Congratulations to the True North Strong and Free. A recent report by The Reputation Institute, a corporation with offices in Boston and Copenhagen, ranked the top countries in the world based on how the rest of the world perceives them. They considered such factors as natural beauty, the populace’s outlook and attitude towards their homeland, domestic safety and security, and the competence of the government. Canada came out on top, followed by Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Australia. The U.S. didn’t make the top 20, which seems to suggest what the rest of the world thinks of Donald Trump and his Read more
Denmark
The people who run the Global Liveability Index have come out with an exhaustive ranking of world cities. The top ten list is dominated by Europe and Australia, but Canada placed four cities in the top 20, which is nothing to sneeze at. According to Time Out, The Global Liveability Index rated more than 170 world cities based on five major factors. They are stability (such as the threat of conflict or prevalence of petty crime); healthcare (availability of over-the-counter drugs, quality of public healthcare); culture and environment (temperatures, levels of censorship); education (availability and quality of private education) and Read more
As a long-time (50 years this year, wow) journalist, I do occasionally consider the dark side of things. When I see a list of the safest cities in the world to visit, for example, I always wonder who finished at the bottom. That isn’t very nice, I suppose. But I guess it’s human nature. With that in mind, I was delighted to see that a recent study of the most welcoming countries in the world was followed up with a list (from a different source) of the LEAST welcoming nations in Europe. It it may not be very scientific, and Read more
Thinking of a trip to Europe this fall? Try flying into Oslo, Edinburgh or maybe Madrid if you want to save money. With help from Expedia, Travel + Leisure magazine has issued a list of 11 European airports and computed the cost of an airline ticket today, compared with during the peak summer months. Here’s what they found, with the percentage decline in ticket prices from summer to today in parentheses. Oslo (-40%). Stockholm (-35%) Hamburg (-35%) Ibiza (-35%) Copenhagen (-30%) Madrid (-30%) Dublin (-25%) Brussels (-25%) Geneva (-25%) Edinburgh (-25%) Florence (-20%) That’s a fun list. Not to rain Read more
Montreal is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best cities to visit. Now it’s ranked as one of the safest. The Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection Group’s new city safety ratings put Montreal at number three in te world, behind only Reyjavik, Iceland and Copenhagen. “Less than a point separates Copenhagen and Montreal, which should give you an idea of Montreal’s relative safety,” Berkshire Hathaway stated. The only other North American city in the top 15 was Honolulu, ranked #12. “This former No. 1 safest city finished less than a point outside of the top 10,” the report said, From Read more
