I’m not a passionate gardener but I do appreciate the garden passion. And on a very warm, sunny afternoon in Montreal this summer, I spent several hours ooh-ing and aah-ing over dozens and dozens of gardens of extreme delight. International Flora Montréal 2006 takes place at the Lock Gardens on the Quays of the Old…
Teeter-tottering on a boulder, I was encased in $80,000 worth of shiny new Land Rover and sweating. I hadn’t been behind the wheel of a vehicle for around 10 years and I sure didn’t want to flip this baby. I put my foot on the brakes. Did that scraping rock-against-metal sound mean the underbelly of…
There’s a big flap going on in Cap-Tourmente National Wildlife Area, an hour’s drive east of Quebec City on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. The 2,400 acre-wide wetland preserve is in the heart of the Atlantic Flyway and is a pit stop for up to 100,000 Snow Geese on their way to…
If the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, does a rhinosplasty in India or France mean you’ll pay less through the nose? Sometime soon, someone you know will travel abroad for a medical procedure that is becoming more and more expensive state-side. It could be a heart bypass that costs $100K in the…
It’s only open each year from January through April. But the Ice Hotel Quebec- Canada, on the outskirts of Quebec City, sports a different architecture of ice and snow each winter. Here, you can surround yourself in the epitome of coolness bu viewing gorgeous ice sculptures and paintings, dancing in the N’Ice Club, tossing back…
When your hotel been awarded as “#1 in Vancouver” and “Best Service & Value in Canada” by Travel & Leisure Magazine readers, as well as “No. 2 Hotel in Canada” by Condé Nast Traveler, you can rest assured that the Wedgewood Hotel in Vancouver is one very special and intimate boutique. After all, it looks…
At VagaBlond, we love bargains! So when it’s cold and wintry in Toronto, we try to find you a deal to hot and balmy Hawaii. And here it is on Zoom Airlines, a low-fare carrier that begins round-trip flights from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Honolulu on December 17 for just $299 CA. Zoom also…
You may not believe in the concept of energy choreography, but the bets are on you might feel its benefits if you stayed at Toronto’s latest designer hotel, the Cosmopolitan. Sylvia Noble, energy consultant to stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ron Howard, is the woman behind the cosmic circuitry of the 97-suite hotel, which…
From the outside it looked like a Scandinavian Motel 6, all low-slung, buckwheat-colored cedar and wrap-around parking lot. But any semblance to a budget chain disappeared when I walked into the lobby of Vancouver Island’s five-star Brentwood Bay Lodge & Spa
Gwyneth Paltrow slept here. So can you if you’ve got $200 – $500 Canadian. At this great rate, the Hotel Godin in Montreal is very affordable for US and European travelers who want something hip, splashy and sassy. It’s a boutique hotel, a designer hotel, a 4-star hotel, and a lot more for a lot…
Canmore has fast become the place to go in the Rocky Mountains. Only about 20 minutes from the busier Banff, it has grown to offer all conveniences of Banff, but has avoided the large crowds. Mytic Springs is the newest boutique hotel in the area. The intimate resort has been receiving rave reviews.