NEVERLAND/CALIFORNIA TIPS ...WEST JET TRUMPS AIR CANADA

I've been reading lots of stuff at thestar.com about Michael Jackson's body heading back to Neverland. Not sure if he'd ever have the status of Elvis, who wasn't just the king of rock or the king of pop but just The King, but no doubt there are folks who'll flock to Jackson's Neverland Ranch near Santa Barbara to pay their respects.

(Actually, I wonder if whoever takes over ownership might want to keep the amusement park rides for future revenue?) Anyway, the point is that a few minutes at the Neverland Ranch high in the hills of southern California is fine. But you're gonna want to stay over and have some other fun, so here are a few thoughts. I grew up in California and spent several days in and around Los Olivos a couple years ago and just loved it.

Los Olivos is named for olives, but it's grapes that have turned this once dusty town into a tourist magnet. The main street is really just a square block with a real western/country feel shaped by the cowboys who still linger amongst the wine-sipping literati. Which makes for a fun dynamic. There are saddle shops (I recall) and cheap grocery stores selling huge sandwiches, plus trendy stores selling lavender soap and a row of wine shops where you can taste the local product without getting in your car and trying to find the individual wineries.

When I stayed there a few years ago, we nipped into Fess Parker's winery, just a couple miles from Neverland Ranch. It turns out it was Parker's 80th birthday, and the former star of Daniel Boone on TV was playing and singing that night at the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn and Spa. My wife and I checked it out and it was like watching an episode of Lawrence Welk or something. He sang to his wife, a former Sunset Blvd. dancer, and his adorable granddaughter or great granddaughter went to the front of the room and sang God Bless America. We sat in front of a group of barbershop quarter singers of the female variety, who were wearing matching mumus or some other kind of large, matching dresses and had driven in from Bakersfield and I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP.

The Fess Parker winery was used as the horrible winery in Sideways where Miles pours crappy red wine all over his head and down his shirt, but the wine was surprisingly good. You can even buy little coonskin caps to put on top of your wine bottles. The Frontier Red is pretty good for about $13 but the better Syrahs cost more like $20 U.S.

They make outstanding Syrah in this part of California, which is warm/hot but gets cooling breezes from the Pacific for a perfect temperature for wine. You can sip Sauvignon Blanc from parts of the valley that get lots of sun, and then compare with the same grapes grown in a foggier area and get a real, true handle on what the wine snobs mean when they talk about "terroir." It's absolutely magnificent.

Try Zaca Mesa, Firestone and Consilience wineries, all a stone's throw from Neverland.

There are tons of cheap chain hotels in the area, mostly in Buellton (home of Pea Soup Anderson's, as anyone who's ever driven Highway 101 can attest) and Solvang, a pseudo-Danish town with windmills that I find personally about as attractive as, ugh, Mel Lastman Square. There's a lovely Marriott resort right off the highway if you like, or move over the hill to Santa Barbara for one of the great towns/cities in North America. The beaches are lovely, the hillside scenery is pleasant and pastoral (especially in winter or spring when they're as green as Ireland), and you can get some great food.

You'd think it would be a real touristy spot, but the place where Miles ate dinner in Sideways and where Maya worked in the movie, The Hitching Post II in Buellton, is awesome. The staff is friendly and they have outstanding Pinot Noir, Syrah and Sauvignon Blancs by the glass. As I recall, we got bread, salad, potato, dessert and a huge steak grilled over local oak for about $20 U.S. and it was fabulous.

WEST JET ON THE RISE

J.D. Power has come out with its latest airline satisfaction ratings. It's good news for the friendly folks at West Jet, not so great for Air Canada.

The company rated major North American (thank God; most polls we see up here are so U.S. focussed they do us no good at all) airlines in both the low cost and traditional network categories. West Jet was in the low cost section and came up with an overall satisfaction rating of four out of five. Air Canada, a traditional network carrier, got a rating of three out of five.

West Jet was tied with Southwest Airlines at 4 of 5 stars, with Jet Blue Airways (never tried it) coming first with a remarkable five out of five in overall satisfaction. Frontier Airlines and AirTran Airways each got two stars.

The top-rated traditional network carrier in North America were Alaska and Continental (the latter surprises me, but it's been a while) at five out of five, followed by Delta with four. Air Canada, American and Northwest each were at 3/5, with United and US Airways bringing up the rear with a pretty poor two out of five overall rating.

J.D. Power asked customers to rate the airlines on an overall basis as well as on seven individual categories, for eight responses in total. West Jet came ahead of Air Canada on five of the eight and they tied in the other three.

Both West Jet and Air Canada received just two stars out of five in terms of "costs and fees experience," which is pretty poor. Both Canadian carriers got ratings of 4/5 on "aircraft experience" and "in-flight services experience," which is pretty good.

West Jet took home the trophy in all other categories. They got 3/5 on "reservations experience," compared to 2/5 for Air Canada. West Jet got a perfect 5/5 on both "flight crew experience" and "boarding/deplaning experience," compared to 3/5 for Air Canada.

Where West Jet really shined, by comparison, was on the question of "check-in experience," which certainly sets the tone for a trip. On that front, West Jet again got 5/5, but Air Canada only got 2/5.

Certainly sounds like some more work needs to be done, although I gotta say my latest Air Canada flight was quite pleasant and the flight attendants very helpful and chatty. And, no, I wasn't in business and wasn't holding a sign that said, "Be nice to me, I'm a travel journalist."

Still, West Jet ended up with an overall rating of 4/5 and got perfect marks for flight crew experience, boarding/deplaning experience and check-in experience. Pretty impressive.

"It is particularly impressive that JetBlue has ranked highest in the highly competitive low-cost carrier segment for four consecutive years," said Dale Haines, senior director of the travel practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "However, competition in the low-cost carrier segment is heating up, with Southwest Airlines and WestJet closing the gap with JetBlue."

Actually, here's a funny thing. If you separate the "overall satisfaction" rating, you can look at the seven specific categories that folks were asked about. With a maximum "score" of five points in those seven categories, a top score would be 35.

In the low cost carrier section, West Jet actually was tops in North America with 28 points. Next was Southwest at 25, followed by Jet Blue at 23. Yet when asked for their overall satisfaction rating, respondents gave Jet Blue a 5/5 rating, compared to 4 for both Southwest and West Jet. It's splitting hairs, but in one way West Jet could argue they were the top rated low cost airline in North America.

If you look at the seven categories outside the overall satisfaction rating, Alaska came away with a whopping 33 out of 35 points, compared to 30 out of 35 for Continental. Looked at that way, Air Canada came away with just 20 rating points.

Like I said, room for improvement.

IRELAND FOR BREAKFAST

The good folks at Tourism Ireland held a breakfast at the Windows restaurant on the 32nd floor of the Four Seasons Hotel in Yorkville this morning. Awesome views of the city and tons of food, including sausages and blood pudding (not bad, but not something you'd want every day).

More importantly, there was lots of interesting stuff about Northern Ireland, with Tourism Minister Arlene Foster on hand to talk about booming Belfast and the rest of her lovely country.

We had a good story in the Star from Reb Stevenson recently on Belfast. I'm probably more drawn to the Giant's Causeway and the chance to someday play golf at Royal Portrush or the new Nick Faldo course on Lough Erne in southwest Northern Ireland, which Star golf guy Ian Cruickshank says is shaping up quite nicely.

The Canadian dollar is stretching about 20 per cent further in Northern Ireland than it was a year ago, Foster said. She also said Canadians made up about 20 to 25 per cent of North American visitors to her country last year, which is pretty impressive.

I didn't know it, but she said that of the 4 million or so Canadians of Irish descent, 2.5 million of them have ties to Ulster. She said, and I'd never heard the expression, that some folks have called Toronto "the Belfast of North America."

Foster said there are new boutique hotels in Belfast and pointed to the 2012 centenary of the Titanic as a major event on the horizon.

Lots more travel news and thoughts later today on a variety of subjects....

HONDURAS POLITICS THROWS TRAVEL BIZ FOR A LOOP?

Hotels and tourism operators can make a killing by getting into a market before someone else does. Thirty years ago, who would've put so much money on Costa Rica or Iceland?

But the latest incidents in Honduras show that you also can be taking major risks.

I know several folks who do public relations for a company that's building a huge golf resort called Pristine Bay in Honduras. Maybe there's no issue, but you'd have to think investors might be a little nervous when they read stories about the weekend coup, the first in central America in 16 years.

Then again, stuff does happen and things generally settle down, as witnessed by the situation in Thailand earlier this year.

Associated Press reports that presidents from around the region were gathering in Nicaragua today for meetings on how to reverse the military coup, which replaced leftist president Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya was seized by soldiers and shunted onto a plane for Costa Rica.

Pristine Bay Resort is located near Roatan in the Bay Islands area of Honduras, which looks lovely. There are plans for condos and a golf course called the Black Pearl, designed by the legendary Pete Dye.

EXTRA FEES FOR BIG PASSENGERS?

Interesting item at cnn.com notes that the obesity rate in the U.S. has "mushroomed" in the past couple decades, but the width of the cheap seats on an airplane have remained at 17 to 18 inches (wish the seats were that wide on the TTC).

"It's a growing problem, no pun intended," said George Hobica, president of AirfareWatchdog.com, a site that is part of Smarter Travel Media LLC, which provides airfare deals and advice. "Everyone suffers. The obese people suffer and the people who are skinny and get spilled over on suffer as well."

Star Travel colleague John Moore reports he was in Costa Rica earlier this year on a very small airplane and that passengers were weighed to see if they registered more than 250 pounds. If they did, the airline had the right to charge them for a second seat due to weight restrictions.

One gentleman weighed about 400 pounds but didn't have to fork over money for another ticket as the flight was half empty.

"Everyone had to get weighed," Moore reports. "You could see the scale and the numbers. Not that guys can't be vain, but you had to think it was tough for the women."

KUDOS FOR MILLCROFT INN

The MIllcroft Inn and Spa has been named accomodation of the year by the Hills of Headwaters Tourism Association.

I recall a short visit many years ago that was quite nice, but it's been a while.

 

LOOKING FOR SUMMER TRAVEL? BUY NOW. AND WE MEAN "NOW!"

More bad news for air travellers. Yesterday, I reported how both American and United Airlines in the U.S. had raised fares on some routes for the second time in a few weeks.

Today, I noticed that the Wall Street Journal is reporting another price hike of sorts, saying that the "average price for markets tracked on Microsoft Corp.’s Bing Travel, which includes the fare-prediction service Farecast, is now $281 (U.S.), up from $259 three week ago."

"Farecast, which uses computer algorithms to predict whether a price offered for a flight is likely to rise or fall during the next seven days, says two-thirds of its recommendations are to buy now," the Journal reported.

Lots of industry experts are pointing to similar hikes and warning people that the great deals we've been seeing the past few months could start to disappear. It's still a good time for visits to non-traditional countries or to countries where they're not having the best weather (e.g., July-August trips to Australia and New Zealand or southeast Asia or South America).

Also, it's always good to keep an eye on the fluctuating currency. We all see how the Canadian loonie is stacking up each day against the U.S. buck, or we can see if we check the news. But looking for other currencies isn't always as simple.

The British pound was down to 1.77 or so in winter, but it's rebounded and was sitting at 1.90 against our loonie at last check. Still a bargain compared to a couple years ago, but not as attractive as it was in March.

The Canadian dollar is still ahead of the Australian dollar, which is worth about 92 cents Canadian. Nice, but not a huge difference. The New Zealand dollar is around 74 cents Canadian, which means you'd get something like a very solid $1.34 New Zealand for a Canadian buck.

COOL COCKTAILS

USA Today has an interesting piece on American bartenders (they like to be called bar chefs, but I'm not buying into that) using fresh ingredients and cranking out some unusual offerings.

A guy at Santa Monica's Copa D'Oro (Italian for "really expensive cocktail") says his fave is Rhode Island Red (must be a Bugs Bunny fan), a mixture of red raspberries, organic agave tequila, fresh lemon juice, Chambord and Australian ginger beer. Sounds pretty refreshing to me.

Up the coast in San Francisco, which has a real, old-time bar culture to rival the best cities in the world, the bartender at Gitane makes something called a Sing Sing Sing cocktail, with Acai Viva Veev, a 60-proof liqueur flavored with vitamin-packed acai berries, mixed with organic Rain vodka, fresh lemon juice and natural peach liqueur.

As much as SF kicks LA's butt in most departments, I'd go for the Rhode Island Red over the Sing, Sing, Sing.

SOUTHWEST TO NEW YORK

USA Today also is reporting that Southwest, one of the best bargains in American air space, will launch flights to New York's La Guardia Airport. It's a big change for them, for sure, as it marks their first foray into La Guardia after 38 years of existence.

 

AIR FARES CREEPING UP IN U.S., PEARSON APOLOGY & NAKED HIKING

Big ads in the papers up our way the last few days with more seat sales by Air Canada, West Jet and Porter. But things aren't looking as rosy down south for travellers.

USAToday reports that American and United hiked fares by a modest $10 to $20 on some round-trips, although they also reported some huge deals to Hawaii from several American destinations. It wouldn't be a big thing on its own, but there was another increase a couple weeks back.

"I have been cautioning consumers for the past month that they procrastinate on purchasing airline tickets at their own risk," said Rick Seaney, CEO of Farecompare.com. "Two airfare hikes in the past few weeks is the strongest signal I have seen that the bottom is either here or near."

PEARSON APOLOGY

Got a nice email from the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which runs Pearson. I complained, rather bitterly as I recall, that I ordered some food at the airport last week and gave the cashier $20 U.S. The Canadian dollar was at about 88 cents to the American buck at the time, but the cashier said my $20 American bill was worth only $19.60 in Canadian currency.

That was crazy, obviously, and I wasn't shy about how Americans would just love to come up here and get ripped off. Anyway, Scott Armstrong of the GTAA sent me a nice apology, explaining that the exchange rate was calculated incorrectly (I'd think it was all done by computer and not the cashier, but I'll take him at his word).

Armstrong said HMS Host, which operates the concession, will be in touch with me and that they were dealing with the company to make sure all currency exchange issues are handled accurately and properly.

Fair enough.

HIKING IN THE BUFF

What is it about Germans and wanting to be naked in public?

Associated Press reports that an aerial tramway in eastern Switzerland is advertising that tourists might see not only mountains but mounds of flesh.

Toggenburger Bergbahnen AG has a new ad campaign that says folks can see "mountain goats, eagles and maybe even a few naked hikers," making their tram "a real experience."

Voters in one Swiss canton, Appenzell, passed a law earlier this year that bans naked hikers. AP says that came about after "dozens of nudists, mostly German, started rambling through their picturesque region."

Probably the same people who doff their clothes at nude beaches in the world, and not really the sort of people one needs or wants to see nekkid. Not even from a gondola.

CANADA DEALS

Starwood is offering deals of up to 40 per cent off on Canadian destinations, but the promotion ends July 1. Visit www.starwoodhotels.com for information. Best Western has a deal through Aug. 16 where a member of their loyalty program, Rewards, can stay two separate times at any Best Western in the U.S. or Canada and get a voucher redeemable for a free night at many hotels around the world. Go to www.bestwestern.com for details

GRETZKY CLASSIC COMING UP IN THORNBURY

The Great One himself will tee it up at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung, which takes place in Thornbury July 6-12. Other celebs taking part include his wife, Janet, as well as Brett Hull, Damon Allen, Marty Turco, Catriona Lemay Doan, Donovan Bailey and Cassie Campbell.

For more information go to www.gretzky.com/golf.

 

 

 

THE FRIENDLY SKIES OF AIR CANADA...

Maybe it was just one person, but I noticed a distinctly friendly tone to the Air Canada crew on my flight back from the Caribbean on Tuesday.

Air Canada upper echelon types have been harping on employees to be a little more customer0-friendly, and sure enough the woman making the flight announcements couldn't have been more chatty. She asked if people could please find loonies or toonies to help buy their drinks onboard or sandwiches as "change is a little hard to come by at 36,000 feet."

When they announced what time they'd be serving coffee and soft drinks, she told passengers that the crew was "looking forward to serving you."

Small things, but all part of the greater battle. I'd like a free sandwich, but at least they don't charge for blankets or pillows these days. And they kept the movies/television shows going until the plane was at the gate instead of shutting it off a few minutes before landing. (They said we had to use the small, in-ear "bud style" ear phones and not larger ones while we were on the ground, and I'm not sure why. Still, it was good to be able to finish watching To Kill A Mockingbird.)

As I said, maybe it was just one flight. But it does seem I've noticed a change in attitude on the part of many Air Canada folks, and let's hope it lasts.

Not only that, my suitcase arrived at Pearson's baggage pickup area in record time. Quite the day.

ALL CARRY-ON, ALL THE TIME?

After musing about pay toilets on board, the folks at Ryanair now are talking about eliminating checked luggage as a way of saving money.

I have no idea how this would work for folks with golf clubs or skis, but they're talking about an "unlimited" amount of carry-on luggage (all within normal size limits, of course) to go with the ban on checked suitcases. The airline says it would save some $36 million a year.

"This isn't the end of civilization as we know it," said CEO Michael O'Leary. "It only sounds revolutionary. I can assure you it's not."

Apparently, if overhead compartments get full (gee, you think that might happen?), they'd open up the cargo hold for overflow carry-on bags.

Can't you just imagine slogging around the airport with carry-on stuff for a two-week trip? The baggage cart rental people will make a killing.

MIAMI NICE

Through Labour Day, Miami has a deal with dozens of hotels, restaurants and other attractions where you can buy three and get one free.

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach, for example, gives you four spa treatments for the price of three. The Miami Seaquarium allows you to buy three general admission tickets and get a fourth of equal or lesser value for free.

Go to www.Miami443.com.

DALI WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME

Fifteen drawings by Salvador Dali will be exhibited in Buffalo for the first time.

Dali apparently did the work as payment for years of work by the late dermatologist, Edmund Kelin. Klein's widow revealed their existence last summer. And now they'll be displayed this summer at the University of Buffalo's Anderson Gallery.

The drawings were made on pages from sketchpads, art books and a paper Klein had written.

 

 

TOO MUCH (GREEN) MONKEY BUSINESS...WILD SIDE OF BARBADOS

CHRIST CHURCH, BARBADOS - It's quite a shock to go from the chi-chi west coast of Barbados up at Sandy Lane to the seaside craziness of this island nation's south coast.

The area around St. Lawrence Gap and ChristChurch is chock-a-block with pizza joints and hotels that
line the beach. The bad news is a lot of it looks a little worn and tacky. The good news is it's all pretty "real" and doesn't have a manufactured feel.

As I walked along looking for an affordable place for dinner in St. Lawrence Gap (warning - don't order
Mexican food in Barbados; it may be closer to Mexico than Toronto but we beat these guys hands down
when it comes to making a burrito), several nice young men offered to give me a taxi ride or some womanly companionship for the night. Isn't that hospitable?

In addition to a bit of an Atlantic City/Wasaga feel, the south side has one big advantage over the west
coast, and that's the surf. Myself and a fellow swimmer were able to catch some pretty good body-surfing waves in front of the Bougainvillea Resort. It's a nice, homey kind of place; not fancy but large rooms
and a welcoming management with a barbeque pit and a small restaurant that serves good french toast at breakfast.

Bajans, by the way, or a lot of them, call Bougainvillea plants "Brokenvillea." I have no idea why, but I
like it.

MONKEYING AROUND

I'll have more to say in next year's golf magazine, but suffice to say the Green Monkey course in Barbados is all it's cracked up to be. It's absolutely glorious, and a ton of fun to play. It's easily the prettiest course I've ever seen that's not on the water. But you can see the Caribbean a couple miles away on many of the holes.

STEEL DRUMS

Is there anything more romantic than sitting at a beachside bar on a warm summer's night in the Caribbean and listening to a guy play the steel drums while singing a reggae or gentle soca tune? I don't think so.

BEER WARS

My first cab driver in St. Lucia told me he doesn't think his country's rum is better than what you can get in Barbados. "But Piton beer is definitely the best," he said.

Having tried Piton and Barbados' favourite beer,Banks, I gotta agree with him. Piton is decidedly more interesting.

I haven't had the good Cockspur rum but, so far, I also have to say that Chairman's Reserve rum from St. Lucia is my favourite. Tried some Mount Gay from Barbados last night but it's not as complex to my taste and doesn't have the same depth of flavours as Chairman's Reserve. Guess I'll have to try some Cockspur at lunch.

ALL BARNARD, ALL THE TIME

Star movies editor Linda Barnard is still blogging hard from Ireland. Check out her latest installment, this time from Dublin.

LIVING THE LIFE OF TIGER IN BARBADOS...AND IRELAND, TOO

 

SANDY LANE, Barbados – I can’t drive the ball like he does. Or putt. Or chip. Or probably even drive a damned golf cart as well.

 

But I did get to stay the night on Father’s Day (awww…..) at the place where Tiger Woods laid his head prior to his wedding to the lovely Elin a few years back. It’s an absolutely stunning resort on the west coast of Barbados, north of Bridgetown.

 

I’ll provide more details in the future but suffice to say it’s a lovely, lovely, lovely place and the spa is absolutely divine. I snapped a couple photos near sunset and I’ve posted one below (wanted it to be higher up on the page but danged if I can figure out exactly where to put these things) just for show. Not my best picture but 'twas a lovely sunset.

 

Off today to play the Green Monkey course; said to be one of the best in the Caribbean.

 

BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR

 

I managed to finish my first day of left-side-of-the-road driving in nine years without a single incident. Most Americans and lots of other folks get drivers or taxis when they come to Barbados, but I wanted to see a pretty good variety of things in my short stay so I opted to rent a car.

 

I drove around the parking lot at the airport a few times to get used to things – a bit – but then had to head out on the “highway” pretty quickly to get to the central part of the island, where I was checking out some gardens. It only took a couple minutes to get used to things, and I’m proud to say I even passed a few slowpokes along the way (stupid tourists).

 

A couple told me that Canadians are much more willing to rent a car down here than Americans. And, I say, good for us.

 

GARDEN OF EDEN

 

I was supposed to be heading to Orchid World in central Barbados on Sunday but I spotted a sign for Hunte’s Gardens on my way up the hill and remembered that Gail Stewart from the Barbados tourist office in Toronto had recommended it to me as a place she’d heard of.

 

Great call, Gail. The guy who runs the garden, Anthony Hunte, is as colourful and fasincating a character as you’d want to find. A great quote, a terrific by-the-seat-of-his-pants gardener and a terrific host who offers up rum punch or instant coffee to visitors and regales them with stories, some of them possibly true.

 

Oh, and the gardens are a delight.

 

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

 

Had a very brief visit to the east side of Barbados, which is nothing like most of the western, Caribbean side. Waves rolling in from Africa pound the shore and have eroded the limestone coastline into fantastic shapes near Bathsheba. Some of them look like the Bay of Fundy or Flowerpot Island up at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula.

 

There are casual bars and funky B and B’s and a fair bit of surfers on what is really the last frontier of Barbados. Definitely worth checking out,

 

ST. LUCIA – ALMOST FORGOT

 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the great hike I had Saturday morning. I was staying at the Landings and walked about 10 minutes to the island, which actually isn’t an island anymore because of the fairly new causeway but is still caused Pigeon Island. You can climb up to the remains of an old English fort that also was used during WWII, and it’s  one of the great views in the Caribbean as far as I can tell with pretty limited knowledge.

 

You can see all the to way to Martinique, an island that has always intrigued me. Not to mention Antigua and St. Bart’s and Anguilla and St. Vincent and….

 

 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING ELSE

 

Star movies editor Linda Barnard still on the road in Ireland. Check out her latest blog for another good read.

 

FLOWERS, RUM AND PIG'S FEET IN ST. LUCIA

ST. LUCIA – You forget how florid and vibrant the colours are in this part of the world. The bright purple and pink bougainvillea are outstanding, as well as the red hibiscus and the birds of paradise.

They have giant, flowering trees covered with orangey-red blossoms. I thought they looked like African tulips a bit but the flowers are smaller. Here, locals call them “flamboyant trees,” and it’s a perfect description.

The roadside and garden croton also are spectacular; all shades of deep and fiery reds, lime green to deep green and daffodil-bright yellow. Just lovely.

KING RUM

Sure, you can try a Piton beer. And it’s quite good. But rum is the drink in these parts. Got to try some Chairman’s Reserve last night before dinner. Wow. Deep and rich and mellow and not too sweet. Really, really top notch stuff.

I love the names of the rum shacks on the sides of the road, too; Virgil’s Place. Top Up Here (my fave), Limer’s Bar and the Bush Garden Pub.

LOCAL CUISINE

Hoping to try some green bananas with codfish tonight. Last night I had pig’s feet in a rich sauce; very meaty and sweet. It’s called, I think, pig trotter’s sous. Terrific stuff.

Also had some soursop at breakfast today; very rich and creamy but not a flavour I’m terribly fond of.

 

PEARSON RIP-OFFS, PETS ON PLANES AND A WEE BIT OF ST. LUCIA

ON THE WAY TO ST. LUCIA – They’ve done it again. One of the worst major airports in North America, our own beloved Lester B. (I think I’ll start calling it Lesser B.; no offence to our former Prime Minister), has found yet another way to rip us off; and to alienate the American tourists we so heavily rely on.

Not having enough Canadian money with me this morning, I stopped at Terminal 3 to buy some yogurt, coffee, water and a small bag of those delicious but really bad for you mini-cinnamon rolls so I wouldn’t have to spend money on expensive, really bad for you food on my American Airlines flight to Miami. It came to a fairly steep but not really that awful $9.45, or thereabouts.

I asked if they took American greenbacks and was told yes. But when the cashier rang it up the display showed that my $20 U.S. was worth $19.60 Canadian.

Uh, folks, I don’t expect to make money on the deal and I understand it’s a bit of a burden (but not much) to change American money to Canadian and that you probably have to use a bank that’s getting rich on foreign exchange fees, but the Canadian dollar started the day around 88 cents U.S. Which means that Lesser B. Pearson, or the folks who run the café on behalf of the GTAA, was/were, in effect, charging me something like 12 or 14 per cent for my transaction.

If you go to the LCBO with U.S. cash, they’ll give you a small exchange rate that goes in your favour; maybe a couple percentage points these days. But these guys PENALIZE people when the American dollar is worth something like $1.12 Canadian.

Get real, folks. I don’t much care about losing the 50 cents or whatever it was, but what kind of image does this give to American tourists who fill our restaurants and hotels?

Hey, GTAA, isn’t it enough that your baggage service sucks, that you make people pay for wi-fi when many airports provide it for free, that you have a terrible, terrible selection of restaurants and almost no decent shops for passengers and even less for people waiting for their friends or loved ones to arrive? Now you’re gonna let folks reach into their wallets with ridiculous exchange policies?

Nice work.

PETS ON BOARD

Didn’t get around to talking about the pets on board issue on Wednesday. In case you missed it, Air Canada will start allowing – for a fee – folks to bring their pets on board an airplane.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anything alive on my airplane except people. If you want to bring your dog, stick them in the baggage compartment where they belong. And, I’m sorry, but if you think the animal’s going to be traumatized you’re either way too indulgent or your pet needs to see a psychiatrist.
I love dogs. I’ve had many over the years and they’re wonderful pets. But they’re not people. They don’t belong in the passenger compartment of an airplane.

And don’t get me started on cats. I have no idea whatsoever why people like them, and I’m also allergic to cat fur. I’d have a terrible time of it if someone was to bring on one board.

“HEY, BARACK, CAN YOU PASS ME MY MAGAZINE?”

Great item in the Wall Street Journal the other day (I think) on the perils of the dreaded middle seat on an airplane. The story said something like or 40 per r cent of folks said they wouldn’t want to sit in the middle even if it was between a celebrity couple.
Personally, I think it would be worth the sacrifice to sit next to Shania Twain or Scarlett Johansson or Michelle Obama.

ST. LUCIA TEASE - BEACH PICTURE

I’ll have more from St. Lucia tomorrow but suffice to say this place is SPECTACTULAR. I’m staying at Jalousie Plantation, which is cradled in a lovely valley between Gros Piton and Petit (but still damned big and hugely impressive) Piton. It’s unbelievably beautiful and the beach, as you can see, is lovely. I’ll have more tomorrow if all goes to plan.

Hey, the TV in my (palatial) room even gets City News from Toronto.

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ST. VINCENT/GRENADINES...RATING THE AIRLINES...IRELAND BLOG

 

Had a cup of coffee the other day with Glen Beache, the aptly named (I'm sure he's sick of the joke) minister of tourism for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Nice fellow. Very nice-sounding islands.

"I think we're what people are looking for in the Caribbean," he said. "It's not mass-market. It's the sort of place where you can walk down the main street of the capital (Kingstown) and pick a mango off a tree."

For those of you geographically challenged, St. Vincent and the Grenadines are a string of 32 islands, including Mustique, Bequia and Young Island, that lie west of Barbados and south of St. Lucia.

There's only one luxury resort, a Raffles, but there are plenty of nice places to stay in a country that Beache said is trying hard to remain relatively low-key.

"We've had cruise lines say they want to bring in boats with 2,000 people to our smaller islands. but some of them only have 500 people and we don't want to overwhelm them."

Beache is struggling with what many tourism people battle over; keeping developers and pro-growth people happy without going so overboard that they lose the special feeling that brought people there way in the first place. The way Beache seems to look at it, there are lots of all-inclusive places in St. Lucia and Barbados and Jamaica and such, so his nation needs to remain a distinct alternative.

Beache, who spent a great deal of time in Toronto as a youth and attended Carleton University, said St. Vincent and the Grenadines this year have attracted more Canadians and Italians than last year. So they know the importance of the Canadian marketplace.

The tallest building in his country is five stories, and that's the limit, Beache says.

"There's no McDonald's," he says. "We do have a KFC, however. Caribbean people love chicken. What I'd like is a Lick's Hamburgers (outlet)!"

Folks may recall that the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the first one, was filmed in Beache's country. Tobago Cay played a large role. But Beache says it was a strange experience.

"When the Disney people first spotted the beach, they all couldn't believe it. Four of them literally jumped off the boat and into the water, only to discover they had their blackberries and cell phones in their pockets. The fifth guy stood on the boat and just roared, but I think maybe he just couldn't swim. That's a true story."

On the other hand, Beache says Disney never responded to a request for the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to get a ticket for the premier of the film. When they asked for some mementoes of the filming, he says Disney sent them movie posters. Maybe a dozen of them.

Nice.

While we're on the topic of the Caribbean, Travelweekly reports that first-quarter tourist arrivals in Cancun grew 4.7 per cent, a pretty impressive stat. Cuba's arrivals were up 1.9 per cent, while Jamaica climbed just a bit; 0.2 per cent.

But they said things weren't as sweet in other parts of the Caribbean. They quoted the Caribbean Tourist Organization as saying Antigua, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands suffered double-digit declines in the winter season, while Barbados, Belize and St. Lucia had single-digit drops, as did the Dominican Republic.

I've not spent as much time in the Caribbean as I should, but I'll be in St. Lucia and Barbados over the next few days to gather stuff for future stories. I'll plan on blogging, of course, and will file a few pics when I can.

PRETZELS? WE DON"T NEED NO STINKING PRETZELS

I'm mixing up Seinfeld and Blazing Saddles/Treasure of the Sierra Madre with that headline, but what the heck.

It seems the folks at the website seatguru.com surveyed some 1,600 travellers to find out what we think about airline food and service.

Forty per cent of respondents said the on-board amenity they value most is a full meal, and amen to that. They cited American, United and US Airways as having the worst food and Continental as having good chow, behind Singapore Airlines (no surprise given their reputation) and British Airways.

The top three airlines cited for courteous flight attendants were Singapore, British and Southwest.

I didn't spot any Canadian content in any of the reports I read about the study. Sorry, folks.

BARNARD BLOGGING

Star Movies Editor Linda Barnard continues her fine blogging from Ireland. Check out her latest hiking exploits and the rest of her travels - so far, and stay tuned for more in the next coming days. We hope.

HOTEL/BIKE DEAL IN GUELPH

The Delta Guelph Hotel and Conference Centre is offering bike rentals as a "sustainable alternative" to exploring the city. Until the end of October, guests can check out various types of bikes on hourly, half-day or full-day rentals.

Packages for an overnight stay start at $140, including the room, a full-day bike rental and breakfast for two adults and two kids.

For details, visit www.deltaguelph.com