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Manhattan

NEW YORK CITY – I recently had a few days in New York City for the International Media Marketplace, the New York Times Travel Show and some other treats (more to come on that soon). Here’s a look at a few things you should know about what’s happening in the city that never sleeps. LAGUARDIA: A WHOLE NEW WORLD My wife and I flew into New York’s LaGuardia Airport in late January with Air Canada. We got off the plane and walked into the terminal. I looked up and saw a huge, bright space in front of me. There were Read more

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A cool hotel in a fabulous part of Manhattan. A new, educational attraction from National Geographic. And a thoroughly enjoyable boat ride around the southern tip of one of the world’s great cities. A weekend in New York City is never a bad thing. This past weekend was better than most, owing to great weather (around 12 Celsius on Saturday) you wouldn’t normally expect in January. My wife and I had two nights at the recently opened The Frederick Hotel in lower Tribeca. I don’t love the upper end of Tribeca with its fancy shops and hipsters, but this seemed Read more

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One of the great things about New York City is that the tourism folks don’t rest on their laurels. They come to Toronto regularly, for example, to talk about what’s new and what folks should see. They stage events all over the world to try to lure tourists to their city. They don’t just assume (as does Italy) that everyone will want to come there, so they WORK for their business. And it’s paying off. Last year, NYC welcomed a record 58.3 million visitors, their sixth straight record-breaking year. Some 12.3 million of those folks were international visitors, including a Read more

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We all want to save a buck. Or three. With that in mind, the folks at gobankingrates.com have put together lists of the 10 cheapest and 10 most expensive cities to visit in the U.S. I’m quite familiar with many of them and have some thoughts of my own, so I’m offering three free things to do in some of the most expensive cities. And, just for fun, free things to do in the cheapest cities so you can REALLY save. We’ll start with the most expensive on the list. In order, from most expensive on down, were New York Read more

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ON BOARD CATHAY PACIFIC – I slept like a rock on a flat bed. I had outstanding service. And I stuffed myself silly. I had the chance to fly business class on Cathay Pacific on my recent flight home from Hong Kong to Toronto, for which I was hugely thankful. It’s not something I get to do all the time. For the most part, I’m in coach or economy like everyone else. But the upgrades occur occasionally, which is a huge perk of this job. There were the usual hot towels when we got on board, and I think they Read more

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