The deliberate crash of a Germanwings flight in the French Alps last week set off alarm bells with many airline customers. Airlines and governments around the world, including Canada, immediately brought in rules to require two people in the flight deck at all times. It is probably an improvement, but some travellers remain uneasy about low-cost carriers (December’s AirAsia crash is still a recent memory). Consumers are naturally attracted to the cheaper prices of airlines such as Germanwings, Ireland’s Ryanair and Florida-based Spirit Airlines, which flies a number of Canadians to the sunny south each winter – by some estimates Read more
Halifax
WestJet Encore began two years ago as a regional division of WestJet with two aircraft serving five cities. With today’s announcement that they’re adding a whack of new flights in the Maritimes and Newfoundland (as well as new options in Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa), WestJet’s Encore division is up to 16 planes serving more than 20 destinations, officials said. WestJet executives took to the tarmac at Stansfield International in Halifax today to unveil several new flights, including Halifax-Glasgow (May 29 on regular WestJet, not Encore), Halifax-Gander (July 15 on Encore), Halifax-Deer Lake/Corner Brook (July 15, Encore) and Halifax-Sydney (July 15, Read more
HALIFAX – Great food. A beautiful harbour. Super-friendly people. And, just for good measure, a tour of the city in a motorcycle sidecar. There’s something very cool about Halifax. The weather is unpredictable. But the city’s other attributes make up for what might be lacking in the meteorological department. I’ve written in the past about the city’s great food scene, and I had a chance to try a couple new spots this time around. We had dinner again at Press Gang , which is an old building that dates back to 1759. There are exposed stone and brick walls and Read more
FIVE GREAT PLACES FOR FIFTY PLUS TRAVELERS I get asked a lot about the best places to travel for folks who are 50 and over. Of course, I’m almost eight years into that category myself so I guess it’s a fair question. A lot depends, like many things in life, on what you’re looking for. If you’re a foodie, I probably would suggest a weekend in New York or maybe Vancouver. If you’re into wine, the Niagara Region of Ontario or, naturally, northern California works. Not to mention the interior of British Columbia, almost anywhere in France and several great Read more
It’s a touch late for booking that trip to Dublin or Galway (or anywhere else in Ireland) for St. Patrick’s Day. On the other hand, there are great locations right here in North America to go green come Monday. I can’t think of many better places than St. John’s, Newfoundland, which seems more Irish to me than parts of Ireland. They’ll be having a grand old time in town on Monday, for sure. Also awesome would be Cape Breton or Halifax in Nova Scotia, where you’ll find a serious Irish influence and great dancing and music. Of course, you could always Read more
