U.S. News magazine recently came out with a list of the best world destinations for solo travel. To my surprise, Toronto was the only Canadian city on the list of 33 destinations. I would’ve thought more Canadian cities, which are relatively safe, would make the list. That goes especially for Vancouver, with its natural beauty and great food scene, and Montreal, with its wonderful neighborhoods and French joie de vivre. Shows what I know. Anyhow, here are the destinations that made the list. California came away with three entries. Beaver Creek, Colorado Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands Paris San Diego Rome Read more
train travel
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – Canadians are flocking back to Florida in near-record numbers. Following nearly three years of declining numbers, Canadian visits to Florida are very nearly back to 2019 levels, tourism officials have announced. Speaking to media at this year’s Florida Huddle tourism event in West Palm Beach, VISIT FLORIDA executives said a surge in Canadian visits to the Sunshine State last fall resulted in 1.04 million visits from Canada. That’s just 4.5% below the fourth quarter figure of 1.09 million for 2019. It’s also the first quarter since the start of the pandemic that saw Florida attract Read more
The bad news continues for Sunwing, and for Canadian travellers. Sunwing airlines has reduced its flight schedules from three airports in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canadian Press reports. Tiffany Chase with the Halifax International Airport Authority said on Sunday that Sunwing cancelled its plans to launch once-weekly flights in February from Halifax to Orlando, Fla., and to Cayo Largo del Sur, Cuba. A twice-weekly flight to Varadero, Cuba, set to begin in February will be reduced to once a week, she said. “We expect Sunwing’s other scheduled services at Halifax Stanfield to continue this winter season,” Halifax airport’s communications Read more
The snowstorms that iced many Canadians out of their holiday travel plans, continue to leave airline and railway executives and politicians on the hot seat. New data from the Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians blame airlines and rail companies almost as much as they do the weather for cancelled flights and delayed trains over Christmas and New Years. The Angus Reid poll found that 70% of Canadians blame the weather, but that 68% said the problems lie with airlines and rail companies. One-in-three (33%) point the finger at the federal government. A similar number (30%) blame the travellers for putting Read more
VIA Rail Canada says it sorry for a pre-Christmas incident that left passengers stranded on a train for 18 hours, and it’s promising to do better. The company issued the following statement today regarding the travel delays and train cancellations which occurred from December 23 to December 26: “A severe winter storm along with the derailment of a freight train disrupted VIA Rail’s operations from December 23 to 26. Unfortunately, a number of trains, particularly along the Québec City–Windsor corridor and elsewhere in Eastern Canada, were cancelled or delayed for extended periods. We appreciate that passengers were looking forward to Read more
