I’m paddling gently through a shallow creek that runs off the south branch of the Muskoka River on a perfect, early summer’s day in Bracebridge. I hear the call of unfamiliar birds echoing through the trees as I skim along the surface of the creek in my brilliant orange kayak. Off to my left, an iridescent, small, blue and black dragonfly comes to rest on a brilliant yellow pond lily. A few feet away, I spot a small turtle sunning itself on a log on a 22 Celsius morning. My wife and I ease our kayaks back out into the Read more
social distancing
A return to fuller airplanes. Toronto hotel openings. And a potential return to Europe for Canadians. Here’s my Future of Travel blog for today. Middle Seat Occupation Returning on Some Airlines I hope nobody who’s been flying lately was getting used to the space around them. Because you can kiss it goodbye. For the past few months, many airlines have been blocking off middle seats to enforce social distancing. But with COVID-19 somewhat under control in some places, that is coming to an end. In Canada, both Air Canada and WestJet say they will no longer block off seats. Ditto Read more
THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL Stories and studies about the future of travel are rolling across my laptop every day. Sometimes every hour. We’re all curious about what the future looks like for air travel, hotels, destinations and cruise lines. Not to mention travel agents and travel journalists like me. With that in mind, and given my 11 years as a full-time travel writer and now 42-year (yikes) career as a full-time journalist, I’m going to be writing a “FUTURE OF TRAVEL” blog pretty much every weekday, or maybe every day, from now until we get a better picture of what’s Read more
A rebound will come some day. But I think it will take quite a long time before travel is back to normal. Given what’s been happening with social or physical distancing, we’re not going to flick a switch on July 1 (or whenever) and go back to crowded airports and jam-packed airplanes. Some things will simply have to change. Writing in the Globe and Mail recently, esteemed urbanist Richard Florida talked about new ways being needed to run airport check-in counters, baggage carousels and airlines themselves. Further to that, Delta Airlines today issued a statement saying that, starting April 13 Read more
