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Destinations Archive

Asia

India floats my boat

ALAPPUZHA, India -- A woman in a lime-coloured sari paddles a canoe past us. Her clothing blends into the emerald landscape. PRINT | 17/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Go Far East for the least

Always popular with backpackers, Southeast Asia has become a hot destination for cruisers. More and more, fall and winter travellers are heading to the Far East for its warm weather, different cultures, friendly people and improved port facilities. PRINT | 17/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
SRI LANKA, after the war

Serendip, Arab traders called Sri Lanka ages ago, the Island of Gems. From this, our word serendipity is derived, the gift of finding unexpected but beautiful things. PRINT | 17/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0

British Isles

A penny-pincher's guide to London

LONDON may have offered writer Samuel Johnson "all that life can afford," but 300 years later, it is the most expensive city in the world to visit. PRINT | 5/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Looking for Nessie; finding our roots

Before my wife and I left to hike the Scottish Highlands’ Great Glen Way, which includes the entire 37 kilometres of Loch Ness, my mother had one piece of advice: “Bring your camera — you never know, yours could be the photo that makes a million dollars.” PRINT | 5/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0

Canada

World Class

TORONTO — Ah, Toronto. The city the rest of the country loves to hate. PRINT | 3/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0

Caribbean

Belize - A Traveller's Guide

How to get there ONLINE | 15/11/2009 2:41 PM | 0
Paradise? You better Belize it!

IT’S not hard to see why Madonna sang so longingly about this idyllic island paradise in her 1980s hit La Isla Bonita. She was writing about Ambergris Caye, a 40-kilometre-long island off the mainland of Belize. San Pedro is the town on this island, which is the most popular tourist spot in Belize, but still home to only about 5,000 people. PRINT | 14/11/2009 1:00 AM | 0
GRENADA: An enchanted island

Occupied for centuries by the Spanish, French and English, the spice island of Grenada, is now home-ground to the progeny of West African slaves transported here to work on sugar cane plantations. Today, after revolutions, political strife and invasion by American forces, Grenada is a peaceful land. PRINT | 31/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Promised lands

‘It’s the sand,” says one patron on a bar stool overlooking the cay. PRINT | 17/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0

Cruises

Things Are Looking Up

Travelling in the shoulder season, which is just before or after the high season, has its advantages. Prices are lower, the crowds are smaller and most people involved in the tourist market are happy to see you. PRINT | 7/11/2009 1:00 AM | 0
CRUISE NEWS: Say aloha to Hawaiian cruises

Most winter cruise stories are about the Caribbean or Mexico, but one area that is left out much of the time is Hawaii. PRINT | 31/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Cruise News: Do your homework to get best travel deals

Every week, someone emails me to ask if they should book their cruise now or wait for a better deal closer to departure. It's a great question, but I don't have the answer. PRINT | 17/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
CRUISE NEWS: Small but spirited

IF you counted the passengers on all 10 ships in the Cruise West fleet then doubled that number, you still wouldn't reach the entire 2,100-passenger capacity of Holland America's Eurodam. PRINT | 10/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
CRUISE NEWS: Mickey, Minnie going to Vancouver

Disney Cruise Lines' announcement that Mickey and Minnie would sail out of Vancouver to Alaska in 2011 couldn't have come at a better time. PRINT | 3/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
CRUISE NEWS: Cruise lines follow the money

There was a time when a cruise ship moved season by season on familiar routes to the same destinations for several years. But these days, cruise lines are changing it up. PRINT | 19/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
CRUISE NEWS: Chill hits Alaska cruise industry

Cruise suppliers, retailers and operators in Alaska will be holding more meetings in the middle of their revenue season to speak to legislators in that state about the diminishing cruise market in Alaska. PRINT | 12/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Head in the clouds

"I'm sitting in a very nice cafe just outside the Medieval Cathedral here in Mallorca having a cappuccino and typing into my laptop. As the bells ring for Sunday Mass I ponder the odd set of things in my life now... I have travelled halfway around the world on transport that would have been amazing only 50 years ago, I've chatted in real-time across the planet from outside a building that was built in the Middle Ages. PRINT | 12/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0

Mexico

Do the Cancun

CANCUN -- When the Mayans erected their majestic stone cities 1,000 years or so ago, they typically built in the tropical rainforests of Mexico and central America. Tulum was unique among those cities -- the only one that was walled and the only one facing the sea. PRINT | 24/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Puerto Vallarta satisfies many tastes

FOR a city’s whose fame as a tourist destination was built on a Hollywood infidelity, Puerto Vallarta has evolved into a destination with a loyal following. PRINT | 10/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0

South America

BRETT'S ODYSSEY: Chile -- I'll be back

The trip that started some seven months before with a snowboard in tow, a flight attendant cartwheeling down the aisle and not the faintest clue regarding the Spanish language had now come full circle. PRINT | 31/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
BRETT'S ODYSSEY: Argentina fills your dreams like a long-lost friend

EVER since we’d met in Central America, I’d been telling Noble how great Argentina was — how warm the people were, how beautiful the landscape and, for hungry kids like us, how delicious the empanadas. PRINT | 10/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
BRETT'S ODYSSEY: Bolivia --Anything but easy

As so many times before, the camera is pointed out the window of a moving bus, watching in real time as a red sun pokes its head over a dusty, vast, undisturbed desert. PRINT | 26/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
BRETT'S ODYSSEY: In the shadow of history

WHEN I crossed the border from Ecuador to Peru, I'd been on the road for five straight months. ONLINE | 12/09/2009 10:59 AM | 0
Welcome to The Show

Enter Ecuador... shot comes in showing two individuals huddling around a small mountain of gear. There's a drunkard lying face down on the cold pavement some ten paces away and judging by the fact exhaled air looks like cigarette smoke we're forced to assume temperatures are low. The time is quarter past five in the morning. The windows to the customs office are dark and lifeless. Fingers are far too stiff to play guitar. PRINT | 29/08/2009 1:00 AM | 0

United States

Flori-deals GALORE

111This is the first time the Orlando CVB has had a specific savings program just for us. There are more than 70 offers that range from discounted or free accommodation to deals on attractions or eateries. Here are some examples. PRINT | 14/11/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Flori-deals galore

THE Orlando Convention & Visitors Bureau is hoping to entice you to visit with its new Made for Canadians (1-800-551-2006, www.V isitFlorida.com/Canada) promotion valid through Apr. 30. This is the first time the Orlando CVB has had a specific savings program just for us. There are more than 70 offers that range from discounted or free accommodation to deals on attractions or eateries. Here are some examples. ONLINE | 14/11/2009 2:49 PM | 0
All-ages fun in the Palm Springs sun

WITH the hot weather and relaxed vibe, Palm Springs, Calif., has always drawn the snowbird crowd. But young people dig the heat, too. PRINT | 14/11/2009 1:00 AM | 0
As Big Apples go it's

111I'm continually surprised at how many Canadians have never visited New York, despite the fact that Canadians represent the second-largest number of international visitors to NYC (after the U.K.). PRINT | 3/11/2009 3:20 AM | 1
Vegas knows how to do nuptials

LAS VEGAS, NEV. -- The bride wore jeans. The groom: shorts and flipflops. And Elvis officiated. "That was fun," 33-year-old Arizona mail clerk Stacie Nichols tells me within moments of exchanging vows with new husband Matt Lucas at the campy Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel. "We just got married by the King." ONLINE | 24/10/2009 12:47 PM | 0
Vegas ... Rat Pack style

Before Las Vegas had names like Wynn, Trump, Paris, or New York it was the Dunes, Sands, and Stardust that drew gamblers to this desert city. PRINT | 24/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Groom will get cold feet for sure

Las Vegas, Nev. -- Brides and grooms may have cold feet but so will the guests at Las Vegas' chilliest wedding venue - a sub-zero lounge made entirely of ice. PRINT | 24/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
All in the Family

MINNEAPOLIS — The lights go down and the darkness frightens the two girls who cling to their parents. PRINT | 10/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Aloha adventure

Hawaii is the sort of place you want to retire. Tomorrow. From sun-kissed beaches to lush, mist-covered peaks, it's the sort of natural beauty that you dream about, and it doesn't hurt that the place is forever an ocean away from the nearest snow-covered driveway. PRINT | 3/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Unexpected Orlando

In the shadow of its famous theme parks, there's a vibrant city ripe for discovery. But who knew? Orlando has become so synonymous with Disney World and Universal Studios Florida that few visitors know that there's a wealth of arts, cultural and historical attractions not far from the admission gates. PRINT | 26/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
THE BEACH

Let us examine the fundamental difference between a vacation and a holiday. A cursory examination of the two words will illustrate this. PRINT | 26/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Six in Sin City

When it comes to adding a jolt of adrenalin to a vacation, no destination beats Las Vegas. PRINT | 19/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
MICHIGAN ACCOMPLISHED

BELLAIRE, Mich. -- What comes to mind when you think of Michigan? Cars, without a doubt. Maybe Detroit, home to Motown and the Red Wings? Or perhaps the derelict houses of Michael Moore's beleaguered Flint? PRINT | 19/09/2009 1:00 AM | 1
Sweet holes Alabama Golf

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. — Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers, says Lynyrd Skynyrd, but more to the point, it has the Fighting Joe. PRINT | 29/08/2009 1:00 AM | 0

Western Europe

Trulli GREAT

PUGLIAREGION, ITALY — When the plans were being made for a 30-day trip through Italy this spring, one thing was agreed upon quickly — there would be no five-star or chain hotels. We would spend our nights in bed and breakfasts, apartments, trulli and castles. PRINT | 7/11/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Nicer than Nice

The Côte d'Azur is indeed one of Europe's most attractive destinations -- what with Nice and Cannes and Monaco -- but for some of us it has become immersed in recent glamour that's foreign to its history and obscures its better nature. Our last stroll in Cannes was ruined by a bumper-to-bumper lineup of trucks, vans, coaches, platforms and stage equipment. The clutter not only offends the eye but diminishes the history and obscures the beauty. PRINT | 10/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Discover the 'other' Brenner Pass

Crossing the Alps is easy. PRINT | 19/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
The 'hazards' of Fribourg

FRIBOURG, Switzerland -- After losing one golf ball under a stairwell and another one in the river, you'd think I'd be ready to call it a day. PRINT | 12/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0
Of prudes and nudes

LEUKERBAD, Switzerland -- I booked a full day ahead for the mixed-gender nude spa. One needs a little bit of mental prep time for that sort of thing. PRINT | 12/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0