But the stats paint an interesting picture. Given the state of COVID and the restrictions around travel throughout most of Asia, you’ll notice that there are no Asian countries on the list. TOP TOURISM DESTINATIONS IN 2021 10. Hungary, 7.9 million visitors 9. Croatia, 10.6 million 8. Germany, 11.7 million 7. Austria, 12.7 million (I was in Vienna earlier this year and found it fantastic) 6. Greece, 14.7 million 5. United States, 22.1 Read more
