Sea to Sky Highway From Vancouver

One way to explore this corner of Canada is to take the Sea to Sky Highway. You can use the city of Vancouver as a base to see the sights along this highway in a day, or you could make it a driving trip to explore for a couple of days.

Tours are an option, but we think getting a rental car is the way to go. This highway is a twisty, windy, and very scenic road with beautiful sights at almost every turn. “Sea to Sky Highway” is the name given to part of British Columbia Highway 99 starting just north of Horseshoe Bay about 12 miles (20 km) from Vancouver and taking you to Whistler.

Much of it is a two lane undivided highway running along cliffs and paralleling Howe Sound, but many improvements are being made, widening it and adding median barriers. Take it slow and easy…. first because you have to, second because you’ll want to… there are just so many places you’ll want to stop and admire the scenery. You could do the drive in two to three hours if you went straight through, but why would you want to?

What kind of sights are there to entice you to stop? Well, Horseshoe Bay right at the beginning is worth a look. It’s a charming little seaside village with shops and cafes. Once you leave Horseshoe Bay, you’ll be winding through the coastal old-growth rain forest, then the mountain regions of British Columbia.

For about half the drive you’ll be driving along Howe Sound which is really a deep ocean fjord. Drive along to Porteau Cove enjoying stunning coastal vistas. At nearby Brittannia Beach you can stop and tour the BC Mining Museum if that interests you.

On your way to Squamish, stop and take a 10 minute walk to Shannon Falls. At 1,100 feet (335 m) it’s one of the tallest waterfalls in Canada. The trail is steep but paved.

In the cute little city of Squamish itself, train buffs can visit the West Coat Heritage Railway Park. Squamish is an old mill town… now it’s a haven for outdoor activities and a good place to find a B&B, a rustic cabin, or a nice hotel so you can really explore.

Heading north, you’ll find a viewpoint where you can get a great view of the Tantalus Range before you pass through Garibaldi Provincial Park. You can stop in the park for hikes or picnics.

Check out Brandywine Falls… different from Shannon Falls… shorter but also pretty amazing. And then there is Whistler itself… famous as a ski resort and now for the 2010 Olympics, it’s worth a visit at any time of the year.

Canadians like to boast that the Sea to Sky Highway is one of the most beautiful and scenic drives you’ll find anywhere in the world. We’ve driven many scenic highways that can make this same claim, but we think the Canadians are right about this one!

Responsible Travel

Responsible travel, eco-travel, sustainable travel – there are slightly different meanings to each of these travel phrases, but they do overlap.

The eco-tourist is concerned about how travel affects the environment. You might buy carbon offsets to compensate for your flight or make sure your hotel offers the chance to reuse towels. If you’re hiking, you stay on trails and “pack it in, pack it out”. You respect wildlife you encounter.

For sustainable travel, you want to make sure that your tour operator gives back to the community… that your travel helps to sustain the local culture, not destroy it. You use local guides, try to eat in locally owned restaurants so that the people in that area profit.

If you want them to protect animals in a National Park, for instance, it has to be worth something to them… not just to some international tour operator. That sounds pretty responsible, doesn’t it? Well, it is responsible.

If you’re really motivated to do good when you travel, you can participate in volunteer vacations and build shelters for people who have suffered natural disasters. You can travel with medical organizations to take health clinics to remote locations that have no medical facilities.

To give you our definition, we think responsible travel means what it says…. you should be responsible for your impact on the environment, and responsible for the way your travel affects local people and their way of life.

We say over and over again that we think everyone can be an ambassador when they travel. You can show the people you visit that you care about their culture, that you understand them…. and by letting them get to know you, they’ll learn something about your country that they can’t learn from TV or newspaper or propaganda. That kind of responsible travel promotes understanding and understanding promotes peace.

When we went to a wedding in Pakistan, years ago, I remember talking with the father of the groom… the groom had gone to live abroad for many years, including several years close to us in the U.S. His parents were worried about the influence that our “foreign culture” might have had on him.

When they met us, they told us that they were so happy because, in spite of all of our differences, we were really just like them… not like some of those TV shows that they saw from the U.S.

Many small acts of responsible travel can add up and eventually, if we all work at it, they can have a positive affect on the way people understand each other… and might even start making the world a more peaceful place.

We rejoice in the differences we find when we visit new places. Responsible travel can infuse money into an economy and help people modernize, but maintain their cultures. We want to travel as gently and responsibly as possible so that the differences remain for the benefit of everyone for a long, long time.

Regional Jets – Airplane Size Matters

How big is your plane and why should you care? If you end up flying on regional jets, you’ll soon discover that airplane size matters for how much you can take, and sometimes how long the flight is. When you’re booking and packing for that trip, it pays to know ahead of time what you can expect. Not all airports are served by big Boeings or Airbuses.

You might expect to find smaller aircraft used for flying into and out of smaller cities, but in the U.S., feeder airlines that use those smaller jets may even make up half of the air traffic at the country’s biggest airports. In Europe, Australia and Asia, smaller jets are being used more and more for mid-distance flights that don’t draw a lot of passengers. Airplane size matters to the bottom line of the airlines.

The seat pitch and width (the distance between seats from front to back for legroom and how much room you have from armrest to armrest) is about the same in regional jets as it is in the larger planes, but the overall impression may be that you have less room because the plane itself is smaller… the ceilings are lower, and the aisle is narrower, the walls curve in closer.

It all may feel more cramped. If this would be uncomfortable for you or you just don’t want to deal with it, check to see if there is a full size jet serving the city you are flying to.

If it’s a long flight, bring food. Regional jet flights may be as long as four hours. OK… you can’t get free food on most of the major airlines in the U.S. now either, but most of them sell meals or at least snacks. Some flights on the smaller planes may not have food available.

Most of your normal size carry-on luggage will not fit in the overheads on these smaller jets. In Europe, Australia and other places, you will simply have to check your bag.

In the U.S. you have two options… Which you choose determines where to find your luggage at the end of the flight. One option is to take your carry-on to the gate where it will be “gate checked”. If you choose this option, the bag will be unloaded at your destination and returned to you on the ground next to the plane or in the jetway. If you choose to check your bag at the ticket counter, your bag will come up in baggage claim.

Remember that most regional jets are narrower, so they only have two and two seating or one and two. Some of them are small enough that there is no exit row. When you are choosing your seat, check to see what 3D is… It might not be an aisle… it could be a window seat.

Find out what kind of aircraft you are flying on so if you go online to choose a seat, you’ll know what it is you really want… not what you thought you wanted. Bottom line is…. with regional jets, airplane size matters.

Polish Aviation Museum

The Polish Air Museum (Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego) may not be one museum that every tourist wants to go to, but if you like aviation history and old airplanes, it’s worth a visit.

It is in a suburb of Krakow at a historic airfield about 7 km (4.3 miles) east of the Old Town. The museum took over a few buildings and part of the grounds of the Rakowice-Czyzny airfield, one of the oldest military airfields in Europe.

It was an active airfield up through World War II. After that the expanding city of Krakow encroached on the field. The military moved out and finally so did commercial aviation. Activity at the airfield stopped in 1963.

The outside aircraft are heavy on types not seen in Western Europe and North America. The outdoor lineup we call “MiG Alley” is impressive even if the aircraft have seen better days. There are old Tupolevs, crop sprayers and Soviet-era rocket launchers. Most are not in great condition, but you won’t see things like this at home.

Two indoor displays had us running around with my hubby saying, “I’ve never seen that before… only in pictures,” or “I never thought I’d see that!” What caused the excitement? Some of his favorites were a Tupolev Tu-25, a Grigorovich M-15, and a couple of Yakolevs… a Yak-17 and Yak 23.

There will soon be a new building at the Polish Air Museum. We saw it under construction, and we’d love to see what the exhibits will look like when it’s finished.

You can take a taxi or a tram. From the center of town near the Main Railway station you can catch a number of trams…. We took tram Number 4 out and Number 10 back to the center of town. Don’t go to the Czyzny stop… as we found out the hard way, this is a couple of stops too far.

The stop before the museum is Wieczysta. If you miss that one, watch the side of the road, and you’ll see the Polish Air Museum logo. You can get off at the next stop and walk back‚Ķ that stop after the museum is called VWA. Don’t ask what that stands for… just get off at the stop if you missed the first one.

Either way, walk a short way on Aleja Jana Pawla II, then a couple of hundred meters up a street called Mariana Markowshiego which goes through the park and up to the museum. The walk is about the same distance from either tram stop.

The address of the museum is Aleja Jana Pawla II 39, but the museum is tucked into the Park Lotnikow Polskich and behind some apartments. It is open from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Tuesdays through Fridays. Saturdays and Sundays the hours are 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.

The gates and ticket office close 30 minutes before closing time. The museum is closed on Mondays, but you can walk around the outdoor exhibits. Try to get there on a day when the building are open; the really old aircraft are all inside buildings.

If you like aviation history and old planes, take a half a day away from Old Town Krakow and visit the Polish Aviation Museum.

Pilgrimage To Santiago

For over a thousand years, the faithful have taken the pilgrimage to Santiago passing through northern Spain. It’s called the Way of St. James or El Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

It’s actually not just one route…. It is a large network of ancient pilgrimage routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in Santiago de Compostela.

All of the different routes sprang up because in the Middle Ages, pilgrims simply left home and started walking… making the pilgrimage to Santiago from wherever they lived.

Of all the routes defined today, the best known is the Camino Frances… the French Route. The entire route from St. Jean-Pied-du-Port near Biarritz in France to Santiago is nearly 500 miles (780 km). That’s quite a hike and quite a time commitment.

To make it shorter, you can start this route just over the border in Spain at the Roncesvalles Pass near Pamplona. If you do it this way, it is about 150 miles (240 km). It will take you about two weeks if you walk 6-20 miles a day (10-30 km).

This route is well marked with yellow arrows on walls and trees. Signposts have the Scallop Shell…. The Shell was the symbol of St. James the Great, and it is the symbol of this pilgrimage route.

You must walk at least the last 62 miles (100km) if you want to receive a Compostela Certificate showing that you’ve made the pilgrimage. Most sites say the small city of Sarria in northwest Spain is the best starting point for this “short walk”.

The Camino de Santiago is becoming popular with secular tourists as well as the faithful. If you fall into this category, you might want to pad in some time to see things along the way. Leave time to cap off a long day’s walk with tapas and wine at a cute little inn or open air cafe along the way.

Walking the Camino de Santiago is not difficult… most of the sections are fairly flat, and there are good paths. The main thing is you should be prepared for all that walking. Take good boots or walking shoes. Take rain gear too… you may encounter rain at any time of the year.

You can camp, stay at inns, B&Bs or luxury Paradores. You can choose to do this with a group, or you can do it independently. If you are the backpacking type, you can be completely independent.

There are tour operators who will help set up your accommodations and transfer your baggage for you so you can only walk with a day pack. You can choose to travel with a guide or to travel on your own.

It’s a good idea to have reservations because the pilgrimage to Santiago has become very popular. Even if all you want to do is hike it for the feeling of accomplishment and the scenery, making the Pilgrimage to Santiago will leave you with a great sense of satisfaction.

Paying Too Much – Get Money Back On Internet Travel Purchases

Have you ever wondered if you’re paying too much when you click “buy now” on those internet search engines for travel? Wouldn’t you like to get money back on those tickets or that hotel room if you do? Well, now it just might be possible.

There are search engines out there that are supposed to alert you when airfares or hotel prices drop. There are other sites that try to tell you whether they think the price will go up or down further… Hopefully they’re programmed to guess better than you can if it’s the right time to hit that buy button. But what if you and the search engine get it wrong?

The fact is that prices swing several times a day… let alone from day to day. It’s hard to know what to do. Should you book far ahead? On Tuesdays? At midnight? Maybe getting a last minute deal is the best way to go. How can you tell?

Have you ever gotten into a conversation with the person sitting next to you on the plane and just not wanted to tell them how much you paid for that ticket? There always seems to be someone who wants to brag how cheap he got that ticket…. but you’re always afraid it isn’t you.

Seems like some of those websites must have been listening to you… or at least reading your mind. More of them are adding a kind of “insurance” to make it easier to click on through to a ticket or hotel room.

There are new sites that will track the amount you paid for your airline ticket or your hotel room, and they’ll e-mail you if the fare goes down. Many airlines will refund the difference if the fare goes down after you book with them, but you need to know about it first of all… then apply for it.

These new tracking sites give you the information so you can do that. Hotels can be trickier. You might have to cancel and rebook. Make sure there aren’t late cancellation fees that would cancel out any savings.

Some of the big travel booking sites have started giving you guarantees that you won’t be paying too much. Some will automatically give you a credit refund if another customer books the same itinerary or flight for less. You don’t even have to track it yourself or apply for the refund.

Other sites have refunds for package deals if someone else gets the same package for less. There are limits on the amount of money you can get back per ticket…. but at least it’s something.

The bottom line is… you don’t want to be wondering if you’re paying too much, so when you’re booking online, sign up for a free tracking service or check to see what the website’s policy is for a refund if you pay more than someone else.

Pilgrimage Cities

Just coming off of a trip to Israel, we started thinking about pilgrimage cities of the world. While most people take a pilgrimage for religious reasons, pilgrimage cities are interesting to all travelers. Most have layers of history. There is much to see and learn about in all of them.

All the major religions of the world have cities that hold special significance to their religion. Some of these holy cities are important to more than one religion. All of them are interesting to visit. If you’re trying to come up with a reason to visit a new corner of the world, maybe one of these cities will entice you.

Jerusalem is considered holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians. There are important shrines for each of the religions within the old city, and you may find pilgrims from any of them visiting.

Bethlehem is also a site that Christian pilgrims want to visit. It is in the Palestinian Territories, but it’s easy to get there with a short bus ride from Jerusalem.

Santiago De Compostela has been the destination for a pilgrimage route through Spain from all over Europe since about the 9th century.

Rome is, of course, home to Vatican City and headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. In addition to the possibility of seeing the Pope, pilgrims may visit many churches around the city. Let’s face it, Rome is an amazing city to visit, whether you’re a pilgrim or not!

Lourdes is in France at the base of the Pyrenees. It’s known for an apparition of the Virgin Mary, and it’s the second most visited Christian pilgrimage site after Rome. We visited friends in the Pyrenees, and we’ve got to tell you, the whole region is beautiful and worth visiting in it’s own right.

Fatima in Portugal is another site associated with a vision of the Virgin Mary, called Our Lady of Fatima here. Even if you’re not overly religious, the devotion of the pilgrims is inspiring.

I’m not sure many people actually take a pilgrimage to Mont St. Michel in France anymore, but it is a great sight to see floating off in the distance.

Mecca in Saudi Arabia is a major pilgrimage city for Muslims. It is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. All Muslims consider it a duty to make the pilgrimage, called the Hajj, to Mecca at least once in their lives.

Kyoto does not boast only one sacred site…. It has Buddhist temples and Shinto Shrines scattered all through it and in the surrounding area. As an ancient Japanese city, it is on many pilgrimage circuits. It’s a wonderful city for travelers to visit to see the temples and sample Japanese culture outside of Tokyo.

Varanasi (also known as Benares) is in India. The city and the Ganges River which runs through it are holy to Hindus. Many pilgrims come not just to visit this city, they come to die here, believing that this allows them to enter heaven.

Lhasa is the spiritual center for Tibetan Buddhism, though the Dali Lama lives in India now. Both the Potala Palace and the Jokhang Monastery are pilgrimage sites.

There are many more pilgrimage sites around the world…. there’s no way we could begin to tell you about all of them here. We’re not suggesting that you take a pilgrimage, but these cities certainly could call to you… and why not answer… and visit one of them.

Packing Methods

If you pack efficiently, you’ll get more in, but how do you do that? What packing method should you use?

We think all travelers develop their own packing method over time. You begin to see what works for you, and you get better and better at it as you travel more.

We’ve heard repeatedly that rolling your clothes is the best way to keep them from wrinkling. Hummm… It’s never worked for us. Maybe it’s the way we roll them. Our backpacker friends swear by this. For big items like pants, skirts, shirts, blouses, and sweaters, lay your item face down. Fold the sleeves back… get everything pretty flat and then roll the item up from the bottom.

Frankly the times I’ve used this method, I’ve managed to roll wrinkles in. But if you’re using a deep bag like a backpack, it works, and you can find each item pretty easily as you search through the rolls.

Another packing method is to take two or more garments, say two pairs of slacks, and put half of one pair on top of the other. Fold the one on the bottom over the pair on the top… now take the one that has ended up on the bottom and fold it over. This gives each pair some cushion so it isn’t folded as tightly… and the theory is that it’s less likely to wrinkle in the folds.

Taking this packing method even further, you can pack all your clothes with a bundle method. In this scenario, you lay all your garments out flat on top of each other. Place something bulky in the middle as a “core”, then fold all of the garments in over each other from the top and sides.

Again, because they’re not folded so tightly wrinkles are less likely. This method works well if you’re going to unpack your suitcases, like on a cruise for instance, but it’s not so good if you’re going to be on the move every day or two.

Some people swear by placing tissue paper or dry-cleaner plastic bags between and around delicate items. It might help some, but when you’re in and out of your suitcase often, as we are, it’s a bit of a pain. The plastic bags became wadded up, and I ended up just throwing them out.

There are also packing systems where you can put stacks of garments in mesh bags or even plastic bags where you can force the air out to make things more compact.

We’ve always just used the fold it and pack it method. It works well for us. We take carry-on luggage, and we move around a lot. We can find the shirts and slacks we need with a minimum of unpacking.

And as for wrinkles? We try to take “non-wrinkle” fabrics, but you know how those work. Our clothes may have a few creases, but we’re traveling…. Everyone we meet knows we’re traveling….

And you know what? A few wrinkles really don’t matter. So find your own packing method‚ something that makes it easy for you, and don’t worry about it. You’ll look fine.

Nova Scotia Wines

Bay of Fundy tides called us to Nova Scotia, but we also wanted to try Nova Scotia Wines. Would it come as a surprise to you that there are six distinct wine growing regions in Nova Scotia?

We’re not talking Italy or California, though its longitude of 44 degrees north is about the same as Bordeaux, France which is also 44 degrees north. Not a bad wine growing area to be compared to, eh?…. so why not wines in Nova Scotia?

They produce grapes that grow well in this maritime climate. Marechal Foch, DeChaunac, Baco Noir, Leon Millot, Seyval Blanc and L’Acadie Blanc. Never heard of most of those varietals? Neither had we until we visited and tasted. They also grow nice Muscats, Chardonnays, and Pinot Noirs.

Our first introduction to Nova Scotia wines came in Lunenburg, the first town where we stopped for the night. The innkeeper at our B&B recommended a Domaine de Grand Pre L’Acadie Blanc. We had it with a wonderful seafood dinner overlooking the town wharf. Great dinner. Great wine!

Most of the white wines we tried go well with the wonderful sea food you’ll find… I mean it is a maritime provence, right? That gives it a moderate climate and good seafood. Nova Scotia is in one of the cooler climate ranges for growing wine grapes, but it has a long tradition for growing grapes going back to the 1600s.

The wine growing areas are in protected valleys and on sheltered hillsides. They are suited to growing cool climate grapes thanks to the long fall season and to the temperature moderating maritime influence.

The wine growing district of the Malagash Penninsula is in northeast Nova Scotia where you’ll find Jost Vineyards.

The tides of the Bay of Fundy had us spending a few days in the Annapolis Valley, so we tasted at Domaine de Grand Pre. Grand Pre is the oldest operating vineyard in Nova Scotia. They have a great tasting room and a nice restaurant.

We also tasted at Sainte-Famille Wines; a small family run winery with good wines and a nice little gift shop. There are a couple of other wineries in the area.

The LaHave River Valley district is on the Southern Shores with a couple of wineries near Lunenburg. There is also a small district in the Bear River Valley on the South West Coast. You can visit the Wines of Nova Scotia website for more information.

Several of these wineries make great Ice Wines. As you can imagine, the climate is good for this style of wine too.

One word of warning for wine lovers… Some of the wineries only make fruit wines like berry wine, so if you’re wanting wine from grapes, check first… especially if there is a tasting fee. We have nothing against fruit wines, but you have to know what you’re getting into.

We found tasting Nova Scotia wines was a great addition to the whole trip. We discovered some new favorites to share with our wine loving buddies at home. Go taste some for yourself and see what you think.

Nova Scotia Canada

Friends told us we really should go to Nova Scotia. They had so much fun there. Beautiful scenery, cute bed-and-breakfast places, great food and interesting history. We didn’t need much convincing. We already knew we wanted to see the Bay of Fundy with its tides.

We like to get friends’ recommendations when we travel. That’s why we like passing recommendations to you. They gave us tips for a great driving circle to get a taste for Nova Scotia.

So taking our friends advice, we got on the road immediately, saving Halifax for the end. We got a rental car and headed about an hour south east to Lunenburg.

Really, there are any number of cute small coastal towns along this South Shore region, but Lunenburg was a good choice. Turns out it is a UNESCO World Heritage Town. There’s a historic waterfront with a Fisheries Museum, and old sailing ships and lots of seafood restaurants. There are no worries about places to stay from small hotels to B&Bs.

You could easily spend a day or two in this area. When we left Lunenburg, we cut across the peninsula to the town of Annapolis Royal.

Annapolis Royal calls itself the birthplace of Canada, and it does have lots of history. It was founded in 1603. You can visit Fort Anne which was built in 1703. It’s a typical “star fort” with cannons facing out toward the sea. You can wander the embankments, and some of the original buildings are available for tours.

Among other attractions, Annapolis Royal has the oldest cemetery in Canada… the Garrison Cemetery is next to Fort Anne. Take a night time tour of the cemetery. Our friends recommended this too. We almost ignored them on this one, but we’re glad we didn’t. You’ll learn a lot on that lantern light tour.

A nearby attraction is Port-Royal National Historic Site. It represents an early French colony. Learn a bit about the Acadians and Canadian history. This reconstruction of early 17th century buildings is across a causeway where there is a power plant which uses the tides of the Bay of Fundy to generate electricity.

We drove north to Wolfville and Grand Pre. This is the area we stayed in to see the tides on the Bay of Fundy. There is the Grand Pre National Historic Site of Canada here. It a Commemorative Site about the deportation of the Acadians from Canada… The “Grand Derangement”.

Grand Pre is also where we had a great time doing a little wine tasting.

Wine tasting in Canada? Yes, indeed. The Domaine de Grand Pre had a great tasting, and we had a nice lunch there. We also had nice tastings at other small wineries in the area.

Making our way back toward Halifax we stayed at the Inn on the Lake. It’s only about 30 minutes from Halifax, so you can easily visit and tour town and still stay in the countryside. This hotel is also close to the airport, so it makes for an easy departure. That’s a great little driving loop our friends told us about, don’t you think? We’re happy to pass it along.

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