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Canada Travel Guide

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What It's Like at Quebec City's Wild and Wintery Carnaval

February 4, 2010 at 4:35 PM | by Chanize | 2 Comments

Thousands of people are snowsuiting up and heading to Quebec City for Winter Carnaval, held this year from Jan.29 through Feb.14.

Despite frigid temperatures (it plummeted to -4F on Saturday), locals didn’t seem to mind the weather, instead numbing the cold with the potent Port and brandy-infused Caribou liquor

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Use Twitter to Stalk Jimmy Fallon in Montreal

Where: Montreal, QC, Canada
January 19, 2010 at 2:05 PM | by cmb | 1 Comment

While some celebs were getting poured on in L.A., Jimmy Fallon proved all the cool kids were actually in Canada. The Late Night host spent the weekend in Montreal for a friend's bachelor party where, he announced on his show Friday, they planned to do some snowmobiling and ice fishing. But, apparently, they decided to do some eating and bar hopping instead.

On Sunday, he tweeted, "Love to Montreal. Had a blast this weekend. Joe Beef, Chez Serge and Stereo. Great places." So, where are these great places? Joe Beef, located at the corner of De la Commune Street and De la Calličre Street, in Old Montreal, has only 28 seats and a limited menu to ensure each customer has great service and each meal is as fresh as it can be. Every night there is a choice of four appetizers and four main courses written on a blackboard in the restaurant. Main dishes include tripe-a beef, fresh fish or traditional Montreal cuisine ranging from $18 to $40.They also have a “raw bar” where you get to choose from three or four different kinds of oysters, clams, crabs or lobsters ($8 to $18).

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Halle Berry Proves More Than A-List By Skipping Security

January 12, 2010 at 9:13 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

It appears that the perks of being famous don’t stop when you reach the airport. Last week Halle Berry was too cool to wait in line for airport security in Montreal, and was whisked past all the passengers at the airport.

A police officer escorted her, her boyfriend, and her little girl to the front of the line. Apparently the boyfriend—Gabriel Aubry—played the “we’re going to miss our flight” line, and that’s what allowed them to skip ahead of everyone else.

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Vancouver Will Keep Olympians Well Stocked With Condoms

January 8, 2010 at 2:54 PM | by JetSetCD | 1 Comment

Are you packing up your parkas and mini American flags for the Vancouver Winter Olympics yet? The games begin in only a month, and we're already very excited. Still, we expect that Olympics visitors will be getting excited in other ways, and there's a health consortium who'll be on the streets in Vancouver just in case you forgot to pack your condoms.

Calling themselves "SafeGames 2010," the troupe of 200 or so outreach workers will distribute "SafeKits containing condoms, lube, lip balm, hand heaters, glow sticks, DVDs, and other incentives, as well as informational cards and referrals to local service providers and resources." Oh yes—and here's the best part—the SafeGames folks will be dressed in costume, as prophylactic superheroes with names like Captain Condom, Epidemiology Guy, Caped and Always-Protected Crusader, Buprenorphine Babe, Sir Syringe, Arm-Fall-Off Boy and Bi-Furious.

Where to find them, after the jump.

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The New Year Brings A New Name And Maybe New Flights To Toronto City Airport

Where: Toronto, ON, Canada
January 7, 2010 at 8:49 AM | by kjb | 2 Comments

We're barely a couple weeks in and already 2010 looks like a slow year for the travel industry, and airports around the globe are more likely to see reduced service rather than an increase in new routes. However, the Toronto City Centre Airport has been a hit with travelers on Porter Airlines lately, and the Toronto Port Authority is thinking about expanding things a bit.

The airport’s first big change is a new name. As of November it became known as the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport in honor of the Canadian flying ace from the First World War. The old name will still be around for the next month or so, but just remember the name change the next time you and your friends are playing airport Trivial Pursuit.

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Carry-Ons Banned Through Tonight On USA-Bound Canada Flights

Where: Canada
December 29, 2009 at 8:39 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

The effects of the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253 are definitely still being felt by air travelers today, but perhaps those most stuck by heightened security measures are passengers flying into the USA from Canada.

USA-bound flights from Canada are banning most carry-on luggage through 7pm today, in an effort to alleviate long lines and delayed flights thanks to longer security screenings. Hand-inspecting each passenger's personal items does take some time, after all. If you, or someone you know, is making the border jump today, you'd better take note of the 13 things that are allowed through security, which don't include magazines!

Everything but these 13 things are banned through today...

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Niagara Falls In The Winter Isn't As Bad As You'd Think

December 10, 2009 at 12:29 PM | by kjb | 1 Comment

Even though the winter storms have started to blow across North America, believe it or not that now is a great time to visit Niagara Falls. Ideally you's want to drop by one of the nation's biggest tourist traps during warmer weather, but if you’ve already been during the tourist season, then you'll discover a new side of the place when things chill out a little bit. The Falls are obviously still doing their waterfall thing, but the Winter Festival of Lights helps transform the area into Canada’s largest lights festival.

Grab a cup of coffee from Tim Horton’s—there’s a huge one right on Clifton Hill—and head down to where the water is flowing. The falls are illuminated in rainbow colors for the holidays, and on certain nights, they even shoot some fireworks to close out the evening. Away from the falls there are over three million lights decorating trees, shrubs, and everything in between. They have over 100 animated displays dedicated to all kinds of Disney magic, just in case a trip down to Florida isn’t in Santa’s sleigh this year.

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Air Canada Introduces In-Flight WiFi Just In Time For Christmas

Where: Canada
November 23, 2009 at 9:04 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Just the other day we were talking about Air Canada and complaining about their decision to start charging for better seats in coach, but today we have a little bit of better news. We knew the airline was working behind the scenes to equip some of their planes with in-flight WiFi, and the first stage of the installation has been completed.

In time for the holiday season, the airline is testing out the wireless Internet magic over a ten week period—just to see how things go at first. They’re the first Canadian airline to provide the service, and passengers will be busy surfing on routes from Montreal and Toronto to Los Angeles. Gogo will be providing the service, but at first, the wireless will only be available when the planes are actually flying over the United States.

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Relive The Magic of Twilight's 'New Moon' At These Vancouver Spots

November 20, 2009 at 1:04 PM | by cmb | 0 Comments

New Moon has such a hold on the world right now that even Martha Stewart admitted to having dreams about Robert Pattinson. The movie's cast hasn't been helping matters either with a media blitz that has taken them around the world, but let's not forget where it all started, in Vancouver.

The "New Moon" movie was filmed in Vancity last spring and its stars seemed to make the most of their time there. Check out a few of their favorite spots and find out how you can see them all for yourself:

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Air Canada Gets Into The Fee-For-All With Exit Row Seat Charges

Where: Canada
November 19, 2009 at 8:39 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Air Canada has been busy spending lots of cash on stuff like iPhone Apps, in-flight WiFi, and snazzy software for your Blackberry. This stuff all costs money, and like all other airlines, the money probably isn’t just pouring in up in Canada. So the country’s flagship carrier is opening up the fee and charge toolbox in hopes of finding a good way to boost revenue.

The airline will begin to charge for seats with more room to stretch out your legs. That means scoring an exit row or bulkhead seat with the online seat selector has become a thing of the past. It will set you back at least $14 each way to reserve one of those seats. We do love getting an exit seat, but it’s kind of sad that we are willing to pay for an upgrade—after all, it’s still coach.

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Tourism Vancouver Stirring Up Olympic Hype With Free Trips

November 16, 2009 at 1:09 PM | by egw | 0 Comments

Have you been watching the Olympic countdown on Vancouver2010.com? With less than three months to go before the Winter Olympics, we've already seen promos for the "Today" show's trip to Vancouver in February, but Tourism Vancouver wants to make sure that Matt, Meredith and Al aren't the only ones in town for the games.

Tourism Vancouver's Olympic Sweepstakes is offering up three prizes for people who sign up for their monthly newsletter. The gold prize—relating to Olympics medals, of course—is a deluxe Olympic package including tickets to alpine skiing and the closing ceremony, plus plane tickets and a hotel room. Not that Silver and Bronze are too shabby either, with hockey qualifying tickets and a Wii up for grabs.

While you plan your trip to Vancouver, you can follow along on the torch's journey with an interactive map. It's in Prince Edward Island now but may be coming to your town soon, if you're lucky enough to be in Canada.

Related Stories:
· Sign up for the Tourism Vancouver monthly newsletter here. [TourismVancouver.com]
· Is It Time To Start Booking Rooms For the Vancouver Olympics? (YES.) [HC]
· LGet Thee To The Jetty: A Perfect Plane Spotting In Vancouver [Jaunted]

[Photo of the Olympic Village under construction: roland]

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Porter Pilot Has A Medical Situation In The Air...His Own

Where: Halifax, NS, Canada
November 16, 2009 at 11:24 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

There was a little scare in the air over the weekend for passengers and crew aboard a Porter Airlines flight from Halifax, Nova Scotia to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The pilot of the plane apparently passed out and lost consciousness shortly after the plane took off. The plane made an in-flight U-turn and headed back to Halifax with the copilot at the controls.

It isn’t known what exactly caused the pilot’s medical situation, but he was able to leave the plane and walk into an ambulance upon landing. He was of course taken to the hospital to check things out. All of the passengers remained on the plane until a replacement crew reported for duty—hopefully they gave out lots of their complimentary wine—and the plane later made it to its final destination.

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