More Sunwing outfall...Disney deal and UCLA jazz...Jim's deal of the day

It's interesting to note some of the comments made by Sunwing folks in the wake of the announced merger of Sunwing and Signature. And to note how some of my fellow media types phrased their stories.

There was some sense of a larger company being able to offer more efficiencies, but by and large the tone seemed to be the one I took in this space yesterday, which is to suggest that any reduced competition is probably not a great thing for the average Canadian consumer. I hope that's wrong, but it usually seems to work that way.

For now, Sunwing says nothing will change and that Signature will keep operating as normal. There's talk that Sunwing will put a new emphasis on Mexico over the winter, and that's certainly good news for Mexico tourism folks.

I got a bit of reaction from readers to my Tuesday blog. Here are two competing thoughts:

"I hope that Sunwing learns a little bit of customer service from the merger. I travelled recently with Sunwing. There was an issue with my return flight. I hear that Air Canada has bad customer service .. trust me they are great compared to SW. I am not sure why they even have a CS (customer service) department. I am using WestJet for my next trip.. they have the best customer service in the industry."

Another person thought Sunwing was the cat's nightgown.

"I think Sunwing is great and I hope they keep their service just as it is. I've traveled down south a lot over the past 20 years, both with my extended family and with my wife and of all the companies we've flown with, Sunwing has been the best. Reading that they went (from revenues) of $30 million (to) $660 million was a shock, but I guess that's what happens when you provide good service. Good for them."

I've never flown Sunwing, but if money talks they're obviously doing some things right. Or a lot of things.

NICE WORK BY THE MOUSE

Disney is offering a free days' admission to a million guests who complete a day of volunteer work next year, and I gotta give them credit for a lovely idea.

Associated Press reports the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program will give certified volunteers a one-day ticket at Walt Disney World in Orlando or Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. Disney is partnering with HandsOn Network to connect people with projects and to make sure work is done.

Duncan Dickson, who teaches theme park management at the University of Central Florida (who knew there was such a thing?), called it a "smart marketing move," and I couldn't agree more.

(Okay, I can make fun of theme park management, but I confess I took a course in jazz when I was at UCLA. My professor was a guy who had played in Glenn Miller's band, Paul Tanner. One day he told us invented the "electro-theremin," which played the weird, trippy sounding thingy that goes "oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh" in the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations." I didn't believe him but I later looked it up and he was right. Of course, it took a little more doing as there was no Internet to look these things up on. I also found out he was born in Skunk Hollow, Kentucky, which is one of the great-sounding towns in America, apropo of nothing).

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

Transat Holidays is the latest tour operator to promote holiday season getaways at sale prices. Some of the lowest rates are for Cuba, including a seven night air and hotel package at the Hotetur Palma Real in Varadero for $1,069 departing Dec. 19. And in the Dominican Republic, staying at the Bahia Principe San Juan Golden Club, packages are priced at $1,149 for the Dec. 31 departure. Prices are higher on islands like Antigua ($1,699 for the Jolly Beach Resort & Spa) and St. Lucia ($1,759 at Coconut Bay Beach Resort), both flying out Dec. 20. Transat lists all of its hotels and prices at www.transatholidays.com.

TWICK OR TWEET...CUTE

Nine Marriott/Renaissance Caribbean and Mexico resorts on Oct. 1 will launch a Halloween Twitter promotion called "Twick-or-Tweet."

Sounds like more tweet than twick to me. What you have to do, I'm told, is follow @MarriottResorts on Twitter (hey, while you're at it, follow me to @jbyers11) and then you can check each day for a link that will pull up what they're calling the twick-or-tweet "landing page." Free massages or free nights will be on offer, as well as "tweets" such as free golf in St. Kitts or a $100 resort credit in Cancun.

FREE ROOMS AT SHERATON

Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is celebrating $6 billion in renovations around the world with free rooms for one night only at 86 hotels in North America. Consumers can visit www.sheraton.com/freenight from Oct. 6-9 to reigster for a free room on Oct. 23 at such hotels as the Sheraton Boston, Sheraton Waikiki and Sheraton Phoenix Downtown.

Officials say they have 70,000 new or newly renovated rooms, 50,000 of them in North America, as well as 300 new lobbies and new "sweet sleeper" beds in 83,000 guestrooms. Nearly half the company's North American properties have been renovated, including the Sheraton Montreal.

 

 

 

 

Signature and Sunwing to fly together; good for consumers?...Jim's Deal of Day

A remarkable year in Canadian travel just got a whole lot more interesting.

The news today is that Sunwing Vacations has agreed to combine with Signature Vacations for what will be a huge player in the Canadian travel business. Sunwing has been flying high, while First Choice Canada, which runs Signature Vacations and SellOffVacations, has been having considerable trouble.

What it means to consumers is hard to say. On the one hand, the new company, called Sunwing Travel Group, will have more buying power. On the other hand, it means less competition for business; and that's usually not good for buyers.

Colin Hunter, chairman and majority shareholder of the Sunwing Travel Group, said the proposed amalgamation "will create a stronger company better able to compete against Canada's leading tour operators, while offering a broader range of travel destinations to the travelling public. The proposed company will be in a position to improve its product range and offer competitive prices with increased efficiencies resulting from the transaction."

Improved product range and competitive prices sound like good terms. But how competitive will they be? Certainly, Sunwing has been an aggressive travel company, seeing revenues go from something like $30 million to $660 million in the last five years.

Based in Toronto, Sunwing Vacations departs to 31 sun destinations, including standbys such as Cuba, Mexico, Florida and Jamaica but also "newer" spots such as Honduras and Belize.

Earlier this year, Conquest Vacations suddenly shut its doors after 37 years of operation. Conquest said it was a victim of overcapacity issues and a price war between groups such as Sunwing, WestJet Vacations, Air Canada Vacations and Transat A.T.

Meanwhile, in the airlines business, you have West Jet and Air Canada engaged in some solid price wars, while Porter Airlines continues to expand out of the Toronto Island Airport.

Interesting times.

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY.. NEW MEXICO

A number of Santa Fe hotels have put together special packages with savings over the winter – when average temperatures, at least during the day, hit the double-digits. The Inn and Spa at Loretto’s Santa Fe 400 package, marking the city’s 400th anniversary, includes two nights’ accommodation, a $40 (U.S.) dining credits as well as a $40 spa credit, plus valet parking and the daily resort fee. Travel must be completed by March 31, 2010. For details see www.innatloretto.com. Another promotion, at the Inn on the Alameda, offers third consecutive nights for $24 for travel Oct. 25 through Feb. 28, for all rooms and suites. Some black-out dates apply with this deal. See www.innonthealameda.com.

 

More Mexico travel woes...Vancouver Island vistas...Jim's deal of the day

We Canadians love our Mexico winter holidays. Spring, summer and fall, too. There's plenty to like.

But news today that two British Columbia men were found shot to death at a condo in Puerto Vallarta can't help Mexico in its continuing bid to lure more of us to the sunny south.

Reports say the shootings took place early Sunday and that at least one man was found by the condo's swimming pool, shot at close range.

It's been a rough go for Mexico. They've had to deal with ongoing drug wars that have led to many shootings, albeit mostly in border towns away from most tourists. They've also had natural disasters and a swine flu outbreak, which they appear to have handled well.

We don't know the complete story of what happened in Puerto Vallarta on the weekend, but it's surely bad news for Mexico tourism. And surely a concern for Canadians thinking of a winter break.

VANCOUVER ISLAND VISTAS

I had no idea Vancouver Island was so stunningly beautiful and rugged. I was in Victoria when I was about knee high to Steve Nash but all I remembered was Butchart Gardens, the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Buildings. I'd never been to Tofino or Comox or Nanaimo before and had never driven much on the island. But I saw some wonderful scenery this past weekend, staying at the remarkable Wickaninnish

Inn just south of Tofino, taking long walks on Chesterman Beach to watch the surfers, taking in a whale watching tour on a rollicking, 65-foot ship on the Pacific and having a Sunday night dinner as the sun set over Victoria Harbour. I'll have more on BC coming up in the pages of the Star over the coming weeks, so stay tuned for a story and lots of pictures...

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

Goway Travel’s AdventuresIncorporated division is offering free airfare with many of its Antarctica sailings this fall and winter. There’s no booking deadline but only certain itineraries and dates qualify for the deal. Antarctic Quest, departing Nov. 2, 2009 and Jan. 22 and Feb. 22, 2010 on the 82-passenger Ocean Nova, is a 20-day journey from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Falkland Islands, South George and the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula. A shorter trip, the 11-day Classic Antarctica departing Jan. 15 and Feb. 20, 2010 on the 110-passenger Lyubov Orlova, heads straight to the Antarctic Peninsula for four days, with frequent trips ashore on inflatable Zodiac expedition boats. See www.adventuresincorporated.com.

Sea to Sky Highway...Vancouver Island...St. Maarten is Jim's deal of the day

COURTENAY, B.C. - If an early Thursday morning trip was any indication, and it probably wasn't, things are looking pretty good on the Sea-to-Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler.

Actually, I was driving early in the day from Whistler to Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, so technically I should call it the Sky-to-Sea Highway. But the point is that the road is in marvellous shape with the Olympics less than five months away.

They're still doing some paving work just south of Whistler near the Creekside area, but it's pretty minor. After that, the road is often four lanes and almost three lanes of newly paved road all the way to the city.

There still are a couple parts where huge rocks on the east side of the road and railway tracks on the west hem things in and prevented folks from making it three lanes or four all the way. But it looked like only a few kilometres of the highway were two lanes, so things should be reasonable as far as capacity goes for the Games.

That still begs the question of how much traffic will be allowed on the highway. Three lanes, after all, isn't much if you've got a million cars traversing the road each day. VANOC is supposed to release a new transportation plan soon, so it'll be interesting to see how things will work.

HEADING TO VANCOUVER ISLAND

I was in Victoria for a few hours in December, 1980 and for a day or two when I was, oh, about nine years old when I came with my Mom and Dad and my sister on a driving trip from California and we visited Butchart Gardens, Victoria, the Rockies and just about every other place you can imagine in western North America. (I remember the Canadian dollar was worth more than the U.S. and it pissed me off that candy bars/chocolate bars cost more north of the border than they did at home, and when you're a kid you jealously guard every penny of your allowance).

Anyway, I have no real recollection of anything except the Parliament building in Victoria, the roses in the garden and the Empress Hotel, and even then I can't tell how much is actual memory and how much is seeing photos of them in the intervening years and thinking, "oh, yeah, I remember that."

So what I'm trying to get at, and not too successfully, is that it's a real treat to be back on Vancouver Island. It was an uneventful ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, but I was surprised to see a kids' play area, a small cafeteria and a reasonably-sized gift shop on board the BC Ferries boat. I had no idea they had so much to offer. And I didn't know Horseshoe Bay (see photo) was so pretty.

 

Nanaimo was kinda cool. Had a great seafood chowder and salad combo at The Lighthouse, right on the waterfront, then kicked around downtown for a bit and did some shopping at a funky, cool spot called Flying Fish. It's not a huge downtown but it's got some charm to it.

Spent the night at the Kingfisher Resort south of Courtenay, about an hour north of Nanaimo. It's right on the water, looking out over the sound towards Texada Island and Powell River, and with the weather as clear as it is you can see all the way to the mountains near Squamish and Whistler. The gardens are beautiful and there's a small spa and a pool and a hot tub, as well as a restaurant that gets great dinner reviews and serves a mean bowl of steel-cut oatmeal with dried fruit for a reasonable $5.

 

Didn't get to see Comox except in the dark but had a nice Thai meal in Courtenay on Thursday night.

The weather is ridiculously good; about 18 to 20 degrees and hardly a cloud in the sky and very little breeze. Very fortunate, indeed.

Spending the weekend at the Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, which is regarded as one of the great resorts of the world. Can't wait.

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

Two St. Maarten resorts – the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort & Casino and the Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino – are offering step-ladder savings that go up as hotel nights increase. With one to three nights at either resort, the discount is between 35 and 55 per cent. From four to seven nights qualify for between 45 and 55 per cent off. And with eight nights or more, you get between 50 and 55 per cent off. The Sonesta Maho is close to St. Maarten’s airport – so close in fact that incoming planes fly very low over the property. Despite this (or maybe because of it) the Sonesta Maho gets its share of vacationers. Sister resort Sonesta Great Bay is near Philipsburg. See www.sonesta.com/stmaarten.

Whistler Hotels....West Jet sale takes on Air Canada...Good Show, Toronto

WHISTLER - I was lucky enough to sample two very different hotels in this lovely resort community over the past few days.

Spent a few nights at the Hilton, which is right in the lower village and features enormous rooms with full kitchens, a bar for eating breakfast or lunch (dinner in a pinch), a sofa, fireplace, balcony and large bathroom. Quite a nice setup for a family, for sure, or for anyone who wants a little space.

The next couple nights were at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler for the Go Media conference sponsored by the Canadian Tourism Commission. It doesn't have the iconic design of the Banff Springs or Chateau Frontenac or the Royal York and the rooms aren't particularly large but they're well furnished and have great bathrooms. There's also a great pool setup with a swim spot for the kids and a lap pool for adults (you can hear the music played on the patio when you're underwater in the lap pool courtesy of underwater speakers, although I can't quite imagine why). The gym looks great and there's a well-regarded spa. Most rooms have great mountain views, and the lobby is an exercise is casual, mountain-style luxury. A wonderful spot for a romantic getaway.

The Fairmont also has a great patio with propane heaters galore and a couple of gas fireplaces that radiate a lot of heat on a cool September night, not that we had anything really approaching that in a week where daytime temperatures were in the mid to upper 20's.

TORONTO PUTS ON THE RITZ

Next year's Go Media conference for tourism operators and media will be held in Toronto. Toronto Tourism sponsored the final dinner at this year's event and did a bang-up job.

All the tables in the Fairmont dining hall had Toronto street names, including obvious ones like Yonge and Bloor but also Ottawa, Muskoka, DeGrassi, Kennedy Road, Leslie Street and Black Creek Drive, just so that all the regions were represented.

There was a fine dinner of smoked trout and veal medallions with polenta and other goodies, and they had a string quartet that played along as images of everything from the AGO to the Argos and Caribana flashed up on the screen.

The centrepieces were the piece de resistance, with towers of glass surrounded by swirling white ribbons that were decorated with everything from tiny shopping bags from Holt Renfrew or the Eaton Centre to tiny, plastic dinosaurs to represent the ROM and tiny film canisters with Film Festival banners. Quite clever, I thought.

Prior to the Toronto dinner, there was a wonderful reception at the Squamish-Lil'Wat Cultural Centre in town. I did a travel piece on it in the Star a couple years back, and it's a stunningly designed focal point for aboriginal culture. There were aboriginal dancers last night and they put out a spread that included the tastiest smoked/candied salmon you've ever tried. Huge chunks of the stuff, rich and flavourful and sweet and savoury. A big hit with the crowd.

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

Air wars in Canada appear to be heating up.

Air Canada has a big half-price sale on for a few more hours. Now, not only is WestJet offering airfares for half price, it’s taking 25 per cent off hotel stays too. Valid for bookings made by 11:59 p.m. (Mountain Daylight Time) today (Thursday, Sept. 24) for travel through Jan. 31, 2010, this seat sale applies to WestJet destinations in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Caribbean. For Canadian and U.S. destinations, the lowest sale fares apply to flights on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, plus for all destinations watch out for blackout dates Dec. 18 – Jan. 4. The hotel offer is good at InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites properties booked through the link at www.westjet.com, at least three days ahead of your stay. Your WestJet boarding pass will be required at check-in. See www.westjet.com.

NAIRN FALLS

Forgot to say I had a great hike the other day to Nairn Falls. I'd never heard of it, but a sign on the highway near Pemberton seemed to be calling my name and a great waitress at Big Sky golf course in Pemberton told me it definitely needed to be checked out.

 

You park in a small lot right off Highway 99 and walk about 1.5 km through beautiful forests to a terrific waterfall that shoots through a tiny, narrow chasm of chiseled rock with a force that's hard to imagine. It's not a towering waterfall, but it's extremely impressive in its power. It tumbles into a narrow pool of water, then slides down a sheer face of rock into another narrow chasm before it widens into a simply marvellous alpine river.

Quite worth the price of admission, which is zilch.

SO LONG, JAMIE, I HARDLY KNEW YA

That figures. I finally made it to Jamie Kennedy's wine bar on Church St. for the first time about two weeks ago, and I see today at thestar.com that he's sold the place. Damn; guess it's back to Baby Duck and Fritos out behind the Star building.

Whistler Olympic Tour...Ablonczy embarrasses Canada...Jim's Deal of Day...

 

WHISTLER – I’m here for a GO Media conference of Canadian travel folks, put on (and quite well) by the Canadian Tourism Commission. The conference is being held at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, a lovely property at the foot of Blackcomb Mountain in the so-called upper village.

 

The Peak-to-Peak Gondola ride (see yesterday’s post) was great. Tuesday morning there was a breakfast sponsored by Saskatchewan, with some wonderful older folks playing piano and fiddle and singing old-timey tunes like Red River Valley. Quite delightful.

 

After breakfast there was a choice of activities in Whistler, from golf at Chateau Whistler golf course to ATV’ing or ziplining through the forests. I chose an Olympics venue tour, being an Olympics guy, and it was quite nice.

Got to see the bottom of the towering ski jumps, where they’re still doing a ton of work to build the temporary spectator seats and make room for the TV and media folks (see my story in today’s sports section for more on the status of construction and the 2010 Winter Olympics in general).

 

Also visited the athletes’ village, where the units will be turned into badly needed housing for Whistlerites (Whistleronians?) after the Olympic and Paralympic flames are extinguished. Market homes will cost about $900,000, but profits from those are helping others get subsidized houses for about one-half that, and that’s a remarkable deal in super-heated British Columbia real estate. It’s a great deal to get a subsidized unit, but authorities smartly made it so that you can only re-sell your unit and raise the price by the cost of inflation. In other words, no buying at $450,000 and then selling it double the price a month later. Or a year.

 Smart.

Anyway, that was the morning. After our tour came a lunch put on by the CTC. I got there a little late and sat down to hear someone giving a quite lengthy speech about what I think was every single tourist attraction in Canada. The speaker touched on  Newfoundland, Gaelic and Celtic culture in Nova Scotia, the joys of the ice hotel in Quebec, the multiculturalism of Toronto, the joys of the prairies and Great Slave Lake, as well as Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, the wide expanses of the north and the scarcity of traffic signs and, of course, all the great things to see in British Columbia. Many folks said she skipped New Brunswick and put Great Slave Lake in the wrong part of the country, but I can’t confirm that. And if she mentioned Banff, Lake Louise or Jasper, I didn’t hear it. She went off on a tangent about how you can drive in northern Canada for hours and see nothing, but she made it sound pretty dull instead of free and open.

On the other hand, we did get to hear about her husband’s love of trains and the remarkable train trips she’s taken. Lots of people drone on for way too long in public speeches and talk about nothing and bore audiences to death, but this happened to be Diane Ablonczy, Canada’s Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism).

I've covered politics for 15 or 20 years of my political life, and it was possibly the worst speech I've ever heard. There were reporters from Japan, Germany, England and other markets that are important to Canada, and she had no clue what to say or how to say it. The speech was Tuesday at lunch, and it was still a huge topic of conversation at breakfast Wednesday morning.

 

It's no reflection on the CTC, which is doing a great job at the conference. But it's a shame the minister had to put a temporary shadow on the Whistler sunshine.

 

CANADIANS ARE CHATTY? TRY FLORIDA

Not unlike Vancouver, there are tons of coffee choices in Whistler village. There are two Starbucks and a Second Cup. But I opted to stop into Moguls Coffee the other day and wolfed down (actually it took me two breakfasts to finish it) a wonderful blueberry-cinnamon muffin. Linda Ingversson, a Swedish immigrant, makes them by hand every morning and they’re killers.

I was chatting with Ingversson about a controversy regarding a memo put out by the Resort Municipality of Whistler (ROMW for short in the local papers, just FYI) that urges locals to decorate their homes with red and white Christmas lights, sing "Oh, Canada" in a loud voice when Canadian athletes win a gold medal and to otherwise throw off their emotional shackles and get loud come 2010. She told me she thinks Canadians are chatty as can be, at least compared to the Swedes.

“If you go to a grocery store here, people in line will chat with you,” she said. “I like that. It would never happen at home.”

She thinks Canadians are chatty in line? She ought to go to Florida. I can’t get out of a grocery store in the Sunshine State without the checkout girl giving a running commentary on what’s in my cart.

“Oh, multi-grain Cheerios? I’ve never tried those. My kids love the Honey Nut ones. I know they’re bad for them but they just love them so much. What about you? What about Apple-Cinnamon? Aren’t those good? Remember when there only plain Cheerios? What  about those? And how about those Devil Rays? Do you like baseball?”

Geez, I just want to buy my food and get back to my condo, and they want to rattle on like a Tourism minister or something...

 

While we're on the subject of Florida, VISIT FLORIDA today said a record 2.9 million Canadians visited the Sunshine State in 2008, a 15.6 per cent hike over the 2.5 million Canadian visitors the year before.

 

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

 

Jamaica’s Half Moon has extended its Fourth Night Free promotion until Oct. 31. This deal also comes with a guaranteed room upgrade and free accommodation for kids under 12 when sharing a room with two adults. Half Moon offers suites and cottages as well as villas with anywhere from four to seven bedrooms, geared to larger groups and extended families. The villas also have their own private pools and include the services of a butler, cook and housekeeper. On-site diversions range from a Robert Trent Jones, Sr.-designed 18-hole golf course to Fern Tree, the Spa at Half Moon, an equestrian centre, water sports and children’s village. See www.halfmoon.com.

 

Riding the Peak to Peak Gondola in Whistler, Jim's deal of day: Danube Cruise

WHISTLER, B.C. - Sometimes, sorry, lots of times, in this job I have to pinch myself.
Monday was one of those days.

After working on a story for the sports section and taking part in a panel discussion at a Canadian travel media conference here, I hopped on a gondola that took myself and a bunch of other travel types to the top of Whistler Mountain, some 6,000 feet above sea level. It was about 21 degrees, take or give, even at the top of the mountain.

It was a fun ride up the hill, over the top of the towering conifers and with great views down to Whistler Village. But nothing prepares you for the silence and the beauty of the Peak to Peak Gondola, an 11-minute ride over a narrow, deep slot valley that whisks you from Whistler Mountain to the peak of Blackcomb Mountain.

I gotta admit I had my reservations, not being so fond of heights and all. But it was fine. Most of the ride is over the top of trees, but not all THAT much above them. After a few minutes you’re some 432 meters above the valley floor. But if you think about it, even a fall of 40 meters would likely kill you so why worry when you’re higher than that? It’s very smooth and quiet and only a couple minutes of the trip is all that high, so I say give her a shot.

You go some 27 mph in all, and it’s a 4.4 km stretch; the longest such gondola ride in the world. We had a great BC dinner afterward, and were greeted by Miss Whistler and Miss Blackcomb; young women dressed in skirts that showed maps of the ski runs and who wore tiny red gondolas on their head. See the photo; it was hilarious.

 

For some reason, a lot of folks sat inside the roundhouse at the top of the mountain. I stayed outside to enjoy the fine weather and the incredible, roof-of-the-world views.

I mean, how many chances does one have to eat dinner at 6,000 feet and watch the sun set over towering spires of rock and trees and glaciers? Afterwards, we rode down to the village in the dark, the lights of Whistler winking at us from thousands of feet up the mountain and the stars twinkling overhead. Sheer magic.

 

WAVING THE FLAG IN WHISTLER

It’s one thing to have a TV campaign that urges Canadians to get loud at the Vancouver/Whistler Olympics. But some folks out here in la-la-land have their hookah pipes in a knot over a seemingly innocent booklet sent out to Whistler municipal workers; a booklet that urges folks to wear red-and-white and sing Oh, Canada during medal presentations for Canadian athletes and other such tidbits (see today’s sports section in the Star for my story).

Still, the buildup in Whistler is all too much for some.

"They’re so worried,’’ said Shaun Gillis, who works at the Hempire store in Whistler village, selling smoking accessories and hemp gear. “They’re so concerned about great customer service. But wages are the same and people are suffering who live here. They want people to be happy but people are getting screwed. There’s already three people living to a room around here. And the Aussies (a couple thousand seasonal workers) aren’t even here yet.”

What about building a little spirit, he was asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Canadians are naturally kind of mellow.”

Vancouver 2010 Olympic/Paralympic chief John Furlong says he thinks it's great to get Canadians' motor running in advance of the Games.

"It's like the COC's new Paint the Town Red program (which was unveiled today; go to www.olympic.ca for information). It's another way to get the public to recognize the responsibility they have when it comes to the Games to give support but also stretch it out onto the streets. I think it's great. We've been reluctant to stand up and cheer and wear our victories proudly."

Furlong says it's a huge help to Canadian athletes to have the crowd on their side.

"When an athlete is on the field of play and it’s a sea of red it just gives you that buzz. I think it's all about building atmosphere and giving people a sense that they're part of it all.”

The lack of enthusiasm in some corners of Whistler, as well as Vancouver, is to be expected. It's not uncommon for the negative side of the ledger to get the most ink prior to the Games. It happened in Sydney, where pre-Olympic papers were filled with stories about how Bondi Beach was going to be ruined by beach volleyball. Once the Games started the city went bonkers and most of those cares were forgotten. Nowadays, on the other hand, some folks wonder if the cost was worth it.

HOW ABOUT SOME DECENT DISCOUNTS IN CANADA

Winnipeg Airports Authority says it's starting to feel the pinch as cost-conscious Manitoba folks drive to Grand Forks or Fargo, N.D. to get cheap faires to Orlando or Vegas or other spots, CanWest reports. The cost of the flights is said to be about half of what it would cost to jet out of Winnipeg.

Apparently you can buy a return trip to Vegas from Grand Forks on Allegiant Air for as little as $206 U.S., compared to an Air Canada deal (through Denver) of $464.49 Canadian.

I've never flown out of Buffalo but sounds like it's worth a try sometime...

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

The Oct. 2, 2009 departure of AMA Waterways’ Blue Danube Discovery cruise is on sale at a hefty discount of $3,000 per cabin, based on double occupancy, for bookings made by Sept. 28. Before the discount, the lead-in price is $4,930 per person, and that includes airfare, pre- and post-cruise hotel accommodation with two nights in Budapest before the cruise and three nights in Prague after the cruise, and the seven-day sail along the Danube visiting Bratislava, Vienna, Linz, Nuremburg and more on the new MS Amalyra. AMA Waterways is represented in Canada by GLP Worldwide Expedition Travel and Tours. See www.europeanwaterways.ca.

 

Taking the back roads in British Columbia...Busy times in Whistler...Deal of day

WHISTLER - The Sea-to-Sky Highway between Whistler and Vancouver gets lots of accolades, and deservedly so. It's brilliant, with great views of the water and the uh, sky. Not to mention the mountains.

I came into Whistler on the weekend via the northern route, driving from Kelowna to Spencers' Bridge, then over to Merritt and up to Lilloet (it's billed as "B.C.'s little nugget," and is'nt that a great slogan?), then down to Pemberton and on to Whistler. You drive through some terrifically lonely country,with hardly another car in sight and plenty of dry rock and canyons and endless sky. Quite remarkable.

I didn't take a lot of pictures, for a change, as I was in a bit of a hurry. But the views between Lilloet and
Pemberton are terrific, as is the drive from Pemberton to Whistler.

I'll do more on the course in next April's Toronto Star Golf magazine, but I had a chance to play Big Sky in
Pemberton on the weekend, and it's a huge treat. The course is fairly straightforward, with lots of water and
some false front greens with plenty of hidden swails and hollows around the greens that make it tougher than it looks. But it's the view that'll bring you back.

Pemberton sits in a bit of a bowl, surrounded by large mountains to the east, west and north and by TOWERING Mt. Currie in the south. It's a jagged, wonderful and totally overpowering peak, and it's as dramatic a backdrop as almost anything in the Rockies.

The sun was pretty bright behind the mountain, so my pictures didn't come out as well as I'd have liked. But this photo shows the back nine, with a great par four approaching the base of Mt. Currie.

WHAT, WHISTLER WORRY?

Recession? Caramba in Whistler Village Had a 40 minute wait on Friday night. Ended up having half serving of pasta carbonara with big hunks of pancetta or ham and a big bowl of tiny olives at La Brasserie for $14.

Hotels.ca was reporting the other day that Whistler's average room rates declined 27 per cent in the first part of the year to $173 per night from $235 per night over the same period of 2008. Maybe that explains the crowds.

ALMOST TORCH TIME

Vancouver Olympic organizers say they're expecting 50,000 people for the first day of the torch relay, in Victoria Oct. 30. The Olympic flame will be lit in Olympia Oct. 22 – a month and one day from now.

Time flies…

WHINES ABOUT WINE

The Vancouver Sun (check Jeff Lee's excellent Olympics blog, by the way) reports that some "B.C." wines
being marketed in the province, including some marketed under the 2010 Olympic logo, may contain grapes from California, South Africa and other, foreign spots. It's not uncommon in the wine industry, but
apparently some of the wines say "cellared in Canada" yet contain grapes shipped here from warmer climes. It's one thing for a generic wine, but when it's labelled as an Olympic wine and it comes from Chile or California, it's pretty embarrassing.

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

Signature Vacations is taking hundreds of dollars off select holiday season and New Year’s departures booked by today, Sept. 21. One property, the all-inclusive Ocean Sand by H10 Hotels in Punta Cana, is going for $1,298 per person, down from $1,678 for the Dec. 19 flight. That’s a savings of $760 per couple. The four-star-plus Ocean Sand by H10 is known for its kids’ program, where children ages four through 12 and teens 13 – 17 can participate in daily supervised activities. There are also two pools, an 18-hole golf course, three buffet and six a la carte restaurants. See www.signaturevacations.com.

 

 

Kelowna a killer destination...Jim's deal of the day says "stay close to home"

 

KELOWNA – Spend a couple days here and you get the feeling people know what they were they’re doing when they made this a popular retirement spot.

The winters can be gloomy, they say. But it doesn’t tend to get cold here until November and the skiing at nearby hills such as Big White and Silver Star is said to be legendary; deep, crisp powder and lots of it; not unlike Utah. More reliable than Whistler but much warmer than Banff, folks explain.

And then the spring comes in March/April, and the summer’s are hot and long and longer. It was 30 degrees on Wednesday and a solid 24 on Thursday, when I had the chance to tour a great goat cheese-making operation and have lunch at the sumptuous terrace at Mission Hills winery, which has outstanding Lake Okanagan views and a menu that’s been hailed by foodies as one of the top winery restaurants in the world.

There were edible flowers and lovely scallops and a rich venison shank that was as artfully arranged as the Chagall tapestry that hangs inside the Mission Hills winery, although, sadly, the latter is not on display for all visitors.

There’s a huge lawn with an ampitheatre, a towering bell tower that rings out loud and clear over the hills and the lake, a great tour, a small rose garden, vines that stretch out in perfect symmetry and a solid tasting room with some great varieties, including a very affordable and tasty Pinot Grigio and some high-end red mixes that most of us can’t manage. The Oculus red, which features a Bordeaux-like blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot, is remarkably tasty.

As Colonel Potter once said while sipping on a nice glass of Scotch in a M*A*S*H episode, “Not enough o’s in smoooooooth.”

Up the road at Gray Monk they have great views from a little lower elevation. While Mission Hills sits on the west side of the lake and is south of Kelowna proper by a few clicks, Gray Monk is nestled between Kelowna and Vernon on the east side of the lake. The flowers on the patio are lovely, they’ve got some great Pinot Gris and Merlot and some interesting German varietals, and the food is rock solid. Great B.C. scallops perfectly cooked and a wonderful free-range chicken on a bed of basil risotto. It’s a bit of a chore to find the place, but well worth the stop.

I’ll be checking in next week from Whistler, where there’s a Canadian travel media conference I’m attending.

JIM’S DEAL OF THE DAY

You’ve no doubt heard of ‘stay-cations’ and the art of vacationing at home. Now there are ‘near-cations’, promoting local or nearby travel. Contiki Holidays is picking up on the near-cation trend with a $100 per person discount to promote its new 2010-2011 North America brochure, offering some 20 itineraries ranging from six to 26 days in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The $100 discount applies to trips eight days or longer for travel booked by Oct. 1, 2009. Contiki caters to the 18-35 year old crowd with packages that include accommodation, transport, sightseeing, daily breakfast and other meals. See www.contiki.com.

 

 

Vancouver to Osoyoos; a great British Columbia drive...Jim's Deal of the Day

Now, that's a great drive.

I've drive the Coquihalla Highway between Kelowna and Vancouver. On Thursday I did the Vancouver to Osoyoos drive on the the Crowsnest Highway, Highway 3. You slowly make your way out of Vancouver and roll past farms and fields out near Abbotsford before starting the climb toward sawtoothed peaks near Hope, then turn right on to Highway 3.

You hardly see a soul as you roll over the Allison Pass at 1,352 meters and make your way through Manning Provincial Park, hard by the U.S. border. You turn back north and follow the silky Similkameen River to Princeton, a great little town that didn't seem to have a Tim Horton's. But a checkout girl at the Shoppers Drug Mart pointed me to a great place called Cowboy Coffee (great name, too; no pretense here) that had dark, black stuff that would make Starbucks proud. You're pumping money, albeit only a bit, into the local economy so it's a nice feeling. Folks in Osoyoos and the lower Okanagan Valley say Cowboy Coffee is a de rigeur stop on the five hour trip to Vancouver, and it's easy to see why.

You get to follow the Similkameen even further as it dances in the sun between the highway and the mountains. The road's not at all treacherous, but you come right along the rock face several times and get some really lovely vistas before you roll down to Keremeos and Cawston, both sleepy little towns in a valley above Osoyoos.

Folks say the Similkameen is the next big wine area in British Columbia. I didn't get a chance to taste any of the local stuff, but there were a couple dozen wineries before I even reached Osoyoos.

We ran a story on Osoyoos in Star Travel earlier this year but I'd never been. I've seen some dry parts of B.C. up around Cache Creek on the Fraser, but the dry-as-toast chaparral on the roads around Osoyoos and the outcroppings of burnt rock and spindly trees looks more like the Ponderosa or the high deserts of Nevada than anything the average visitor would expect in Canada.

It's absolutely beautiful country. And the wine is smashingly good, especially the reds. I've never found many Canadian red wines with the polish and heft that I like. But the Meritage blend and the Syrah at Nk'Mip in Osoyoos, the first aboriginal-owned winery, were both remarkably good and powerful.

It's a great spot, set on a hill overlooking the lake in Osoyoos, with a lovely patio. The signature plate features grilled bison, medallions of venison, wild game sausage and grilled vegetables with distinctive cornbread that's stuffed with cranberries, grilled onions and other goodies. Dynamite stuff, and the view's a killer.

You go past some lovely orchards on your way from Osoyoos up to Kelowna, with names like King Tomato, O'Reilly's, Dhaliwal and Elm Tree. You can buy peaches, nectarines, apricots, watermelon, plums, asian pears, walnuts, apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, blueberries and just about everything else except fresh mangoes and pineapple.

Up past Summerland and the lakeside town of Peachland to Kelowna, where I stayed the night at the lakeside Grand Okanagan. A really nice spot with all the amenities and a couple of pools(see photo below) one of which I MIGHT get a chance to dunk myself into later today.

The highlight of the day was a dinner hosted by Kelowna tourism. Ostensibly it was for some food and wine writers here for a seminar, but I got an invite and managed to fake my way into being something of a wine afficionado. They held the event at RauDZ Regional Table in downtown Kelowna, where chef Rod Butters will do everything from tuna casserole with fresh ahi to a pair of merguez sausage hot dogs, or dress things up with oat-crusted arctic char with maple butter, potato, bacon and spinach saute' or duck served on a vegetable bread pudding with morello cherry relish. Yum. Desserts are spectacularly beautiful, with lots of chocolate and fresh, local raspberries.

They had folks from Peller Estates, Calona Vineyards and SandHill (all owned by Peller) on hand to let us try some unoaked Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and a remarkably earthy and full-bodied Pinot Noir. The Chardonnay and Pinot both have won awards from the Lt. Governor of BC, and it was easy to see and taste why. We got to comparing wines to various celebrities and figured the Chardonnay was bright and sparkly like Cameron Diaz. I thought the pinot was George Harrison; complex and hard-to-read but delightful and grounded, and I think that's quite enough of that.

ADVENTURE TRAVEL DEALS

Nice item on the USA Today travel website about the 10 best bargains today in adventure travel. Snowshoeing in Switzerland and cycling in Sicily are two of the options, as well as whitewater rafting in northern California.

 
JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY 

Norwegian Cruise Line’s three-day NOW sale runs through Sept. 18 with savings on more than 300 cruises in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Caribbean, Hawaii, the Mexican Riviera, South America, Canada and New England and Europe. Itineraries range from three to 29 days. With this sale, cruise fares have come down, plus you’ll get an onboard credit worth up to $250 (U.S.) to spend on shore excursions and at the spa, shops and casino. NCL has also made the booking process easier by cutting the standard cruise deposit by 50 per cent, so that most passengers only have to put down between $25 and $200 per person depending on the length of their cruise. For more details see www.ncl.com.