Kate Harris’s book is a must for the travellers on your gift list; discovering Norway and Iceland; indulging in a wellness weekend
Modern explorer Kate Harris’s story may not compel you to follow in the skinny tire tracks she left on an often-gruelling bicycle trip on the ancient Silk Road trading route. But one thing is for sure: She’ll leave you breathless with her beautiful writing about her 10,000-kilometre cycling odyssey through 10 countries in her book…
In the Osoyoos region, there’s an authentic, unpretentious aura that’s impossible not to appreciate
The sting of a messy double-bogey on the first hole at the Osoyoos Golf Club doesn't last long. After traipsing up to the second tee, I grab my big bad driver and survey the scene. Below me a sweet, serpentine fairway careens toward a beautiful sand-guarded green that hangs high above the lake. In all…
As the local orca family hunts sea lions, the resident bald eagles leave for a pre-winter feast of salmon
When you live in the coastal rainforest, you learn the natural indicators that presage seasonal change. The mornings are getting darker, the days are becoming shorter and the evenings are definitely cooler. We swam on Sept. 3 but the ocean was noticeably colder. And we spent less time out front going through our exercise routines…
Cruising along: Airport volumes are up, cruise ship traffic strong, hotel revenues on the rise, and food and drink sales growing
By Jock Finlayson and Kristine St.-Laurent Business Council of B.C. It turns out that 2017 marked a 14-year high for annual international tourism to B.C. Some 7.9 million international travellers entered the province last year, an increase of 3.5 per cent over 2016. And the data for the first quarter of 2018 look even better, setting the…
One Ocean Expeditions’ Fiddles and Sticks tour combines iconic East Coast golf with great outdoor adventure and local culture
We’re smashing through the waves toward shore in our Zodiac. Heads lowered, shoulders braced against the wind, salt air stings the nostrils. The beach lies just ahead. We’re ready for any action. Golf action, in this case. We’re the shock troops of One Ocean Expeditions hitting the beach on Cape Breton Island in what can…
Putting the Frankie back in the water signals the coming of summer adventures. But first we must perform the ritual launch dance
The day we put the Frankie back in the water and moor her at the community marina is a day of ritual celebration at our house. The day symbolizes a return to some of our family’s favourite activities – cruising in the local waters of the Salish Sea, fishing for wild salmon, and swimming in…
The Fandrich family has built a powerhouse adventure tourism business along the swirling, azure Thompson River in B.C.
Braden Fandrich was just four years old when his father, Kumsheen Rafting Resort founder Bernie Fandrich, put him in a whitewater raft for the very first time. It was prophetic, in a way. Braden would literally follow his father’s footsteps into the adventure tourism industry, as did his mother Lorna so many years before.…
Forty years ago, it was a deserted ground, tinged in sadness. Today, the region is enriched with spirit and purpose
Forty years ago, in 1978, my wife and I agreed to cap our first year of marriage with an adventure. We decided to follow in the paddle-strokes of good friends who had just kayaked to what was then called the South Moresby archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Islands. We chose the first two weeks of…
At every turn, a mind-blowing vista opened before us. But always – far below – lay Lake O’Hara, an artist’s palette in aquamarine
A Red Deer friend described Lake O’Hara Lodge in Yoho National Park, B.C., as the most beautiful place she’d ever been. My wife and I have done our share of travel to exotic and wonderful places so my expectations for our three-day visit to O’Hara were tempered with a grain of salt. The lodge, accessible…
Travel Insider: airbnb-type RV rental operation gaining traction; eco-tourism adventures on Canada’s West Coast
Hit the road this summer with an RV from wheelestate.ca Hundreds of RV trailers sit idle in fields for a large part of summer. Cherie and Chad Ball noticed them and got the idea to start a company called wheelestate.ca. The Okotoks, Alta., couple thought that when the owners aren’t using their recreational trailers, they…