TORONTO TOWERS MAKE THE GRADE

Maybe it's because we live here that we take it for granted. Or maybe it's just me. But I've never thought of Toronto's skyline as anything particularly noteworthy.

The CN Tower has never turned my personal crank, and there's not that much of a critical mass with really cool architecture. But things have been improving, which is perhaps why forbestraveller.com has named the Toronto skyline as one of the top 13 "most stunning" in the world.

The picture they showed is kinda cool; with the CN Tower lit up at night and a glittering Lake Ontario in the foreground. The Royal Bank building always has stood out with its gold-covered windows, and I guess there are enough big towers downtown now, both of the business and condo variety, to make things more interesting than even a decade ago.

The little blurb that accompanied the Toronto photo talked about how the city has 2,000 buildings of 300 feet or higher (never knew that and I suspect that has to include suburban apartment towers) and the magazine says that "verticality is a distinguishing feature of the varied Toronto skyline."

LIVE FREE OR DIE

Folks in Toronto don't hear a lot about New Hampshire. Vermont has Stowe and the Von Trapp family and all that. Maine is famous for lobsters and Bar Harbor. But New Hampshire sometimes gets forgotten; the meat between two fairly nice pieces of bread.

But having been there for a couple of ski vacations, I can say it's a pretty good place. Great skiing, friendly folks (not always super chatty like the Florida supermarket check-out folks, which isn't a bad thing) and incredible shopping deals at the outlet malls. The mountains have great hiking and fishing, and there's even a small stretch of seacoast that looks pretty cool.

Want an even better reason to go? Apparently, you have almost no chance of being shot. The study said there were only 15 murders in New Hampshire last year; a state with 1.3 million people.

According to a U.S. study of crimes by state, New Hampshire had the lowest crime rate of all. Vermont and Maine were right up there in the 2 and 3 positions, by the way, followed by North Dakota and South Dakota.

The worst five states for crime were Florida, New Mexico (bit of a surprise to me), South Carolina, Louisiana and, in the 50th spot, Nevada.

WHILE WE'RE AT IT, ANOTHER NEW HAMPSHIRE PLUG

The same folks at Forbes who gave Toronto's skyline the top-13 placing have named the Mt. Washington hotel in Bretton Woods, N.H. as one of the top ten mountain hotels in the world. It's been a favourite of celebrities and politicians and has lovely views and a classic design with a wraparound porch.

Personally, I think if every house in the world had a front porch we'd all have crime rates as low as New Hampshire. I've got a lovely home but spend many a summer day wishing I had a porch on which to sit and read the paper.

Anyway, among the other top 10 mountain hotels was, not surprisingly, the Fairmont Banff Springs out Alberta way. So there's another victory for Canada. And no mention of Vermont or Maine!

 

 

 

 

NO FAIR EATING THE COMPETITION

Making the rounds at the Toronto Star-Sponsored Ultimate Travel Show on the weekend and stopped to visit some folks from New York state.

"Hey, check out this picture," a tourism worker said, pointing at an adorable little girl with pigtails and a pale green frog in her hands at the Colton Country Days fair in the Thousand Islands area. "There's a great story behind this picture."

Okay, I said, I'm game.

"See, she's holding this frog. She and her little brother each had a frog entered in a jumping contest. But her bullfrog ate her brother's leopard frog before the contest could start. And then," she said with a straight face,"her frog was too heavy and couldn't jump."

As Dave Barry might say, you couldn't make this stuff up.
 
THE MAINE THING

 

Not far away from the New York booth was a guy representing the state of Maine.

"We've got mountains and restaurants and great beaches and great shopping," the chap said. "We're like the Alaska of the East."

"So," he was asked, "do you have your own version of Sarah Palin?"

"Not yet," he said with a laugh.

I don't think they have an inland passage or North America's highest mountain range or grizzly bears or old gold rush towns, either, now that I think about it. But it's a pretty place to visit.

CALLING CALLAWAY FANS

Callaway Golf Canada’s newest state-of-the-art club-fitting facility was officially opened last week at ClubLink’s DiamondBack Golf Club in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

The facility is Callaway’s newest in Canada and its second in the Greater Toronto Area, "offering the same technology used to fit touring professionals, a simple process that can benefit golfers of every skill level."

On hand was Trish Stratus, the WWE legend. Sorry we missed it.

90 PER CENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS ... OR MAYBE MEDALS

Stephanie Levitz from Canadian Press had an interesting story on the weekend about how athletes competing near Whistler at next year's Olympic Games will have a new radar system for "up-to-the-minute weather forecasts."

A $1-million Doppler system has been put in place just outside Whistler, B.C., allowing meteorologists to monitor conditions along the Sea-to-Sky Highway and over the two competition venues in the area, she wrote. The radar joins a network of weather stations and a wind profiler installed specifically for the Olympics to feed into existing systems.

Now, if someone could create a better forecast on the chances of finishing first in medals we'd be onto something.

TRY SOMETHING ORIGINAL, PEOPLE

Maybe I'm a little cranky (okay, definitely cranky), but haven't we had enough of this silliness?

Chicago a few years back had the clever idea of putting decorated cows around the city streets. It went over like warm syrup on a freshly cooked pancake, and pretty soon other cities started doing it. Toronto, of course, went all goofy and put moose all over the city. Some folks liked it but I thought it was utterly inane.

Why would anyone do this? Why not come up with something new? Nobody asked me, but I say it's copycat (copycow?) tourism at its worst.

The reason I get into this rant at this particular point is that I read the other day that Vancouver might be  preparing to spread eagles around the city, while San Francisco, which we thought/hoped was above this sort of thing, is putting up a bunch of hearts (as in, I Left My Heart in San Francisco).

Actually, as silly as this has become, it's not as bad as cities copying the Hollywood Walk of Fame the way they have. Toronto, of course, had to follow suit on that and now you can walk along King Street and see Canadian actors and entertainment types names on the sidewalk. Sigh.

Find something original, folks.

MIAMI ON THE MOVE

Miami tourism folks held a get-together Thursday night at a place called One-up, which is one of those event places. This one is on Dundas between Bay and University, which could use some serious fixing up but does have some good and cheap ethnic restaurants, including Evergreen Thai - a personal fave.

Anyway, the tourism people were saying how the dark, low-ceiling Miami airport is being given a huge makeover (think Joan Rivers in magnitude). They also point out a lot of new hotels are in the works; a new W in Miami Beach, a Mondrian and a Canyon Ranch in Miami Beach and several spots downtown, including an Epic hotel, a J.W. Marriott Marquis and the city's first Kimpton hotel. Sounds pretty impressive.

ULTIMATE TRAVEL SHOW STARTS TODAY

The Ultimate Travel Show, sponsored by the Star, begins today (Friday, March 27) at 4 p.m. at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Front Street West. Yours truly will post a news item on the show tomorrow (Saturday). Just in case you want a sneak peek.

 

BUCKLE-BUNNIES

Just back from a lunch/press conference put on by tourism folks from Alberta. Learned a lot about the cities of Edmonton and Calgary and saw some glorious pictures of the Rockies and the Alberta badlands and all.

But the best part had to be the presentation on the Calgary Stampede, where journalists and other freeloading observers learned that there are (children, turn away) young women who like to keep tabs on the young guys at the rodeo. And that they're called ... drumroll please ... buckle-bunnies.

Apparently the guys who win the rodeo contests get a giant belt buckle. So, naturally, the enthusiastic females who follow their work earned the buckle-bunny moniker. It's probably offensive to someone out there but I think it's funny.

Anyone who wants a taste of the world-famous stampede can mosey on down (sorry about that) to Yonge-Dundas square at noon on Friday, March 27. They say the first 2,000 folks who show will get a free cowboy hat.

MEANWHILE, IN ANOTHER COUNTRY FAR, FAR AWAY

With the Star-sponsored Ultimate Travel Show on this week (Friday through Sunday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre), there are tons of tourism types hanging about the Big Smoke this week. On Wednesday there was a lovely lunch with mussels and coq au vin and other specialties at the Park Hyatt Hotel courtesy of French tourism and Air France.

While some folks are still bearish about air travel, the folks at Air France said they're boosting their capacity on runs from Toronto and Montreal to Paris.

As of March 28 they'll have 1,072 seats available per day from Montreal and Toronto to Paris. That will jump by 1,752 by early June.

Officials also showed off their new "premium voyageur" class, which will provide travellers with 40 per cent more space than regular voyageur class (coach). The most interesting thing to see were the new seats, which are fixed in place and have seats that recline with some kind of roller system. Which means that the person who sits in front of you can recline their seat within the fixed shell, which doesn't move. Which means you won't have some inconsiderate slob hammering his seat backwards into your face at 30,000 feet when you have no place else to go and the person next to you hasn't bathed in a week and you can't even reach down to get your magazine off the floor and you can't find the fork so you have to eat your salad with a tiny knife and spoon.

Maybe I need a vacation.

WATCH FOR SOGGY POPCORN

Missed this during my recent trip, but we're told that the Waikiki Parc Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii shows movies by the pool and that folks can swim and keep an eye on the film at the same time, or watch from the comfort of their chaise lounge or even on an air mattress in the pool.

The name of the program? The Waikiki dive-in movies.

They play every Wednesday night and there's no admission charge. Perfect, but not necessarily the place you'd want to watch "Jaws."

SHE'LL LIGHT UP OUR LIVES

Anyone remember the "wayback machine" that Peabody and Sherman used on the classic Bullwinkle show? (It was a personal favourite; adult humour disguised as a kids' cartoon - right up there with Bugs Bunny. But we digress...)

Anyway, it appears someone has found the keys and is firing the machine up again, as the Missouri Tourism department is coming to the Big Smoke April 23 and bringing ... Debby Boone.

Wow.

According to the tourism folks, her tune "You Light Up My Life" was recently ranked number seven in Billboard Magazine's "50th Anniversary Special Issue on The Definitive List of The Hot 100’s All-Time Top-Charting Songs of the last 5 decades," and ain't that a mouthful.

I gotta say the song was a little too syrupy for my tastes, but we're all different that way.

BETHPAGE TOPS THE GOLF CHART

Zagat has put out a new golf survey that lists Bethpage Black on Long Island, N.Y. as the top course in the U.S. It's where the U.S. Open will be played in June, and it's considered the top municipal course in the U.S. by a long shot.

Zagat surveyors put Pebble Beach at number one as their favourite course, while Chambers Bay in Washington copped the top newcomer award. The west coast of the U.S. has seen a slew of top-notch courses come on line in the last few years, most notably Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Other noted newcomers include "Nevada's Jack Nicklaus-designed The Chase at PGA Golf Club Coyote Springs; Utah's Sand Hollow Resort, a John Fought design that weaves through red rock outcroppings; and Oregon's Tetherow, a Scottish-style track from David McLay Kidd of Bandon Dunes fame."

In an interesting side note, Zagat officials say industry reports indicate that "only 72 new 18-hole courses opened in the U.S. in 2008, the lowest total in decades. In 2000, 518 courses made their debuts."

DISCOVERING JAPAN

Much excitement at a dinner at the Japanese consul-general's lovely Forest Hill Home on Tuesday as news came that the Emperor of Japan is coming to Canada in July. It will be his first visit since way back in 1953, when we believe Debby Boone's father, Pat, was making or about to make his mark on pop radio.

Apparently the Emperor's first trip out of Japan was to San Francisco. But he didn't sleep there. Instead, the first night his head rested on a foreign pillow took place later that day in Victoria, B.C.

He later visited Toronto, Niagara Falls and Hamilton to see a steel mill in action. But that was back in 1953, and chances are he'll notice a few changes in southern Ontario since then.

CRUISE SITE

Mentioned this in a twitter feed, but now cruise lovers have their own social networking site for posting stories and photos. It's called, oddly enough, cruisetube.com

.

TORONTO'S NEW HYATT

Got a glimpse of the new Hyatt Regency on King West last night; formerly the Holiday Inn. I never saw it as an H.I. except from the street, so it's a little hard to judge the transformation. But I CAN say that, after several/many millions worth of improvements, the new hotel is quite something.

The rooms feature lots of white with brown and cranberry accents. The huge, flatscreen televisions are encased in a large, curving panel of wood that makes it feel like you're lying in bed watching a giant theatre screen; tres cool. And the drawers for your undies and such are built into the wall so you avoid clunky furniture. Plus there's the IPod docking station and all those other audio-visual gadgets for plugging in your laptop to the TV or whatever else you might want to do with your latest electronic gizmo; you know, the one you always have to ask your kids to figure out for you.

The bathrooms are cool; with opaque glass that gives them an airy feel and nice-looking fixtures to go with marble floors. The rooms with two double beds are a bit cramped but quite elegant; the king-bed rooms seem much larger.

The lobby is a little minimalist for my taste but it's certainly upscale and the drinks at the Mix bar are tasty; try a King Street Collins with pear, lemon and lime and Grey Goose Vodka. The appetizers are good and the food selection downstairs at the sleek restaurant, called Social, is quite varied; Indian-style lamb, Vietnamese pho, New York strip steaks and paella. There's a good wine list and prices seem quite reasonable, with entrees maxxing out around $28.

Best part might be the pool and the deck up on the 17th floor, which come summer time will be one of the great places in the city to hang out.

Right now you can snag a regular room for $109 weekends and $119 weekdays, which is pretty spectacular.

ANOTHER TORONTO OPTION

It wasn't much in the old days, but they've done a major reworking of the venerable Strathcona on York Street judging by the quick glance I had of the lobby the other day and a look at their room photos on the website.

A p.r. person sent us an item to say the hotel has won a hospitality award for its on-line marketing schemes, which looks pretty good on paper (sorry, on line).

The press release says the hotel, get this, increased revenue by 285 per cent from website bookings to net a 36:1 return on investment. Wow.

Visit www.thestrathconahotel.com for more information and for room rates and special deals.

UNLIMITED TURKEY

Not sure it's a great slogan, but the folks in tourism in Turkey have announced a new campaign with the above title.

Visit www.tourismturkey.com or www.goturkey.com for more details.

WEB SITES GALORE

The Times on-line travel site (Times of London, not New York) has released its list of 100 best travel web sites. Pretty cool stuff if you're looking for anything from lingerie in L.A. or a hot breakfast in Berlin.

WEIRD TRAVEL AGENT REQUESTS

Fun item at travelandleisure.com on some weird requests to travel agents. My favourite was in my twitter feed earlier today; a guy who (BELIEVE IT OR NOT) asked an agent to set up a trip so he could take his chihuahua to Chihuahua, Mexico so the dog could "discover its roots."

Hard to believe, for sure.

Some of the others were suitably bizarre, including the guy who insisted on having an air conditioner installed in his tent for his visit to the Sahara Desert. And the chap (or woman) who wanted an ocean view for his or her room in Orlando.

The latter sounds pretty silly, but don't forget about the folks who come to Toronto every few years and ask about driving to Calgary or Vancouver for the day.

THE REAL MEXICO?

The Mexico Tourism Board and itravel2000 on Monday announced "an innovative program to address the confusion created by recent media reports about Mexico."

"In the past weeks, reports of problems in towns on the U.S. and Mexico board relating to drug cartel violence created a perception with consumers that all of Mexico, including favorite sun and beach destinations were all dangerous to travel to even though the destinations like Cancun and the Riviera Maya are over 3000 kilometres away from the affected border cities," they said in a press release. "To address the confusion, a project entitled 'What is REALLY Happening in MEXICO?' has been launched that features an independent regular traveller, Scott Sheehan, visiting popular destinations in Mexico and interviewing real consumers on their experiences. Interviews, pictures and stories are hosted on a web blog Whatisreallyhappeninginmexico.

You can't blame them, but you gotta wonder what would happen if the "independent, regular traveller" spotted a crime taking place or saw something else that put a particular region of Mexico in a bad light.

LONDON CALLING

London Mayor Boris Johnson is putting on a big push for tourism, launching a $3.6 million (Cdn.) international marketing campaign on Monday.

Star Travel you may recall, visited London a month or so ago after we spotted some great deals and also realized how affordable England has become with the pound hovering around $1.80 Canadian - far below the $2.50 or so we witnessed a couple years back.

Expedia.ca on Monday was showing lots of properties at reasonable prices, including a couple four-star hotels at less than $200 Canadian for the weekend of April 11 and 12.

GRIZZLIES ON THE MOVE

Interesting item in British Columbia magazine for Spring 2009 - grizzlies apparently are showing up regularly on Vancouver Island. It's a rarity but apparently salmon stocks are way down on the mainland and some of the bears have started showing up on the island.

They're not entirely welcome as far as tourists are concerned, let alone the local black bears who may face some competition. For now, authorities seem willing to let nature take its course and are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Another interesting story in the BC mag was on Triangle Island, off the western shores of Vancouver Island. Blame eastern Canadian ignorance, but I had no idea there were puffins on the west coast of Canada.

HOTEL PRICES TUMBLING

You see a lot of air fare deals in the paper. Not as noticeable are falling rates for hotels around the world.

A new study by the Hogg Robinson Group finds that New York City prices last month were down 19 per cent from a year ago, with the average room going for $291.01 versus $360.10 (U.S.) a year ago. Dublin prices had the same percentage drop, with average rates falling from 161.75 Euros to 131.16 Euros (about $220 Canadian dineros).

Johannesburg was down only 5 five per cent, as was Frankfurt. But Zurich was down 22 per cent (Good, I'm headed there in May) and Dubai down 26 per cent.

Moscow, and go figure on this one, saw prices go UP by 3 per cent versus February, 2008. Maybe a foreign exchange thing or something to do with oil?

CARIBBEAN GOLF DEAL

There's a deal on offer from the Dominican Republic, where the Casa de Campo complex is offering a "Canadians only" package from now through Dec. 20, with prices starting at $187 U.S. per night, based on double occupancy. That includes your hotel room, breakfast and golf at one of three courses: Teeth of the Dog (there's an extra $75 surcharge), the Dye Fore course and the Links.

I didn't get a chance when I was in the DR last year, but reviews of the Teeth of the Dog have been outstanding from just about everyone who's played it.

GEE, THANKS FOR THE UPBEAT REPORT

First day of spring and I hate to do this and ruin your mood, but check this story from Conde Nast Portfolio via msnbc on the future of the aviation industry. Kinda scary.

Bet this guy tells his kids there's no Easter Bunny, too.

CANADA KICKS U.S., BRITISH BUTT

It's only one report. But it's nice to see Canada's tourism biz get the nod over our friends from south of the border.

A report on tourism by the World Economic Forum gave Canada top marks for all the Americas in its "Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report (for) 2009."

The forum put Canada fifth in the world out of 133 ranked countries, behind Switzerland, Austria, Germany and France (and ahead of jolly old U.K, which was 11th, and ahead of the U.S, which came eighth). Pretty heady company, I'd say, and a solid improvement over last year's ninth spot for Canada.

"Canada's national resources constitute a key strength, with the country's nine World Heritage natural sites placing it fourth internationally," the report stated. "Its cultural resources are also a strong point, with many international fairs and exhibitions in the country and strong creative industries in particular."

(Isn't that the point Toronto Mayor David Miller often makes when he's pleading with the "hold your nose and support the arts" Tory government in Ottawa? Just wondering.)

They also said Canada's air transport infrastructure is tops in the Americas and cited the country's support for tourism and environmental policies. Good news all around.

The forum said the U.S. has solid infrastructure and the best natural resources in the Americas but cited a high rate of traffic deaths (125th out of 133 countries) and "worries about crime and violence."

Switzerland nabbed the top spot for impressive cultural and natural sites in a small country, as well as strong environmental policies and a history of strong hotel management schooling, as well as a plethora of ATM's (didn't know that but makes sense in a country with a strong banking tradition).

"Such high-quality infrastructure makes a tourist's stay in the country easy and comfortable, an experience that is reinforced by the high level of general safety and security," the authors wrote.

Other tidbits include the fact the forum ranked Venezuela last in the world "regarding the overall national affinity for Travel and Tourism." Guess Mr. Chavez might want to get right on that one.

Here's the forum's top 10, by the way:

1. Switzerland

2. Austria

3. Germany

4. France

5. Canada

6. Spain

7. Sweden

8. United States

9. Australia

10. Singapore

So, kudos to Switzerland. And our condolences to the Americans and Brits for losing to Canada. Better luck next time, guys!

For the full list, go to http://www.weforum.org/pdf/TTCR09/TTCR09_Rankings.pdf

GREAT NEW TOURISM SITE (WE THINK)

Haven't had time to fully check it out but read an interesting item in the Guardian about a travel site called www.spottedbylocals.com where local bloggers in major cities in Europe compile their thoughts about everything from restaurants to bars and hotels in their city.

It's a great resource, in theory, although you'd want to suss out whether you're reading advice from someone who's into Goth music and hooka pipes or someone who prefers sipping a Scotch in the corner of a cozy pub. In other words, you want to be clear if you're dealing with Michael Phelps or Michael Caine.

The Guardian story said bloggers range "from 18-year old Czech medicine students to 60-year old Belgian retirees," which is pretty good, gamut-wise.

As an example, Delphine Rieder in Geneva says the Auberge du Cheval-Blanc in the Carouge area of town is top-notch. "On Sunday, they serve breakfast and buffet-style brunch between 10:30 and 15:30. Salads, cheese, eggs, quiches, different kinds of bread, cold meat, fruit, cereal… It is “all you can eat," which is really good considering the usual prices for restaurant meals in Switzerland.

Definitely worth checking out before your next trip to Europe.

PAY TO PEE? HOW ABOUT ON-BOARD PAY LOCKERS?

It's not particularly shocking, but users of skyscanner.net have said that hidden airline charges are "the most annoying aspect of air travel."

Charges for checking-in hold baggage, fuel surcharges and booking with a credit card received 24% of the votes for most-annoying. Right behind at 23 per cent was "queuing for security and boarding, followed by lack of seat space (15%), fellow passengers (11%), having to check in so early (8%), bad staff attitude and poor customer service (6%), sitting on the runway waiting to take-off or disembark (4%), having to bus to and from the plane (4%) and waiting for your luggage at the other end (4%)."

Obviously this poll didn't have enough users of Pearson, or the "waiting for your luggage" number would've been A LOT higher. It's my pet peeve, but honestly, how can it take so long?

Skyscanner head of marketing Rob Innes said: “It’s incredibly annoying when you see a great flight deal, only to find the actual price is considerably higher once you’ve added all the extras," and AMEN to that, Mr. Innes.

Just for fun, and possibly inspired by Ryanair's talk about customers having to someday pay to pee, the Skyscanner folks also came up with a list of potential new ways for airlines to make money, including:

- A successful landing fee – to be paid upon disembarking the aircraft following a safe touchdown
- Coin operated overhead lockers, window blinds and seat lights
- Charge a premium disembarking fee – pay to get off the plane first
- Fee for releasing oxygen mask, then extra charge per minute of oxygen consumed
- Passenger weigh-in: surcharge of one british pound (about $1.80 Cdn) per pound of weight

- Surcharge for children as they generate less revenue from onboard sales (they can’t buy alcohol)
- Life jacket optional – extra fee if you want one.

Ya gotta love it.

PORTER ON THE MOVE

The good folks at Porter Airlines, always good for a provocation of Mayor David Miller, have announced their first foray into Northern Ontario. Porter plans three-times-a-day flights from the Toronto Island airport to Thunder Bay beginning June 26.

Porter keeps insisting it's doing great business from the island, and I keep seeing planes go by outside the window at 1 Yonge Street, so we can only assume they're in this for the long haul. And the short ones.

EMERY BOARDS FOR EVERYONE

There's a national business travel association meeting going on at the Toronto Hilton, and they were giving away lots of pens and notepads and luggage tags and such at a reception on Tuesday night. West Jet was giving out triangular-shaped, plastic-thingy's that you pop open to find three colours of magic markers, as well as emery boards for filing your nails.

"Our most popular give away item," a West Jet chap told the Star.