Toronto Star Ultimate Travel show...more options for flying to Jamaica, Florida

Nice show on the weekend down at the Toronto Convention Centre on Front. St., with lots of folks learning about places ranging from the Caribbean to Estonia to India, and more.

I didn't take advantage of the henna tattoo (too bad), but I did have some good chats with folks about the still booming travel business.

"We just finished our food and wine festival, and we're starting the jazz in Barbados festival," said Marcelle Bennett of the Barbados Tourism Authority.

Tammy van Zyl from the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism told me things are warming up nicely down in the Caymans.

"We usually have a Christmas breeze, and everyone puts on their sweaters at night," she said. "But now the days are warmer so it's wonderful."

(Insert your own line, all you freezing Torontonians, about that chilly "Christmas breeze" they have in the Caribbean!)

Jamaica will be celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence next year, so expect big things down Jamaica way, said Dan Hamilton of the island's tourist board.

Of course, there was plenty of Canadian content. Newfoundland and Labrador (awesome places) had a huge display, with cooking and dancing and all sorts of good stuff. They do know how to have a good time, and God love them for it.

Tourism spokesman Sandy Hickman told me things are going well in Newfoundland and that the "Republic of Doyle" TV show has helped bring more tourists.

One display that caught my attention was for Tauck travel. I don't know much about them but they do cruises and tours all over the world and put out some pretty spiffy brochures.

"It's family company that's been around 85 years," said Melisa Colabella, who's based in Montreal. "We own our own boats for our river cruises, and we contract with the small ships."

Colabella said they do multi-generational tours and also run what they call "Culturious" tours for boomers who want to do soft-adventure stuff such as kayaking in Provence or cycling in Tuscany. Everything on board their ships is part of the price, excluding alcohol on some occasions, she said.

They even have U.S. civil war and western U.S. tours with TV moviemaking legend Ken Burns, and that sounds pretty cool.

Finally, I had a good laugh at the booth that featured folks from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. The tourism people from Latvia and Estonia were giving out brochures titled "Top 10 sites," or words to that effect. But a girl representing Lithuania handed me a pamphlet that said "15 reasons to visit Lithuania."

I guess it's 50 per cent better than the other Baltic countries???

AIR JAMAICA VALUES

Air Jamaica is offering "every-day value fares" for travel between Pearson International and both Montego Bay and Kingston, Jamaica, starting at $180 one-way per person in what they call their "Lovebird Economy Class."

Hospitality includes complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic beverages, with an allowance for TWO pieces of checked luggage up to 50 lbs each and one carry on item

For more information, go to www.airjamaica.com

SPIRIT AIRLINES NIAGARA-FT. LAUDERDALE

Spirit Airlines last week began flying from Niagara Falls, New York to Ft. lauderdale, with three non-stop flights per week. They'll also begin flights between Niagara and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, starting May 5.

Just for fun, I went on the website - www.spirit.com - and booked a pretend return flight in February for $170.

Good deal, sure, but you have to remember THEY CHARGE FOR CARRY-ON BAGS. Not for personal items like a purse or a knapsack, but for small suitcases that would go in the overhead bin. It's quite complicated, but you can pay up to $45 for that carry-on bag so be careful. Checked bags also are subject to fees of as much as $90.

ALSO: Be warned that planes leaving Niagara do so at the ungodly hour of 1:55 a.m., arriving early morning in Ft. Lauderdale.

Don't say you weren't warned.

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Worsening problems in Egypt spark security warnings from Canadian govt.

Not a good situation in Egypt for travel. Maybe good for democracy, sure, but for anyone poor folks slated to head to Cairo or other major cities, it's a terrible time to visit.

Riots continue in Egypt today, similar to those that recently engulfed Tunisia, and one has to wonder where it will end. As The Star reports in our front page headline the situation is "absolute chaos" in parts of Egypt.

Two hours ago I checked and didn't see a Canadian government warning for Egypt. That changed around 4:30 p.m. EST or so, when a flag went up on the Canadian government web site.

The Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa is saying that "Canadians travelling to Egypt should exercise a high degree of caution due to demonstrations and protests, high levels of criminal activity and violence throughout the country, and the threat of terrorist attacks."

"Civil unrest has been occurring in many parts of Egypt since January 23, 2011. Telecommunication services may be disrupted and a nationwide curfew has been imposed. Access to some areas may be restricted due to increased security measures and police and military presence on the streets. Canadians should avoid all demonstrations and stay away from areas where they are expected to take place, as they may turn violent without warning."

Word is that many flights on Lufthansa, British Airways and others have been delayed or cancelled.

I feel badly for anyone who, a month or so ago, had no idea there might be problems on the way and booked a ticket for a once-in-a-lifetime visit to Egypt. How terrible would you feel to have your flight cancelled and not be able to rebook?

Wow.

Of course, the situation for people on the ground is much worse than that, as some folks appear to be fighting for their lives. Or at least for more security and/or freedom.

It just goes to show that, as someone once said in a movie, you never know what's going to happen once you start walking out that front door. It DOES go to show, of course, that travel can never be taken lightly and that one has to do one's homework.

If you're headed to Russia, you have to be prepared for strange things to happen. Not necessarily an airport bombing, but perhaps something sinister. Ditto for, say, Veneuzuela or parts of Africa or, certainly, Pakistan.

What's hard for some to accept, I'm sure, is that nobody thought twice about visiting Tunisia a couple months ago, at least not because of security/safety issues. But things change fast these days, faster than ever given things like Facebook, which is hugely popular in Egypt and seems to have fanned the waves of discontent that erupted in Tunisia after a fruit seller lit himself on fire as a protest against a government he felt didn't care about the little guy.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada's website says it's advising against non-essential travel to Tunisia due to the unpredictable security and political situation in the country.

Scary times.

 

Record year for Toronto tourism - maybe tourism folks are onto something?

Nice story in today's Star by Brett Popplewell, a Star exclusive I might add, on how city hotels sold a record 8.93 million rooms last year.

It's impressive when you consider our loonie is at par with the American buck, when you consider the increasing difficulties with passports and all for U.S. folks to come up here, and when you had that small incident called the G-20. Actually, the Tourism Toronto stats show the G-20 was, as I expected, a huge boon to the economy, with something like 80 per cent of hotel rooms occupied during the month.

The city's annual occupancy rate was 68.3 per cent last year, up 9.7 percentage points from a not-so-good 2009. Tourism folks say Toronto was sixth last year in terms of hotel occupancy in North America, and that's pretty impressive. Toronto was 10th in both 2009 and 2008, 13th in 2007 and way back in 16th spot in 2006.

I can't say exactly how we've done it, but it seems to me it's a confluence of factors; great hotels on the rise (already opened ones such as the two Le Germain properties and the Thompson, as well as planned and soon-to-open hotels such as the Ritz Carlton, Shangri-la, Trump and the new Four Seasons), general confidence in Canada's economy and Toronto's business sector, new and interesting architecture, an increasingly vibrant restaurant and bar and music scene. Toss in things like Pride Day and the Film Festival, and you quickly realize this is a pretty happening spot.

I also think Tourism Toronto is very smart to be selling the city to well-heeled travelers, versus making us sound like a discount. We're lots of things, but cheap ain't one of them. Value, though? You bet.

There are a few other factors that are quite interesting in the Tourism Toronto report. The fastest-growing markets for Toronto are India (up 26.5 per cent last year), Brazil (up 25.5 per cent) and China (up 21.9 per cent). Oh, Japan was up 18.3 per cent. Very impressive figures, although it's a smaller base to start with than the American market. WAY SMALLER, as you can see below. And, of course, you can't forget most of our visitors - about two-thirds - DON'T come from overseas but come from other parts of Ontario and other provinces in Canada.

The top international markets for Toronto last year were as follows:

1. U.S. 1,970,000 visitors

2. U.K. 194,000

3. China/Hong Kong 117,000

4. Germany 78,000

5. France, 71,000

6. Japan, 70,000

7. India, 64,000

8. Brazil, 42,000

Airline seat sales. Is it just me or are you fed up with the small print and fees?

Here they go again.

The papers today are full of ads for airline deals. Air Canada, for one, shows a deal from Toronto to London Heathrow for $199 from January 26 to April 3.

A good deal. But, wait. There's some small print (I know, hard to believe) that says "fares are each way" and "require round trip purchase."

Hmmm. Oh, okay. So, it's not really $199. It's actually $398. Pretty good, you say to yourself.

But what's that little bit in the next sentence? Yeah, that one, the one that says "Fares displayed do not include fuel surcharge of up to $150 ech way."

$150 EACH WAY? That means perhaps $300 in total? Okay, maybe the flight is $698.

Being the natural sleuth that I am, I went on the Air Canada web site today and tried to book a flight for London for late February, thus avoiding March break. I looked for a Friday or Saturday or Sunday departure, but found the only valid dates for leaving Toronto if I wanted the sale price were Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Not a word about that in the MAIN PART of the ad, but down at the bottom in tiny type it does say that "day-of-week restrictions may apply."

MAY apply? MAY apply? How about in large type saying "DAY OF THE WEEK RESTRICTIONS MOST DEFINITELY APPLY, SUCKERS! HA, HA, HA!"

I tried booking a departure for Monday, Feb. 21, with a return the following Monday. I got it for $398, which is kinda what was advertised.

But the taxes and fees and surcharges came out to $468.19. I thought the ad said the extras were "up to $150 each way."

But then I realized that's only the FUEL surcharge. There's also taxes and lord only knows what else. So it's not $300 in extra fees, it's $468. Which is, what, 17.6 per cent higher than the actual air fare?

This is covered in the fine print, of course. It clearly says fares dont' include taxes or fees. It also warns of second bag fees, which means my $868.19 might be higher if I want to take my golf clubs or some warm sweaters.

I'm not saying $868.19 to cross the ocean and back is highway robbery. It's probably a reasonable fare in a supply and demand world given labour costs and fuel costs and security, etc... And I don't blame Air Canada for these ads, really. Everyone does them in the airline biz. It's rampant.

But that doesn't make it right. What I want to know is, what is our government doing about this? In the U.S. they come out with laws to protect consumers. They come up with laws so people don't get left on airplanes for hours at a time? Us, we get Stephen Harper protecting Air Canada so hard from a couple of Emirates Airlines flights that he pisses off a loyal Mideast ally of ours, and there aren't too many of those, are there?

I don't think it would matter, as most folks can't afford the gas for a trip to Chatham, let alone worry about fairness in advertising for flights to Europe, but I'd love to see one of our major political parties come out on this issue and try to get some reasonable rules for airline advertising and make them skip the fine print/fuel surcharge/days of the week restriction mumbo jumbo.

I mean, it's like that great Ally commercial where the fancy banker tries to tell that poor, sad-faced kid about the extra handling charges.

Honestly, the way the airlines structure their airfares is ludicrous. It'd be like going to Tim Hortons and seeing a sign that says "small coffee, 21 cents" and then paying 23 cents for the cup, 28 cents for the creme and sugar (god forbid you order a double-double) and then fork out another quarter for a "hot beverage pouring fee."

Not that I want to give the coffee industry any ideas....

 

 

 

 

Virgin America slides out of T.O...Canadians poised for an invasion of India?

It was a noisy birth. And a quiet death.

There was much ballyhoo last June when Virgin America's bright jet landed at Pearson Airport, delivering a planeload of fashionable L.A. types to Hollywood North/Northeast. Sir Richard Branson himself made an appearance at the top of the Thompson Hotel, where he was surrounded by beautiful young women and a couple of aging, male reporters that included me Ino wonder the guy left town).

There was talk of expanding into Toronto and all the great connections between Hogtown and Hollywood, as well as Toronto and San Francisco and the Silicon Valley.

Virgin has been a big success almost everywhere, but apparently it wasn't working so well in Toronto. Last Friday, as I was heading down to Niagara to check out chef Massimo Capra's new spot at the Crowne Plaza Fallsview (very good stuff by the way), I got a note from the public relations woman at Virgin to say, basically, "never mind."

Turns out Toronto is being dumped for Dallas/Ft. Worth. Ouch. It's bad enough they've got the Super Bowl, eh Toronto Mayor Rob Ford? But now they're taking the sexiest airline around and leaving us in the Texas dirt.

It's a blow to Toronto's image, I'd think, although likely not a permanent scar.

"We hope to return to YYZ (Toronto Pearson) at some point, but in the smaller Toronto-West Coast markets we were not able to stimulate demand as quickly as we would have liked," Virgin VP Diane Walke said in a press release.

A story in the National Post suggested Toronto was being dumped for more "lucrative markets."

Some folks are saying Air Canada flights already have jumped in price now that the pesky newcomer is off the Pearson apron.

USA Today also noted the other day that Qantas has dumped San Francisco for Dallas/Ft. Worth, so maybe the folks down in North Texas are onto something. Qantas does codeshare work with American, which makes Dallas/Ft. Worth a better American hub than San Francisco.

INDIA ON THE RISE?

India tourism folks held a news conference this week to say they're banking on big things from Canada.  

McMaster University professor Norman Archer conducted a study in the fall of last year and said Canada is the fifth leading source of tourism revenue in India. Some 221,000 Canadians visited in 2009, and he predicts 336,000 will make it by 2015.

“India is not yet in the top 10 spots for Canadian travellers, so there’s room for improvement,” he said.

In addition to historic sights, there are beautiful mountains for skiing and hiking and also glorious beaches, such as the one at left in the Goa region. Archer said nearly 8,000 people participated in a survey about what they like and don’t like about India. The country was rated highly in terms of value and pricing, as well as food. Cleanliness of public washrooms was the subject of a variety of replies, he said, and others noted that tourism websites could use some improvement.

He said 37 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that locals were warm and helpful, while 46 per cent strongly agreed.

I met Tuesday morning with Jamshyd Sethna of Banyan Tours and a company called Shakti, which operates luxury tours in several regions in India's stunning north; Ladakh, Sikkim and Kumaon. He said they still get Canadians who talk about a fear of getting sick in India, which he said simply isn't an issue for almost anyone as long as they take normal precautions.

Certainly I like the look of Banyan's three-day and longer hikes around Indian villages in the foothills and   mountains of the north. The properties - mostly village homes that have been refurbished - look nice but not too, too fancy, and the scenery is beyond glorious.

They do a lot of family holidays, and some travellers are as young as four years old, he said.

Shakti likes to use the phrase "sophisticated simplicity" to describe the places people stay as they trek through the hills and mountains.

"The mattresses are as good as the Hazelton Hotel in Toronto,"  Sethna told me with a smile. (Hey, if he's staying at the Hazelton his business must be pretty good.)

For more information, go to www.banyantours.com and www.shaktihimalaya.com.

 

 

 

 

Canadian hotel honours...and a PEI motel gets MAJOR Trip Advisor loving

Nice to see some Canadian properties getting some loving on Trip Advisor.

I was scanning their list of top properties in their annual awards (doesn't everyone have them these days?) and noticed that Auberge Le Vincent, a small property in Quebec City, came in 22nd overall, and that's pretty good. Folks singled the hotel out for its personal service, cleanliness and...French Toast. Gotta try it sometime!

The top 3 properties around the world, said trip advisor voters, were the Golden Well (U Zlate Studne) in Prague, followed by the Anastasis Apartments in Imerovigli, Greece, the Riad Le Calife in Fez, Morocco, Al Ponte Antico in Venice and La Villa Marbella in Marbella, Spain.

Even more impressive, I think, is that a motel in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, was voted the #4 bargain hotel IN THE WORLD.

It's a small place called the Cairns Motel, and the comments left by readers make it sound like the sort of place that made PEI famous for hospitality. Click on the link for some glowing samples!

Just FYI, Trip Advisor folks voted Cedarbrook Lodge in Seattle as the top hotel overall in the U.S., followed by Henderson's Wharf Inn in Baltimore (nice town) and the French Quarter Inn in Charleston, South Carolina.

Trip Advisor also voted The Ace Hotel, a personal fave of mine, as one of its trendiest hotels in the world.

On a related note, I see that msnbc.com voted The Drake, here in good old Toronto, as one of the top 10 bargain boutique hotels of the world. The Drake came in an admirable #5 on the list for its "inner-city style."

Good stuff.

But apparently the be all and end all of hotels is the new Pangu in Beijing. Located up in the Olympic Park north of downtown, the web site calls it a "Seven Star" property. I read somewhere that what they really mean is the hotel is like the Big Dipper and has seven stars, which I don't buy for a minute.

It's ridiculous, really. Seven stars? Does every room come with free Dom Perignon and a virtual date with Scarlett Johansson? Or a real date? Come on, folks. It's China. You can't even properly sign on to Google, can you?

There was a time that the sail-like Burj Al Arab in Dubai was talked about as having seven stars, but that's just as silly. It's terrific, but not better than a lot of five-star properties I've been lucky enough to visit.

 

 

 

Urine luck - video games for guys who pee straight? Also: nixing hotel porn

I come across some pretty strange things in my job as travel editor at the Toronto Star. But reading a story this morning about urination/video games in Tokyo pretty much turned me off my breakfast.

I'm still not entirely convinced it's true, but I read a report today on several websites that said Sega has come up with video games for urinal users in the Japanese capital. Apparently, and I still say apparently as I can't believe society has come to this, there are four types of "toylet" games at four male facilities in pubs and game arcades.

The reports I read said that each urinal "is fitted with a pressure sensor and an eye-level digital display, with ads shown after the games are played. Games include Graffiti Eraser in which a user tries to aim at the pressure sensor and erase virtual graffiti on the display. Then there's Mannekin Pis, which measures the volume of the user's stream, and The North Wind and The Sun and Me, in which the strength of a urine stream determines the extent to which a virtual girl's skirt gets blown up by a digital wind."

I'm no prude. But, my goodness, is there no end to what people will do to make a buck? I mean, on a scale of horribly tacky that goes from 1 to 100 this is about 1,637,893 - times Pi, or maybe that's Pee. Geez, guys, show a little taste and decorum, shall we?

I mean, what's next? Spit your toothpaste really hard into a bowl at the dentist's office and get a prize?  Actually, I don't want to know what's next. It's too frightening to think about.

I understand the Japanese love technology and that a Japanese toilet is slightly more sophisticated than many rocket engines I've toyed with. Last time I was in Tokyo, I tried out one of the "posterior shower jets" and almost died of embarrassment, even being alone (as I recall) in the bathroom. They even have little nozzles that dispense perfume onto your derriere, which is at least a good idea in theory I guess.

But measuring someone's urine stream is pretty gross, as is giving a rat's you know what how you "measure up" to begin with. And having the skirt of a virtual girl go higher because you pee harder than the next guy is truly revolting and horribly sexist and just about anything else I can think of. It's not even worth having in an Adam Sandler movie.

They say this is a "test project" aimed at drawing attention to digital ads. Let's hope it goes the way of beta machines and eight-track tape players, really fast.

MARRIOTT TAKES THE HIGH ROAD ON PORN?

May as well continue, in a way, with the theme at hand here and report that USA Today says Marriott  International, one of the nation's leading hotel groups, tells Hotel Check-In that it's pulling access to adult movies from the new hotel rooms it will be opening the next several years.

"Marriott says that its decision coincides with a pending shift to new, in-room entertainment technology," Barb De Lollis wrote. She also notes many folks now have Netflix or personal DVD players, so perhaps that's part of the issue. Versus, say, some decreased public desire for pornography - which I don't see any signs of if the crowds hovering around porn stars in Las Vegas the other day is any indication.

Marriott, indeed, told De Lollis that revenues from (exorbitantly priced) in-room movies aren't what they used to be. SO it appears economics, quelle surprise, are part of this discussion.

The no-porn policy ultimately should spread across all Marriott hotel properties, officials said. I don't know, but I suspect all those sportswriters in North America who love their Marriott points might have something to say about that.

 

 

100 Days to Will and Kate's Wedding. Gee, you think the British tabs know that?

Damn. I forgot to buy flowers.

I read this morning that it's officially, OFFICIALLY, 100 days until Prince WIlliam and Kate Middleton, the future Duchess or Countess or what have you, are duly wed at Westminster Abbey in London, which I suppose is a step up from the local courthouse if you like pageantry and history and soaring arches and stained glass and all that.

Needless to say, all of Britain (well, some of Britain) is in a tizzy over this development. The tourism people are milking it for all its worth, and you can't blame them. Check, for example, the postcards for sale at left. How many of those do you think are being bought every day?

I've read that folks in MIddleton's home town of Bucklebury aren't thrilled with their previously bucolic village being overrun by idiots with digital cameras (only some of them journalists). But it sounds like everyone else, from the folks in St. Andrews, Scotland, where they both attended school, to Greater London is pretty psyched.

The folks at Visit London today sent me a note to say they have all sorts of deals. Here's what they said:

Afternoon Teas

• Tea Royale at The Langham

-    Indulge in a delectable afternoon tea to commemorate the Royal Wedding at the beautiful Palm Court in The Langham, which was originally opened in 1865 by Prince William's ancestor, HRH The Prince of Wales, later HM King Edward VII. 

• Royal Afternoon Tea at Ten Manchester Street Hotel

-   Celebrate the pending nuptials in the hotel’s cozy lounge where you can enjoy British-inspired delicacies such as mini-Welsh leek pies, dainty finger sandwiches filled with English mature cheddar cheese and opulent cakes dipped in edible gold-leaf for a truly majestic-feel.

Hotel Packages

• A Modern Romance at One Aldwych Hotel

o   Sign up for Champagne on arrival with a special Royal Wedding package  from  one of London’s most luxurious contemporary hotels, just a ten minute walk from several points on the Royal Procession route.

• St. James’s Hotel and Club’s Royal Wedding

-   Enjoy the Wedding festivities in the Royal-est of London’s districts. Take advantage of the area’s rich royal heritage with the hotel’s walking tour palaces in the old palace quarter, led by London Walks. Discover hidden courtyards, secret passageways and antique arcades whilst taking in the spring blossoms and perhaps a glance of the Princess to be in her wedding dress.

Travel & Transport Packages

• Travel Places

-   In honor of this historic day, Travel Places are offering a selection of deals for corporate incentives, clubs, or association groups, for a short stay in London over the wedding period. Accommodation is perfectly situated in Citadines Trafalgar Square, located between Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the famous Mall, along which the Royal Procession takes place.

• National Express

-   In anticipation of the celebratory crowds headed to London, the national coach operator is slashing prices on advance tickets for travel to the Wedding. With discounts of 50%, transport to the Capital to see the Kate become Princess Catherine couldn’t be easier

Uh, I could be wrong but last time I checked it wasn't a done deal that she'll be called Princess Catherine. It's a good name and it makes sense, but technically it's not a title she should be carrying according to some breathless reports I read on the wire the other day that delved into the arcane world of British nobility and titles and all that stuff.

Either way, of course, it's hard to resist a good romance. And they do make a lovely couple.

I did a bit of noodling around on the web and discovered, not that I'm surprised, that there are all sorts of websites dedicated to the wedding. I thought the one from Hello Magazine looked pretty good, so here's a link for all you royal wedding fans.

STAR MAN CHECKS OUT PARK HYATT TORONTO

Star Travel guy Adrian Brijbassi was out in Yorkville on Monday night and files this report.

"The Park Hyatt, one of Toronto's most venerable hotels, has long had one of the city's finest rooftop spaces. It's bar and lounge have been celebrated by numerous celebrities and authors, including Mordechai Richler, and on Monday night the Yorkville establishment showed off its newly renovated 18th-floor salon area with a friendly get-together.

Chandeliers and earthy tones are the main highlights of the renovation, along with some comfortable  seating. The best part of the evening, though, remained the staples of the Park Hyatt: The spectacular view of the Toronto skyline and the food from executive chef Joan Monfaredi's team.

A gnocchi station, of all things, was one of the buffet features. Once I tasted what came out of the pan, I understood why. A dish of the lightly seasoned pasta not only complimented the rest of the cuisine, it seemed like the perfect comfort food for a cold night.

"She's really one of the best chefs in the city and one of only a handful of female chefs in Toronto," Orsolya Soos, the hotel's public relations and marketing manager, says of Monfaredi.

Annona, the hotel's acclaimed restaurant, is now at the top of my list of places to go in town."

Annona was one of the Toronto restaurants given a four-diamond award by the Canadian and American Automobile Associations last week, which was the subject of one of my previous blogs and also the subject of my column that's now posted on our main travel site, as well as appearing in Star Travel (the print version, perhaps you've heard of it?) on Thursday, Jan. 20.

 

 

Star Staffer Neil McKay gets up-close with sled dogs in the French Alps

 Star staffer Neil McKay is on sabbatical from the sports desk and spending the winter in the French Alps with his family. His daughters are working hard at the local public school in Samoens, his wife is working hard on her French. McKay? He’s skiing every day and eating a lot of cheese. Here’s his latest Postcard from the Alps.

MEGEVE, FRANCE — Some of France’s top ski resorts have really gone to the dogs – huskies to be exact.

La Grande Odyssee, a 12-day 1,000-kilometre sled dog race through the French Alps, attracts the top mushers from across Europe. Last Thursday the dogs raced from Les Saisies to Crest Voland, two beautiful little resorts in the Espace Diamant ski area, before finishing up here in this famous old resort to contest the Megeve Challenge, a five-kilometre dash in the evening that started and finished at the hockey rink, the Palais des Sports.

Since Megeve is less than an hour from Samoens, where we are spending the winter, we collected our daughters from school at 4:30 and headed for Megeve. After a quick stop at McDonalds for a Le McFarmer and a Le Big Mac, we simply followed the sound of barking dogs to the rink. Who needs GPS when you have 300 dogs to lead the way?

The event this year has been plagued by warm weather and terrible snow conditions. The race involves 25,000 metres of elevation change and the dogs are spending more time than usual this year coping with a steep terrain covered in ice and rocks. Some of the mushers pulled out on Wednesday, including defending champion and race leader Emil Inauen of Switzerland, citing unsafe conditions for their dogs and poorly marked trails. 

The news may have been troubling for race organizers but it certainly didn’t dampen the spirits of a few thousand fans on hand Thursday to cheer on the dogs and mushers.

As the participants prepare for the day’s stage, spectators are free to roam among the teams and talk to the mushers and handlers. But, of course, it’s the dogs who are the stars of the show, calmly posing for pictures like old pros. Each musher is allowed 14 dogs but only six are used at a time. Some of the dogs left on the sidelines act like Terrell Owens when he doesn’t get enough balls thrown his way – lots of yapping.

“He’s not happy,” says a handler for one of the French mushers of a particularly agitated Siberian. “His brother is racing today, but not him. He has an injury.”

The dogs appear to be well looked after, some receiving massages before the start of the race and having vets on hand to monitor any damage incurred during the course of the gruelling 10-stage race.

The teams are primarily made up of two kinds of huskies, Siberians and Alaskans. None of them look like they spend much time on the couch.

 At the end of the day handlers put down bowls of food and the dogs, still in harness and still in formation, chow down. The plat du jour this night is chunks of beef and kibble. No crème brulee though.

For more on Haute-Savoie and La Grande Odyssee go to:

www.grandeodyssee.com

www.savoie-mont-blanc.com

 

Canada shafted in CAA/AAA new hotel ratings? Maybe not, it seems....

Okay. Finally I'm starting to understand.

An item in USA Today by hotel expert Barbara De Lollis says The American Automobile Association has put out its list of five-diamond rated hotels in North America for 2011. There are 124 hotels on the list, she said. There are something like 20 in California, nine in Las Vegas and eight in New York City, she said. The state of Connecticut has two.

Canada? One.

Yep, one. In this ENTIRE country, stretching from Newfoundland to the coasts of B.C., from Niagara Falls to Iqualuit, there is only ONE SINGLE HOTEL IN THIS ENTIRE COUNTRY that gets a top rating.

For the record, it's the Four Seasons in Whistler, (pictured at left in all her winter glory) and good for them. But just one for Canada?

Earlier, I wrote in this space that maybe the Americans were mad at us - again - and sent all their white-glove experts to wreak havoc on our tourism industry or that, perhaps our hotels just suck. I was joking for the most part but, apparently, and this is hard for a journalist to admit, I was wrong.

Ian Jack, the very helpful spokesman for the CAA, tells me it's a very thorough process to give out the five (and four and three and two and one-diamond) awards, and that there are six evaluators stationed in Canada.

"We're not being ignored," he said. "It's not like there's some guy down in New Mexico that makes it up."

Jack said there was only one Canadian five-diamond property last year, so we shouldn't feel too badly. He also pointed out Canada has 141 places in the 4-diamond category. That's 5.7 per cent of all Canadian properties with a 4-diamond rating; higher than the 3.9 per cent of all properties in the U.S.

"We'd like to see more five-diamond properties in Canada, sure," Jack told me. "I'm told a couple just missed."

I'd put a few of those on my personal list. The Wickaninnish in Tofino, B.C. is a marvel that consistently gets great reviews in the glossy travel magazines. Ditto for the historic and spectacular Auberge Saint Antoine in Quebec City (see photo at right) Both were in the four-diamond category and might have been in the near-five category.

The Hazelton Hotel in Toronto just the other day was named to travel writer Andrew Harper's top list for all the world, which is quite something. I didn't see it on the AAA/CAA list, which surprises me. But they might not have been open in time for the rating.

Anyway, in addition to performing well in the four-diamond hotel grouping, Jack said Canadian restaurants put up a strong showing, with six food places garnering five-diamonds. That's more than 10 per cent of the 55 handed out to restaurants in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean, so obviously we're doing something right.

For the record, the six restaurants getting top awards from the AAA/CAA folks were Eden at the Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff, Lumiere in Vancouver, LeBaccara in Gatineau, Quebec, Nuances and Restaurant Toque in Montreal and Langdon Hall Dining Room & Terrace in Cambridge, Ontario, featured not long ago in a story in Star Travel by Noah Richler.

For the record, however, I gotta swallow my Ontario/Toronto pride and note that this is THREE restaurant awards for Quebec versus ONE for Ontario. And TWO for Montreal compared to ZERO for Toronto.

Wait 'til they hear about this in La Belle Province.