Porter Airlines comes through with diversion payments...Crazy airplane seats?

They said it. They did it.

I wrote a critical report in late June after Porter Airlines diverted a bunch of customers, myself included, from Toronto's island airport to Ottawa because of storms the G-8 Conference. I didn't like their disorganization on the ground in Ottawa late at night after we arrived (the service was awful), and I didn't like that they weren't compensating customers for the cost of hotel rooms, taxis, etc....in Ottawa.

I wrote a column to that effect for the Saturday paper(link), and we posted it online a couple days early. Within a couple hours of the story appearing on our website, Porter chair Bob Deluce sent me an email and said the policy was changing and that Porter would, from now on, compensate people who incurred expenses after a diverted flight.

A couple weeks later, officials said they were contacting folks on board my plane. A couple weeks ago, they said cheques were going out to people who had contacted them.

Late last week, I got a note from a reader who said they'd been given full compensation.

"I just wanted to let you know that Porter reimbursed us for our flight and for half of our car rental," one person wrote. "So we are back to being Porter fans."

(I spent a couple hundred bucks of the Star's money on a hotel and taxi, but I didn't ask Porter for reimbursement, preferring to see how they handled requests for the general public.)

Another person wrote that they got a cheque for their "exact expenses" but that they were "hoping to get some extra compensation for the inconvenience and hassle of the whole situation."

(I doubt it)

That same reader said they know someone "who slept in the airport because they couldn't afford anything up front, and of course, he didn't get any compensation."

That's unfortunate. But it's hard for Porter to reimburse someone when they don't have receipts. I guess they could cough up something for the guy, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Either way, I wanted to be fair and to give credit to Porter for doing the right thing. Yes, it might've been in part because of public or media pressure, but the final result is one that's much more fair for consumers.

CRAZY AIRPLANE SEATS

Don't you love this photo in today's Star of what looks like stand-up seats for future airplanes. I can't tell if this is a joke, but somebody ought to put a stop to this RIGHT NOW.

Can you imagine that for even 15 minutes? Cripes. Airplanes aren't rides at the Ex or Canada's Wonderland, folks. Airplane customers deserve respect, not this.

Debra Black in the Star today wrote that Aviointeriors, an Italian aircraft seat design firm, "has come up with an airplane seat that looks like and feels like a saddle, providing only 58 cm of leg room. That’s well below the amount of leg room found on most airlines, including Air Canada, which has seats that give 81 cm of leg room."

The seat was to be unveiled at the Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas conference in Long Beach, Calif. (how much fun would that be, by the way?) And company officials say many airlines have expressed interest in the seat.

Please, no.  A billion times no. If any airline tries it, I saw we all launch a massive boycott.

TERRA COTTA TERRIFIC

Thanks to the folks at Cathay Pacific for a nice reception the other night at the Royal Ontario Museum to celebrate the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit. It's a wonderful exhibit of one of the great archaeology/history finds of all time; thousands of clay warriors found in the 1970s by a Chinese farmer digging a well.

There are life-like warriors on display; very chilling, as well as, ahem, some lifelike sexual aids used by women a couple thousand years ago. I couldn't help thinking what former mayor Allan Lamport would think, but that's just me.

Anyway, it's on until the end of the year at the ROM and very much worth seeing.

Cathay Pacific, by the way, is expanding their flights from Toronto to Hong Kong (and back) by two a week, boosting their numbers to 12 flights weekly.

RITZ CARLTON TORONTO DELAY...RITZ LONDON UP AND AWAY

A burst water pipe at the Ritz Carlton hotel site on Wellington St. in downtown Toronto has pushed the
opening back to January of next year, I'm told. They had originally hoped for late this summer, then November. Now it's January. But it should still be a nice addition to the city's growing stock of high-end
hotel rooms.

They're talking about a 23,000 square foot spa that's being called an "urban sanctuary," as well as lots
of great views and amenities.

As for the Ritz in London, I'm told they did a massive renovation a few years back and have some pretty cool fall deals, including a businessman's special where you get a room, breakfast and a free suit pressing for 260 pounds, about $420. Pretty good for a property with the history of the Ritz. Not to mention the rooms and the decor and the Mayfair setting.

Apparently they have a very strong connection with the Royal Family, being only a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace. The casino in the basement is a former ballroom and looks quite luscious, as does the restored Rivoli Bar.

Rebecca Werner, who does their p.r. in North America, told me today that the hotel tries to stay pretty much the same, with a concierge who's been there 40-plus years.

"It's a very British experience," she said. "At dinner you need a jacket and tie. Even in the lobby there's no jeans allowed" for guests.

A touch of old Britain, indeed.

On a somewhat related note, you might find it interesting that the Ritz London isn't connected in any way to the Ritz-Carlton chain. Neither is the Ritz London connected to the Carlton hotels in London or other cities in the world. And the Carlton hotels in London and other cities aren't part of Ritz-Carlton. Make sense? Perhaps, but understand, also, that the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Chicago isn't part of the Ritz-Carlton chain, either. Instead, it's a Four Seasons property. Crazy, eh?

KAANAPALI DREAMING

Thanks to the folks at Maui's Kaanapali Beach Hotel for a brief meeting and a few goodies (I might share  the chocolate-covered macadamia nuts with my colleagues here at the Star...or I might not). I'm supposed to stay there in a month or so and can't wait to check out what's been called the Most Hawaiian Hotel in the state.

Check it out at www.kbhmaui.com.

Sydney Olympics celebrates ten year anniversary. This makes me feel REAL old

They celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Sydney Olympics down in Australia the last couple days, complete with a re-lighting of the Olympic flame by star Olympian Cathy Freeman and Paralympian Louise Sauvage.

Hard to believe.

In some ways, it seems like yesterday that I was shipped down to Sydney to head up the Star's coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics. I had never covered an Olympic Games before, but I was two years or so into being one of the associate editors in the Star's sports department, and I'd covered Toronto's bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics and been to a lot of Olympic meetings, so I guess that made me qualified.

It was the early days of the Internet for us at the Star, so I only did a few updates each day, as well as a fairly primitive blog. I don't think we even called it a blog. I think it was simply a notebook that we posted online with daily observations about the Olympics, Sydney and life in general in the five-ring fishbowl.

Most of the journalists were given sleeping quarters at the official media village, which was was on the grounds of a former hospital for the mentally ill (supply your own punch line about journalists here). But there wasn't room for little old me, so I was stationed in the allegedly wild King's Cross area in a hotel. I think it was called Top of the Cross, but I can't seem to find it on the Internet.

Anyway, it was a drag in some ways to walk to the train station, take a half hour train to the Olympic complex in Homebush and then walk another 15 minutes to the media centre, where I pretty much stayed from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day (a pattern that would repeat itself every two years, as I've now managed the Star's crew at six Olympics in a row). Yet it was also a blessing, as I didn't just hang around with journalists but got to see everyday Sydneysiders in action.

The hotel was fine, with great views of the Harbour Bridge. The area wasn't at all wild; kinda like a milder version of Yonge north of Dundas as I recall. No sweat.

What I really liked was the coffee shop at the bottom of my building, where I went for breakfast every morning. The wait staff was covered with tattoos and pierced body parts at a time when it wasn't quite so common, and they made a mean cappuccino and served great croissants. My wife came for part of the Games, and we quickly made friends with a young couple and their baby. The father was originally from, I think, Chatham, Ontario and was a cop in Sydney. I wish we'd stayed in touch, as they were great company and very welcoming.

I got a little sick of the chants of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy, oy" every day, but it was tons of fun to watch the Sydney folks embrace the games as only Australians (I thought at the time) could do. They celebrated every medal, even when it wasn't theirs, and kept up their spirits over a long haul.

I remember celebrating the start of the games with a night out in the Rocks district, drinking a few beers in the shadow of the Opera House. It was late at night and we ran into Paul Beeston's daughter down on the waterfront. Paul was then working for Major League Baseball, and for some reason Dave Perkins and Doug Smith (I think) and I thought it was wise to call him at 5 a.m. New York time and wish him a good morning. I doubt he recalls the incident as fondly, if at all.

Perkins, who recently retired from the Star but still, thankfully, writes one column a week, rode downtown with me on the subway that night. I remember a little old lady got on board the train and Dave literally jumped out of his chair to make sure the lady had a place to sit. I looked at him to suggest "Hey, nice move," but he just shook his head at me as if to say, "Don't tell anyone I'm such a nice guy." Good stuff.

I got to see a couple innings of baseball plus one swim race and a quarter of a USA basketball game with Vince Carter, but the rest of the time I kept an eye on things via the television. Not ideal, but I was in Australia, for goodness sakes, so no complaints.

My favourite memory actually involved an event I didn't even see. My wife had gone to, I think, a session of track and field one day and was sitting in the stands with a bunch of Aussies (duh). It was the day Daniel Nestor and Sebastian Lareau were playing for the gold medal in men's tennis, and they were taking on the Australian doubles team known as "the Woodies."

Tennis is pretty big in Australia, and everyone was rooting for the Woodies. One guy next to my wife was listening on his radio while he watched the track action. He'd been kidding her about Canada not winning much (there was a lot of that going around in Sydney), but then it was suddenly match point for the Canadians. He took the earphone out of his ear and handed it to my wife and said, "Hear, you listen. It's your gold medal."

She hasn't stopped loving Australians since that day.

I'm planning a trip in early November, and I can't wait to get back to see the Opera House. I got to hear the International Olympic Committee's opening session there in 2000, and it was spectacular. Maybe this time it'll be AC-DC. Nah, probably not.

Also can't wait to just hang around a bit and play tourist, as well as check out Bondi beach (see photo at left) and take one of the ferry boats in the harbour. I might even sip a little Barossa Valley cabernet and climb the Harbour Bridge, not necessarily in that order.

See ya soon, Sydney.

Tennis, the Met, the Plaza, tasty Italian fare...a great weekend in New York City

NEW YORK CITY - It's a shame when there's nothing to do on a weekend in the Big Apple.

Take this last few days. I arrived for something of a family reunion/birthday celebration (it's okay, Jan, I'm not telling any secrets) and we grabbed a cab to the storied Plaza hotel. I've stayed in a lot of incredible hotels in my time, lucky person that I am, and this one's right up there. Beautiful rooms, luscious baths, excellent service; everything you'd expect. High prices, sure, but how often do you get to wake up and have breakfast under the skylights of the Palm Court and then walk 28 feet and be deposited in the glories of Central Park? Not often, I suspect.

The hotel is obviously very high-end, with tons of marble and gold everywhere you look, but it's not gaudy or over-the-top in a "look-at-me-I'm-Donald-Trump" kind of way. They also make a strange but tasty cocktail in the fabled Oak Bar with pineapple-jalapeno tequila and pomegranate juice. Yikes. That's a taste sensation and a half.

We had a long walk around the park, venturing all the way from 59th St. to about 95th, at the top of the reservoir, and then back down, past Strawberry Fields as we dodged participants in a women's distance race through the park. A perfect morning.

From there it was over to the fabulous National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, where we caught Rafael Nadal's semifinal win. He made it look pretty easy. We also got to see Roger Federer's first set against Novak Djokovic, which he won. I was hoping he'd pull it off for a Nadal-Federer final on Monday but it didn't happen. Still, it was a thrill to see a match at center court at such a fabled spot, and to see two of the top players of all time in action.

The stadium is quite something, with tons of activities. In addition to the requisite shops, there was a string quarter playing classical music and tons of food options. I saw one guy wander into the Nadal match with a plastic martini glass filled with Grey Goose vodka and an olive, and how sophisticated is that for a second-deck drink?

On Friday night we ate at Scalinatella at 3rd and 61st. Great wait staff and remarkable food, including wonderfully rich lamb and the best grilled calamari I've had outside of Greece or Italy. Saturday night it was Via de Mille on West Broadway near Broome, where I had a fresh pasta with pecorino cheese, black pepper and fresh bits of pear. It was similar to a spaghetti carbonara but not as rich and the pear is obviously a bit more healthy than pancetta. Fun staff, a funky neighborhood vibe and a really nice meal.

Sunday was set aside for sleeping, a little email work, a quick visit to the Met and some shopping. I stopped at the Banana Republic at Lexington and, I think, 59th, but didn't see what I wanted. I then walked up 3rd and spotted another Banana Republic store at 65th or so. I found a couple shirts I liked but they didn't have my size. The clerk checked the system and it said there two of each of the ones I liked, but they were back at 59th and Lexington. So I trudged back to where I had just been, only to find one of the shirts was actually not in stock after all.

"The system only updates every 23 days," the clerk there told me. "They should've told you that at the other store."

A computer system that updates every 23 days? It should update every 23 minutes at worst. What's the point of telling someone, "Hey, we don't have the pants you want but I saw them at the store down the street three and-a-half weeks ago."??? I mean, how stupid is that? And this is a major, major clothing company? Time for some new software, guys. And right now.

That glitch aside, it was tons of fun. As always.

"Mad as hell about hidden fees" a great idea...Air Transat says "buy now?"

Got an email the other day about how the American Society of Travel Agents, Consumer Travel Alliance and Business Travel Coalition have launched an initiative "to ensure that consumers, travel agents and corporate travel managers have a voice at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) this fall regarding hidden airline fees."

The group says personal stories posted by visitors about being surprised at the airport by fees offer compelling evidence that DOT protections from hidden-fee abuse are imperative. They're urging folks to check out their website, http://madashellabouthiddenfees.com

The mad as hell website has lots of horror stories about people being tagged when they're taking books to school kids in Africa and such. A woman from New Jersey wrote that she booked a $200 ticket for her daughter to fly to school, but had to pay another $160 on top of that because she had three bags.

"What a rip-off!  I'm mad as hell," she wrote.

"DOT will be accepting public comments until September 23 on a sweeping set of passenger protections," the consumer groups said in a press release. "We believe the most pressing issue facing airline customers is to have full disclosure of airline fees before a purchase decision is made and in a format that enables apples-to-apples comparison-shopping among airlines."

I couldn't agree more. I'm also surprised nobody has thought of it up here in Canada. Or, if they have, they certainly are keeping it a secret.

I think it's terribly misleading to quote airfares simply based on one-way tickets, and not add in taxes and fees that can add hundreds of dollars. It's not uncommon to find an ad suggesting it costs $250 to fly to Paris, for example, but then you add in the return trip and the hidden fees for gasoline and what have you and it's suddenly $700 or more; almost triple the $250 listed.

Here's a wild one. Today the airtransat website, www.airtransat.ca, lists a flight to Cancun from Toronto for $19. But then there are taxes and fees adding to $282.66. It's a reasonable return fare for September at $301, but the taxes/fees are 15 times the cost of the ticket, and how crazy is that?

Then there are the fees at the airport. A buddy of mine in San Francisco yesterday got dinged $25 for a second bag for his Air Canada flight to Toronto. I must have missed the policy announcement, as I thought Air Canada wasn't charging for second bags on flights within North America. But a check of their website today shows that, indeed, the two free bags policy is only for flights within Canada. If you go to the U.S., it's only one free bag. Which certainly makes it hard for guys on a golf trip like we were. Sigh.

Speaking of Air Canada, our plane last night got in two hours late and then we "docked" at about the furthest possible point from customs and had a long, long walk to the terminal. But we passed a bunch of empty gates and then a bunch of United Airlines planes.

Why would United planes get the spots closest to the main terminal and customs when Air Canada is the main flier at Pearson? And why would they use a gate that's so far away when the plane could easily go into a more convenient gate? Who decided these things, anyway? It's all a huge mystery to me.

On the other hand, I'll give Air Canada credit for a nice crew on my flight from San Francisco. I asked for coffee with cream, but the cream they had brought on board had gone bad. Not their fault. But the flight attendant came back to me later and said she found some cream that was left over from an earlier trip that day, thus allowing me to have my coffee the way the good lord intended. Thanks.

BUY NOW TO SAVE ON TRANSAT?

Interesting report today that says Transat is getting rid of its usual policy of providing last-minute bargains and instead will try to induce early sales with lower-priced packages that will go up in cost as trips get closer.

Brent Jang in the Globe and Mail quoted Transit chairman/CEO Jean-Marc Eustache as saying that they "used to start very high - the prices - and after everybody cut their prices, we were putting our price down."

Eustache said this year "we'll start aggressively with a strategy of having low prices at the beginning."

If that's the case, it might be good to lock in now for that winter getaway. I don't like the fees/taxes part, but $301 for a return trip Toronto-Cancun strikes me as pretty reasonable. They were listing a flight from Toronto to Paris and back in October for $294, plus $362.91 in fees and taxes (there we go again) for a total of $656.91. Not bad.

It was an interesting comment from Eustache, too, telling Jang that Transat used to start their prices "very high." I'm no public relations expert, but I suspect that's not quite the way he wanted to put it.

Spanish Bay a huge treat...Awesome views at Carmel Beach, Pt. Lobos, Calif.

PEBBLE BEACH, California - Everyone who cares about golf knows about Pebble Beach. And probably Spyglass Hill. And almost certainly ultra-exclusive Cypress Point.

Spanish Bay isn't as well-known to golf fans. But it should be. Some buddies and I got to check it out Wednesday and it was, in a word, marvellous.

A very linksy course, with plenty of blind shots, tight fairways and wonderful views of the Pacific. Maybe one of the 18 holes was average, with the rest being anything from quite good to "OMG, did you see that?"

Superbly conditioned, with some very tough greens that reminded me of the song "96 tiers." Okay, that's a really bad 1960's music joke, but hopefully you get the idea.

A couple members of our foursome took advantage of a half-off deal and played Spyglass Hill in the afternoon (needless to say, they raved about the place), while I took a friend to some of my favourite spots on the Monterey Pensinsula, including colourful Pacific Grove, Carmel (see photo on the beach of yours truly) and the nature trails at Point Lobos, where the sea lions were out in force and the scenery was simply magnificent.

We also checked out Pacific Grove, a small-town that's a mix of Gravenhurst and Carmel, right on the edge of Monterey Bay with great restaurants, brightly painted Victorians, B and B's, fun shops and angle parking like the old days. We had dinner at a restaurant called Passionfish in Pac Grove, a long-tiume fave. Too bad there's no white fish with butter rum sauce, but our waitress is trying to get it reinstated.

They serve wonderfully fresh seafood and it was packed on a Wednesday night in a bad economy. They make great scallops, mahi-mahi and more.

Best feature? They add $5  to what they pay for a bottle of wine, and that's what you pay. We got a wonderful bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand for $20. Yes, $20. It would've been at least double that at any restaurant in Toronto. Sigh.

Anyway, to use the 60's music analogy to another extreme, today it's Homeward Bound. So no more California for a while, I'm sad to say.

Thanks again to the folks at The Inn on Spanish Bay. It's a wonderful hotel, and sipping a nice beverage along one of their fire pits and watching the sun go down over the Pacific is one of the great treats you'll ever experience. I snapped this shot from behind the second green on the Spanish Bay golf course.

Amazing/beautiful/fabulous Pebble Beach - the golf experience of a lifetime

PEBBLE BEACH, California - It's gonna take a while for that day to sink in.

I was sitting in the legendary Tap Room at Pebble Beach after a round on Tuesday with some buddies, going over a pretty wretched day of scoring for yours truly (I wasn't keeping formal score but it was several shots over 100) when a player who went off in the group in front of my buddies and I asked me what I thought.

I'll say more about the experience in our golf magazine next year, but suffice to say it was overwhelming. I'd walked the course, or parts of it, before, but I'd never teed it up. I don't get nervous about many things in life but I was definitely shaky the first couple holes. I finally got over it, oddly enough when I spotted the ocean. I was so transfixed by the beauty of the cliffs and coves and beaches and boats and the swirling fog and currents of sea breeze that I could hardly care - well, not too much - about the golf.

It's definitely God's country, and it was a joy. We also wisely chose to hire a couple local caddies, who should someday form a comedy team. We had the luck to get Eddie and Jerry, and they were both wise and hilarious; cracking jokes when we needed them to loosen up and coming down with some very sage advice when needed, which was often for three of us.

"That's a condom shot," Jerry said at one point when one of us went short but down the middle on a tee shot. "It's safe, but it doesn't feel so good."

It's a fabulous place, even if they do charge you $495 for the occasion, plus the cost of staying at one of their properties for a few hundred a night. Oh, and $6.50 for a Pebble Beach logo ball.

It's been a cold summer out here, and it was barely 16 degrees on Tuesday, with a light wind off the Pacific. Not cold, but not quite good golfing weather. Today's worse, however, with a very heavy fog at the Inn on Spanish Bay, where we bedded down last night.

The Inn is a great property, maybe 200 yards from the coast. They have a bagpiper walk up the course towards the hotel around 6 p.m. and play for more than a half-hour. Folks gather around the fire pits, which were going strong in the evening's cool weather, and sip a drink while watching the piper do his thing.

The rooms are large and extremely well-appointed, with very large and well-designed baths, and there's a branch of the always tasty Roy's in the lobby, Roy being legendary Hawaiian chef Roy Yamaguchi. Definitely a great spot to stay if you're down here, or at least visit.

For the record, the player who asked me about the course was former CBC broadcaster Terry Leibel, who was playing a round with her husband, Josh, to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. What a coincidence to finally play Pebble Beach after 54 years on this earth and actually know the person in the group ahead of me, and have them be someone with whom we can compare notes about Pebble versus Don Valley. (We agreed Pebble takes the prize. Not by a lot, of course).

Terry's living in Rancho Santa Fe in southern California and plays golf at The Bridges, where Geoff Ogilvy and Phil Mickelson are members. She says both are really good guys.

Terry's a six handicap, I believe, and came up with a couple birdies Tuesday. I wish I could say the same. I didn't even manage a par, blowing a good tee shot and a pretty terrific bunker shot on 17.

Still, just walking the course here and soaking in the scenery is enough to make any golfer smile. And I'm still smiling today, despite the fog that's soaking the Spanish Bay links course we're supposed to play in a couple hours.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA DREAMING...BAYONET GOLF IN MONTEREY

SAN FRANCISCO - There are few things in life better than a driving tour of San Francisco.

A buddy came in Sunday on our way to, sorry about this, Pebble Beach (we're teeing off noon EST today at Pebble and can be seen at www.pebblebeach.com on the webcam, I'm told) so we spent the day

touring around the city. I usually give folks a tour that includes a visit to Haight-Ashbury, a tour through Golden Gate Park, then along the coast past the historic Cliff House and the old Sutro Baths to the headlands west of the Golden Gate Bridge. Great views from Lincoln Drive near the Palace of the Legion of Honor, for sure.

Then we go over the bridge, through the lovely, bay-side town of Sausalito and up to the vista points above the Golden Gate, where you get those iconic "car commercial" shots of the bridge from above with San Francisco in the distance.

Then we do a cable tour ride, a visit to the Ferry Building and a check on Fisherman's Wharf. If time allows, it's great to do the chic shops on Union Street or something in Hayes Valley and to check out the
awesome City Hall and Union Square, and Coit Tower, where there are great Golden Gate views (best in the morning) and views of Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge and the Berkeley Hills.

That's my basic guide, anyway. I suggest folks take a couple days, at least, so they also can do Alcatraz or at least take the ferry to Marin and glide past the old prison. It's a powerful, eerie place.

But even if you can't do all that, just checking out the Bridge from the west and from Marin and driving over it is wonderful. I always feel this great surge driving over it; an awesome power and a real sense of "wow."

An engineering marvel, it is.

BAYONET GOLF

We took in a course near Monterey on Monday called Bayonet/Black Horse. There are 36 holes and we played Bayonet, located on the grounds of what used to be a U.S. fort, Fort Ord.

It's a nice piece of property with not much length in the par-fours. But they make up for thelack of length with some pretty severe greens. They're pretty hard and don't hold approach shots very well, and they're harder to navigate than an L.A. freeway map. A buddy who's a two or three handicap three-putted several greens and had no idea where the ball was going on several holes.

I'm a hacker and was almost clueless at times. Great condition, and it's only about $60 for the twi-light rate, but a little too tricky in the putting category for my taste.

Anyway, onwards and southward we go today to Pebble Beach. Can't wait. Check for a report tomorrow. No scores, though, sorry. It might too be too much for women andchildren to see such a thing.

Sexy "Mancations" at Lynx Lodge, Australia....Toronto's hotel boom continues

I read this morning in USA Today that "Mancations," and I'm sorry for using such a stupid word, a re all the rage in Australia. Or at least one new resort seems to be stretching the limits of hospitality.

Laura Bly's story says fishing holes and Vegas stripper bars are passe, and that Australia's male-only Lynx Lodge will open in November two hours north of Sydney, inviting guests to "bond with your mates over a range of adrenalin-fueled activities, including wakeboarding, dirt biking and beach volleyball," then "get laid back with breakfast in bed and on-the-spot massages" from "our friendly and flexible staff, who are on hand at all times."

There's talk of mud wrestling and Twister for evening entertainment.The main ad on the web site says "Lynx Lodge, Get Laid Back." It's seemingly sponsored by Lynx personal hygiene products, or connected to the company, as there's an ad for body spray and such in a clip on the website. The clip is pretty steamy, with video showing attractive, young women sitting around a bedroom, playing spin the bottle in front of a fire by themselves and standing at the edge of a lake looking out for what's missing, which would be men. One girl strips off her panties and is seen running into the water naked, then turning back around, presumably looking either for me or Orlando Bloom.

"From grabbing your wood on the golf course through to getting filthy on a dirt bike, every day at the Lynx Lodge will leave you utterly shagged,” the website states.

If you click on the diagram on the site that shows the lake, you're taken to a page with a girl in a nice bikini holding a fishing rod on the shores of Lake Macquarie. Personally, I don't recall too many women dressed like that on my fishing trips. My dad used to take me to the Truckee River in Reno all the time to fish for trout, and I would've stayed a lot longer if the folks around me had looked like that girl.

Seriously, though, it really gives me the creeps. The "meet the staff" section shows a lot of large-chested women with their shirts undone to just the right button, and all the double entendres and such are just too weird. Nothing wrong with sexy women, but you'd have to be pretty desperate to go to what basically looks like the Hooters Hilton.

"Perhaps more brothel than B & B," said Bly, putting it rather well. I guess she could've said more T & A than B & B, as well.

"The concept of the Lodge (whose rates haven't been set, which seems more than a tad suspicious) is a play on popular male fantasy, so the girls are there to hang out and ensure Lodge guests have fun," Lynx spokeswoman Laura O'Donnell told Australia's News.com.au. "But they will not be required to do anything that compromises their positions as hospitality professionals."

Oh, that's okay, then.

LE GERMAIN MAPLE LEAF SQUARE OPENING SOON

The Toronto hotel renaissance continues.

The folks at Le Germain say their new property at Maple Leaf Square will open for biz Nov. 1. It'll be 167 rooms at 75 Bremner Blvd., just west of the Air Canada Centre in a booming part of downtown Toronto.

The pictures look nice; a lighter-style of wood from their successful property on Mercer St. near Wayne Gretzky's. Le Germain on Mercer is my favourite hotel in the city by a fair bit; big enough to have the facilities and smartly designed with lots of goodies and a great lobby. Very good food at Victor, the restaurant, as well.

Maple Leaf Square guestrooms will range from 400 to 1,500 square feet, with free wi-fi (HURRAY), windows that open (DOUBLE HURRAY), rainfall showers, goose-down bedding and "luxurious Frette linens," which your design-ignorant travel editor has no clue about. I guess it's a good thing, probably with some astronomical thread count woven out of Egyptian cotton harvested at night under a full moon with the direct supervision of a linen expert flown in from Paris. Something like that. I think.

With the recent opening of the Thompson Hotel on Wellington St. at Bathurst, there's certainly no shortage of cool hotels in Toronto. More are on the way, including the Shangri La and the Ritz Carlton, both downtown. Good news for the Toronto tourism folks and good for visitors, both local and overseas.

Introductory rates start at $229 per night plus taxes and including deluxe continental breakfast based on single occupancy.

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Air Canada on Hurricane Earl watch...Tourists still flocking to Mexico...

Lots going on down in the U.S. regarding Hurricane Earl. Latest word was there was a mandatory evacuation along parts of the U.S. coast, particularly the outer banks of North Carolina. The storm appears to have done fairly minimal damage to the Caribbean, although more storms appear to be gathering in the middle of the Atlantic in what's looking like a nasty hurricane season.

So far, there appears little impact on Air Canada. I just had an email from Air Canada's Peter Fitzpatrick, and here's what he had to say.

"As you know, this is a highly changeable situation. We are monitoring the weather off the Atlantic coast and in Eastern Canada very closely due to reports on Hurricane Earl.  As of this morning, the hurricane had not affected operations; no flights have been cancelled.  We will continue to monitor the situation closely, and keep customers informed on aircanada.com and customers travelling to Eastern Canada or the U.S. North East should be sure to consult our website prior to going to the airport."

Toronto doesn't look to be affected, but with so many flights from Toronto to Halifax, New York, Washington D.C. and other points east there's always the potential for disruptions...

MEXICO TOURIST BOOM?

Plenty of problems in Mexico these days, including the brazen attack on a bar frequented by locals Tuesday in the resort city of Cancun. But Mexico tourism officials insist tourist numbers are up. Way up.

The Mexico Tourism Board this week said the number of international tourists visiting the country by plane increased 35 percent in June compared to the same month in 2009. MTB officials say nearly 820,000 people from destinations worldwide visited Mexico in June, up from 605,435 in June 2009.

That's a huge increase, and quite surprising given the world economic environment.

Canadian and U.S. government officials have cautioned Canadians about travelling to certain parts of Mexico, notably near the U.S. border. But most tourist spots, including places Cabo San Lucas and, Tuesday's event notwithstanding, Cancun, don't appear to have been affected.

LEARN THE AIRLINES BIZ

Cathay Pacific Airlines is offering high school students in the GTA a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look into the airline industry with a 7-week course.

The after school hours program runs once a week and successful applicants to the program will get a chance to learn about everything that goes on in the industry directly from people working in the airline and travel industries. Pilots, flight attendants, airport staff and others will provide insight into their jobs and tips on how to follow their footsteps.

The program has been offered before in Hong Kong and has run successfully in Vancouver twice. This is the first time Cathay is offering the program to Toronto students.The I Can Fly program in Toronto will run from October to November and Grade 11 high school students can submit their application online at http://cathaypacific.ca/icanfly.

Application deadline is Sept 7.

No hashish joints or legal hookers? Come on, Vegas, loosen up a little!!!

Isn't just like our uptight neighbours to the south?

Here comes a very modest proposal that would surely mean increased business during times, and those Puritan Americans turn it down just because there's a little drugs and sex involved.

The latest news out of Las Vegas concerns a newspaper/television poll that found a strong majority of folks are against legalizing marijuana bars and legalizing prostitution to boost tourism. Interestingly, 64 per cent of respondents said they didn't want Dutch-style hash and marijuana bars in Las Vegas, while 79 per cent said they didn't want brothels in Clark County.

So I guess they object to dope less than they do legalized prostitution, even though prostitution already is legal in parts of Nevada, as readers of Star Travel would know if they read Pat Brennan's recent piece on the famous Mustang Ranch near Reno. And even though Vegas, I'm told, is crawling with hookers.

Actually, I can see their point. I wouldn't mind legalized prostitution. I mean, hello, it's not like it doesn't go on. I don't know about hash bars, but I can certainly see legalizing personal use of marijuana.

Anyway, I do find it a bit amusing to see the reaction from folks in Vegas, of all places. I suspect that there are quite a few bedrock conservatives, which is true for much of western North America when you get right down to it.

"Things are maybe a little desperate in Clark County these days, but I don't think they're quite that desperate yet," said pollster Brad Coker of Mason-Dixon Polling and Research.

Speaking of Vegas, Star Travel restaurant guy Richard Ouzounian sent me an email today to point out that Harrah's in Vegas is launching an all-day UNLIMITED ACCESS to dine in seven resort buffet restaurants with the Buffet of Buffets pass. The deal can be purchased for $39.99 for Total Rewards Members and $45.99 for others.

Celebrating the new buffet offer, Harrah’s hotels in Las Vegas are offering special room and buffet packages at any of seven casino-resorts. Packages include a 4-day, 3-night stay and two Buffet of Buffets passes, which provide 24-hour, unlimited access to all seven buffets. Restaurants include Lago Buffet at Caesar's Palace, Le Village Buffet at Paris Las Vegas and the Spice Market Buffet at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.