We always have a good chuckle about travelers who end up on the wrong continent by making an online booking to someplace with the same name, but we shouldn't laugh too much--there's just as good a chance we'll do the same one day.
In a recent incident, an Argentinean woman tried to book a flight to Sydney. We'd be thinking Australia, and so was she, but her flights took her to Sydney, Nova Scotia.
The funny thing is that tourists have ended up in the Canadian Sydney by mistake before. Perhaps they should start selling toy kangaroos in their souvenir shops and apart from some unexpected weather, maybe nobody will notice.
Though the summer travel season is winding down, you can still have some warm weather fun through September. Head up to the province of Nova Scotia and point your GPS to the Shubenacadie River. The guides from Shubenacadie River Adventure Tours have all the gear you need to enjoy some late-season up-river white water rafting.
If you've never celebrated a quadricentennial before, get thee to Quebec City this weekend, because QC is turning 400.
Quebec has actually been celebrating all year long, but the big blowout is this Thursday through Sunday. To be honest, give the line-up of events, a three-day event may not have been necessary, let alone a whole year. There's the opening night party, featuring a show from Van Halen, ending with fireworks over the St. Lawrence River. After that, the offerings get a little less blockbuster, so you'll surely have a few hours to kill.
We've been so focused on July 2 and July 4, we almost forgot that today's Canada Day. Happy 141st birthday!
To mark the day, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a speech at Peace Tower in Ottawa, and a formal flag-raising ceremony was also held on Parliament Hill.
There are some big things coming up for Canada this year: Quebec City will celebrate the 400th anniversary of its founding (two days from now!), British Columbia will turn 150 and Nova Scotia will celebrate 250 years of representative government. Parties: Always a good excuse for a visit!
Police are trying to figure out why human feet keep washing up on beaches along Canada's West Coast. Five severed feet have been found in an area south of Vancouver in the past year. The latest incident occurred on Monday at Westham Island.
The psycho responsible for the beached feet hasn't left many clues, and none of the body parts have been traced to their owners.
The foot that appeared on Monday was the first right foot to be involved in the mystery. The first four feet found were all chopped from people's left side. Perhaps there's a serial killer/performance artist out there in Canada who's trying to make some sort of political statement?
More likely, the foot-cutting psycho is probably a super-discerning foot fetishist with a beachfront condo. Either way, if you're visiting Vancouver any time soon it might be a good idea to wear closed toed shoes to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.
So checking out the wildlife at your local ski resort doesn't do it for you? That's where Great Bear Tours comes in.
The swanky outfit has its own floating wind-and-solar-powered lodge, which you can only reach via seaplane. On arrival, you'll be whisked away to your room--surprisingly complete with private bath. Depending on how much you want to see and how much you have to spend, you can stay for up to seven nights.
Each day you'll head out in a small group with a wildlife expert. You'll check out estuaries by kayak and inlets by boat, all in search of Yogi and friends. Best of all, when you return each night you'll be pampered with fine food and wine--no "pick-a-nick" basket meals here.
You have to get in touch for pricing info so you can bet your trip won't be cheap. But isn't it worth paying those professionals a little extra when wild animals are within striking distance? Better start listing your teddy bears on eBay now to fund your adventure.
We love that scene in "The Great Outdoors" when John Candy takes the kids to the dump to watch the bears feed off garbage. Things start getting a little out hand after the bears mount the hood of their car, remember? Funny, sure, but it's not necessarily the way we'd go about bear watching. Luckily the folks at Whistler/Blackcomb resort have come up with a better way to do some wildlife spotting.
Bear expert Michael Allen has been studying the animals in British Columbia for the last 15 years. His work with bears has been internationally recognized, and he's the host of the BBC's Natural World program "In the Company of Bears." For $190, Mike will take you out at sunset--in a 4x4 and on foot--to see bears in their natural habitat without having to worry about being disemboweled or otherwise maimed.
You'll drive and walk through old growth Hemlock forests and high-alpine meadows to see bear dens, bear daybeds and--if you're lucky--a mother and cub playing together. Something this precious is usually only reserved for the fronts of Hallmark sympathy cards, so steel your nerves to fend off the tears.
You may not realize it, but Montreal has been a global cultural mecca for decades. Sure it's frequently visited by University of Vermont students interested in legal boozing, but the city is also home to one of the most progressive electronic music, fashion, design and cuisine scenes in all of North America. Lucky for you, then that the good folks from Tourisme Montreal have made planning a long weekend there even easier with a new website.
