Destination: Canada
Canuck to American Travelers: Lose the Canadian Flag
by Eva Holland | 08.31.09 | 12:58 PM ET
Gadling’s Sean McLachlan has a message for fearful Americans headed overseas: “The world doesn’t hate you as much as you think it does.”
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Yahoo! BuzzTravel Headline of the Day: ‘Don’t Let the Goose Poop Fool You: Toronto’s Beaches are Squeaky Clean’
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 5:04 PM ET
Forget Hawaii or Florida—after that ringing endorsement, I’m ready for a Toronto beach vacation. Who’s with me?
Jack Kerouac: Canadian Icon?
by Michael Yessis | 08.14.09 | 2:37 PM ET
Banff’s ‘Crasher Squirrel’ Goes Viral
by Eva Holland | 08.13.09 | 3:23 PM ET
You can skip your daily visit to cuteoverload.com today—a Banff squirrel has the adorable quotient covered. The rodent snuck into a tourist’s shot, the shot made its way onto National Geographic’s website, and the rest is viral internet history.
Finding Leonard Cohen in Montreal and California
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 10:03 AM ET
In the latest issue of Geist, Ann Diamond tells the story of her series of near-encounters with Leonard Cohen—with 1970 Montreal, in the midst of the October Crisis, as the grimly compelling backdrop. And if that’s not enough Cohen-related, travel-esque writing for you, check out Pico Iyer’s 1998 essay about visiting the poet/rocker at a Zen Center in the San Gabriel Mountains, outside L.A.
R.I.P. Sandy van Ginkel, Montreal Architect
by Eva Holland | 07.27.09 | 10:36 AM ET
The Dutch-born architect and city planner, who is credited with saving the Old Montreal we know today from development, died earlier this month at 89. In the late 1950s, van Ginkel “almost single-handedly persuaded the good burghers of Montreal to abandon plans for an expressway that would have cut through the old city, destroying much of its heritage and the ambience that still draws tourists and visitors,” writes the Globe and Mail’s Sandra Martin.
In Search of Franklin in the Arctic—Again
by Eva Holland | 07.16.09 | 11:38 AM ET
An Alberta archaeologist is headed to Canada’s far north this fall in search of the lost Franklin expedition. Rob Rondeau’s team is just the latest in a 160-year stream of hunters for the two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, that vanished with their crews while seeking the North West Passage in 1845—but this time, Rondeau plans to search in a different area than most. An Inuit resident of Taloyoak, Nunavut, where the search will begin, told the Globe and Mail that the new expedition will be only the second to go Franklin-hunting in the area.
U.S. Senate Encourages Domestic Travel to Canada
by Alicia Imbody | 07.13.09 | 2:55 PM ET
Screenshot of the Environment Of Public Works website The Washington Post embarrassingly revealed how the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently tried to promote domestic summer travel to the Rockies on its website, using a picture of Lake Louise—which happens to be located in Canada. When the Post questioned committee members about the contradictory image, both parties denied a deliberate attempt to promote foreign travel, pointing fingers and ultimately admitting to using a hasty “placeholder” photo, which has since been removed.
This is in no way related to past examples of the U.S. attempting to annex Canada for strictly promotional purposes.
The Strange Case of ‘World Travel Watch’ and Toronto
by Eva Holland | 07.13.09 | 11:32 AM ET
File this under “bizarre adventures in globalized media.” When Travelers’ Tales editor-in-chief Larry Habegger called out Toronto—currently enduring a garbage workers’ strike—as a place to avoid in his “World Travel Watch” column, I doubt he expected to become a player in the city’s local politics. But then CNN picked up the column, the Mayor’s political opponents got ahold of the story, and suddenly Habegger’s latest was being offered as proof that the Mayor is mishandling the strike—and “causing devastating damage to our city” to boot.
A San Francisco travel columnist wreaking havoc on Canadian municipal politics? It’s times like these I get the urge to start singing “It’s a small world after all…” (Via Adam Radwanski)
Canadians in the U.S.: What Do They Miss About Canada?
by Michael Yessis | 07.01.09 | 12:38 PM ET
Here’s a Canada Day treat from the New York Times: Eleven Canadians living in the United States talk about missing, among other things, hockey highlights, universal health coverage, the Canadian Mosaic and the “u” in color.
Quesadillas in the Sub-Arctic
by Eva Holland | 06.29.09 | 1:01 PM ET
Photo by Eva Holland I’m no Mexican food addict, but I am perpetually fascinated by incongruous culinary offerings in unlikely locales—so when I spotted Sanchez Cantina, “Yukon’s Only TRUE Mexican Restaurant,” not long after my arrival in Whitehorse, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. Once several locals had assured me that it was “really good,” I grew even more curious—after all, I was in the Canadian sub-arctic, more than 3,000 miles north of the Mexican border, in a town of 20,000 where many people keep freezers full of moose meat. How “true” or “good” could it be?
See This Now: ‘Give Peace a Chance’
by Eva Holland | 06.23.09 | 10:14 AM ET
Photo by Eva Holland As we’ve noted, this spring marked the 40th anniversary of John and Yoko’s iconic “bed-ins” for peace, first at the Amsterdam Hilton and later (and more famously) at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. The commemorations in those two cities have passed, but a powerful exhibit about the Montreal bed-in has just opened at the Museum at Bethel Woods (aka the Woodstock museum), and it will remain open through the summer.
YVR: A Traveler’s Plea for Noodles
by Eva Holland | 06.22.09 | 1:23 PM ET
I flew into Vancouver International Airport last week with a craving: I wanted pad Thai, or some vaguely similar, spicy, wok-fried noodle dish, and I wanted it bad. On the five-hour flight from Toronto, as images of tofu bits and crushed peanuts danced in my head, I didn’t fret—I was confident I’d be able to satisfy the urge during my one-hour layover. After all, I thought, where better to find some airport noodles than in a foodie city that’s home to one of the most vital Asian immigrant communities in North America?
Canadian Road Trip Candy: ‘One Week’ on DVD
by Eva Holland | 06.18.09 | 4:53 PM ET
Remember One Week, aka Canada’s “Into the Wild”? Well, the movie may never have made it to U.S. theaters, but it landed on DVD this week—and while I wouldn’t count on it being stocked at your local Blockbuster, I can confirm that Netflix is on the ball.
But is it worth a rental? I caught it on an Air Canada flight a few weeks back and had mixed feelings.
World Hum Travel Movie Club: ‘Away We Go’
by Eva Holland, Eli Ellison | 06.12.09 | 11:04 AM ET
Publicity still via IGN Eva Holland and Eli Ellison debate the summer's hippest road trip flick