Travelling by rail is one of the great pleasures of life. The pace is lovely, you don’t have to hassle with big security lines, you can gaze out the window at wonderful scenery, and you usually get on and off the train in the middle of great cities; not out in the boondocks miles from town. I had a fabulous train trip all around Europe in 1979, including a journey between Rome and Florence when I met my wife, but also trips within England and Scotland, across France, and also Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands. I’ve taken the train Read more
Vienna
A new list of the top cities in the world for international travelers from the U.S. gives the inside edge to Portugal, with Spain coming in second. Coming in at number one (a tie, actually) were Lisbon, and Porto, Portugal. I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Porto, but I love Lisbon, which has fabulous food and great neighbourhoods to explore, including the vibrant Aflama district. There also are great beaches. Spain had two cities in the top 10; Madrid and Seville. Sadly, I haven’t been to either. The authors created a list of 40 major cities around the world, Read more
Here’s an interesting list; a look at the top cities in the world for seniors/grandparents. The folks at All Clear Travel, a company based in the UK, looked at a variety of factors, including crime/safety, walkability, weather and the number of accessible hotels. Europe took every spot in the top 10, with the Netherlands sweeping the 2-4 positions. North America fared relatively well, with seven spots in the top 30. The best in NA was Sacramento, an underrated city that’s relatively easy to navigate and has pretty good weather most of the year. Also cracking the top 30 was Boston, Read more
The people who run the Global Liveability Index have come out with an exhaustive ranking of world cities. The top ten list is dominated by Europe and Australia, but Canada placed four cities in the top 20, which is nothing to sneeze at. According to Time Out, The Global Liveability Index rated more than 170 world cities based on five major factors. They are stability (such as the threat of conflict or prevalence of petty crime); healthcare (availability of over-the-counter drugs, quality of public healthcare); culture and environment (temperatures, levels of censorship); education (availability and quality of private education) and Read more
As Taylor Swift’s epic Eras Tour heads to Vancouver for its final three shows, Destination Vancouver and BC Pavillion Corporation (PavCo) estimate that the total economic impact in Vancouver of those three shows will be $157 million CAD. Of that, $97 million is direct spending on such things as accommodation, food and beverage, retail and transportation—more than 70% of which will be spent by out-of-town visitors. That infusion into local businesses translates into more than $27 million in total tax revenue for all three levels of government. “The announcement last November that Taylor Swift would play three nights in Vancouver Read more
