Favourite Sign: This one in the Cayman Islands. It’s particularly notable for folks in the travel writing world, as “off the beaten path” is one of those phrases most of us would like to see banned from every travel story. If only I could have found a street called “Hidden Gem.” Most romantic sunrise: Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on the Norwegian Bliss on a TravelBrands SeaU cruise in October. I grew up in the Bay Area, so to see the bridge and sail under it like that was a big treat. I wish I had Read more
Palm Springs
PALM SPRINGS – A fabulous swimming pool complex. Some of the lushest landscaping in the valley. And an unbeatable location. The Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage is hands-down the best family-friendly hotel I’ve stayed at in my half-dozen-or-so visits to the Palm Spring area; a truly wonderful spot I was able to enjoy with my wife, my Dad and his lady-friend. We were able to get a pair of units next to each other, so it was easy to corral folks for trips or to get together on the patio for our 5 o’clock glass Read more
PALM SPRINGS – We’re humming along a quiet suburban road outside this popular tourist destination on a clear, cool March morning. It’s only around 8 a.m., but already the dun-coloured mountains off to the northeast look like they’re already baked to a crisp. Our Desert Adventures Red Jeep Tours guide, Mike Groves, tells members of our tour group (my wife, Barbara, plus my Dad and his ladyfriend, Lucy) to look more closely at some of the small valleys and impressions on the side of the hills. Sure enough, we fix our gazes and begin to make out a series of Read more
I discovered Tucson and a cool new area of Florida. I had the dreamiest boat ride of my life in Kauai. I even met the son of one of the fabled Marx Brothers at a golf course surrounded by a trailer park in suburban Palm Springs. It was quite the year for travel to the U.S. for this cowboy, with trips to Florida, Hawaii, California, Vegas, Arizona, New York and more. Here are some highlights for my 2016 U.S.A. Jimmy Awards. BEST CITY DISCOVERY: I had never spent any time in downtown Tucson until November. I fell in love with Read more
I was one very lucky guy in 2015, checking out magical places all around the world from Easter Island to the beaches of Lake Huron and tea plantations in The Azores. It takes a lot of work to travel this much, and there are a lot of people in the business who make it all happen for me; tourism boards and airlines and hotels and tour guides and more. So thank you to those folks. I’ve been compiling some of my favourite travel moments for year, and here’s another version of the annual Jimmys; awards for just about anything from Read more
