Air Canada has been named North America’s best airline for the second year in a row and tenth time overall. The Montreal-based company also was singled out for the Best Cabin Crew in North America in the recent 2026 Skytrax Awards, handed out in Europe this week. In addition, Air Canada was first for best cabin crew in Canada, second for Best Business Class in North America (finishing only behind Delta Air Lines), second for Most Family Friendly Airline in North America (behind only American Airlines). Air Canada’s operations at Toronto Pearson won for Best Business Class Lounge Catering Read more
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The beautiful island of Maui was devastated by fires in August of 2023. An estimated 102 people were killed in the lovely, historic city of Lahaina. In March of this year, powerful rainstorms overpowered communities, especially on Maui and O’ahu, with torrential, record rains. Now along comes Hurricane Lowell, which did tremendous damage to the island of Kaua’i this week, uprooting entire builidings and wiping out popular spots, including the waterfront restaurant at the lovely Sheraton Hotel/Resort on Po’ipu Beach. The latest reports show extensive damage in Hanalei town and on the south coast, including Poipu and Waimea, home to Read more
With its amazing architecture, sparkling lakefront, amazing parks, fabulous food and friendly locals, Chicago is consistently rated one of the world’s great cities. Here are some great things I was able to see and do on my latest visit. (I am not including the wonderful Obama Presidential Center as I wrote a separate story on it, which you can find here.) SKY HIGH VIEWS It’s always good to get your bearings when you arrive in a city, and one of the great ways to do that in the city that pretty much invented the skyscraper is to take in a Read more
Chicago is widely known as one of the best food cities in the world. There are 16 restaurants with Michelin stars, including the three-star Smyth. Here are some great places to eat, based on my latest visit in August. THE PUBLICAN The Publican, located in the Fulton Market/West Loop area blew me away with some of the best, and most interesting, food I’ve had anywhere. The ham chop is a double pork chop cooked sous vide with fresh hay and then finished in the oven. The hay gives the meat a slightly grassy taste, and it comes out with the Read more
CHICAGO – It’s a funny thing. As my wife and I recently toured the wonderful Obama Presidential Center on the south side of Chicago, which opened in June of this year, I kept comparing Obama’s message of hope and his reasoned approach to politics to the current administration in Washington. After having spent a half hour or so tracing his Chicago roots and his early years in the White House, my wife turned to me and asked what I thought. I’m a dual Canadian-American citizen who was born and raised in northern California, with a conservative but socially progressive judge Read more
