BANFF SPRINGS GOLF ROCKS, BUFFALO/BOAR MEAT TOURTIERE

I've had a chance to play a lot of tremendous golf courses in the world. Kapalua in Hawaii has the greatest ocean views and trade winds. Sea Island in Georgia is lovely. Mission Hills in China is an amazing collection of a dozen courses.

But nothing compares with my new favourite, the Banff Springs. It's a stunning Stanley Thompson layout at the foot of the marvellously old school Banff Springs Hotel in the Rockies. The conditions are exquisite, the design is absolutely first-rate and the views are, well, breathtaking.

It wasn't considered one of the top courses in the country by some folks a few years ago but it's
as wonderful a golf course as you can find these days and deserves huge recognition around North America. It's truly one-of-a-kind.

The Jasper Park Lodge course is a very good one, and I also had a chance on Tuesday to play the Canmore Golf and Curling Club, which is straightforward and fair and in great condition and very reasonable, with absolutely marvellous views of the Rockies. But Banff Springs is my new Canadian favourite; hands down.

More to come in next year's Star golf magazine. But you'll have to wait until next April, I'm afraid.

TOURTIERE, WESTERN-STYLE

I've mentioned the emphasis on local cuisine out here, having tasted venison at dinner the other night and all. On Tuesday, the Canmore Golf Club was serving an outrageously delicious tortiere with wild boar and buffalo/bison meat. The Americans seemed to love it, by the way.

SPECIAL PLACES DOWN SOUTH

Time.Com had a good piece recently on special, "authentic" places in each of the United States. I never
know what authentic really means, but it's worth checking out.

 

ALBERTA RAIN, GREAT GUIDE TO INTERNET ETIQUETTE IN THE SKY

BANFF, Alberta - Don't you hate it when you have one day to see something and you get rained out?
A bunch of writers from North America made the trek from Jasper to Banff yesterday but we didn't see much of the scenery due to heavy clouds and then rain.

Still, we managed to get a few shots of some towering mountains and spotted some goats at the side of the road. We saw several deer at the Jasper Park Golf Club, a really good Stanley Thompson design we played Monday, and then another deer and an elk outside the Banff Springs Hotel last night.
Of course, I took advantage and ordered venison at the Waldhaus Restaurant at the Banff Springs Hotel. Darned good, it was.

The golf course is quite fair, but the greens can be tricky to hit and Thompson always incorporates some subtleties you don't find your first time out. And the Jasper region is, of course, stunning.

It looks rainy again today but later in the week is supposed to be better.

TIMBIT NATION TWO

Good read in today's Star by Cathal Kelly on the invasion, so to speak, of New York by Tim Hortons. Shame on the outlets for not having maple glazed doughnuts on hand, however. Seriously, it's a real misstep on their part; like opening a Starbucks and saying, sorry, we're out of milk for lattes.

WATCHING THE WEB

Further to my recent point about a former Philadelphia ballplayer who liked to peruse porn on team flights and didn't see why people were upset, Air Tran Airways has issued what it calls an "Internetiquette" guide to what people should and shouldn't do with wi-fi in the air.

There's some fun stuff, including a bit about you should open your laptop when the flight attendant says it's okay and not simply when the guy next to you launches into his boring life story. Also: don't use the bathroom as a web conference room and leave the trip to Vegas photo out of sight on your photo gallery page, just in case you doze off.

Go to www.airtran.com/internetiquette for details.

JASPER PARK, B.C. OLYMPIC WOES AND UNESCO OVERLOAD

JASPER, Alberta – Wow.

I was here once a dozen or so years ago but only for a couple hours on a trip with my wife and kids. This time it’s a golf trip, starting Sunday night and ending (too soon) Monday morning. We’ll have more time down the road in Banff and Canmore and Kananaskis later in the week,  but last night it was a barbeque at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.

I forgot how far it was from the airport in Edmonton to Jasper Park; nearly four hours with a few  construction delays on the highway. But what a magnificent place; huge, craggy, folded mountains of all shapes and sizes rising out of nowhere, plus endless forests and wide, green rivers. Last time I checked Jasper Park is in Canada, but the first group of cottages I saw on the side of the highway were called the Pocahontas Cabins, and can't we find national treasures of our own to name things after?

Anyway, we saw a bit of wildlife on the way in; a couple groups of light brown bighorn sheep grazing by the side of the road and a small elk. Our bus driver (we’re in a bus that’s used by movie stars and rock bands, with comfortable couches and a bar; pretty spiff) told us he saw a coyote chasing a deer across the road but most of us were looking at the mountains off to the side and missed it.

I didn’t get a clear view of the mountains from the bus, but I did manage to snap a photo of the golf course and the mountains. Can’t wait to try the golf course, a Stanley Thompson gem.

OLYMPIC WOES?

Interesting story in the Globe and Mail on Saturday by Gary Mason, talking about how folks out in Whistler are having second thoughts about staging the Games. It’s the same in almost every run-up to the Olympics, as people focus more on the money they’re spending and the construction delays and changes. Remember the big fuss over the beach volleyball facility at Bondi Beach prior to the Sydney Games? Ever hear that tale of woe again?

Once the Games start, people get excited and most folks who stick around and don’t try to rent out their homes for a million dollars say they’re happy they didn’t miss it. But there are still heavy costs to be paid for staging the world’s biggest circus.

Down in Salt Lake, an acquaintance tells me, they’re thrilled with the hockey palace left behind but have little use for the curling facility. Athens still hasn’t figured out what to do with some of the stadiums they had to build for the 2004 Games, or so I’m told.

Canadian Press the other day carried a story where a Conference Board of Canada economist predicted the glow will fade quickly after the 2010 Winter Olympics in British Columbia.

Paul Darby, the board’s deputy chief economist, said there will be “an Olympic effect” from the Games that will drive growth in B.C. by about 3.3 per cent in 2010, more than any other province. That compares to the board’s prediction of two per cent growth across Canada in 2010.

However, Darby said the economic impact of the Olympics will fade within two to three years.

In the same story, CP reported that Canadian Ski Council stats show the number of skiers and snowboarders to hit Canadian slopes fell 10 per cent year-over-year to 18.4 million visitors, down from a record 20.5 million visitors in the 2007/08 season.

Poor snow conditions, the recession and an aging population are said to be some of the factors behind the recent drop.

MY BACKYARD IS NEXT ON THE LIST

Associated Press reported recently that the Dolomite mountains in Italy are among 13 new sites added to UNESCO’s world heritage list. Other new natural sites added to the list included the Wadden Sea wetlands, an area rich in wildlife in Germany and the Netherlands; and northern China’s Mount Wutai, a sacred Buddhist site known for its five flat peaks and a landscape with 53 monasteries.

AP said the new designations included the first UNESCO World Heritage sites in the countries of Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Kyrgyzstan. I’m sure they’re all terrific, but there are now 890 properties on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Isn’t it getting a bit much?

I mean, it’s like when the Neighborhood Watch program started. At first it was cool, but pretty soon everyone had the signs on their street and it stopped being special. If the whole world is a UNESCO world heritage site, how we do we know what’s truly spectacular? Maybe they need a “super” world heritage site with the top 100 spots around the world.

THAT’S A LOT OF PRETZELS

Anyone see where some crazy traveller from the U.S., Mark Malkoff, recently spent a month living on airplanes? It seems he set a Guinness World Record for the most scheduled flights in 30 days by making 135 schedule flights. That surpassed the old record of 128.

Malkoff, 33, took his flights in June and covered more than 100,000 miles. He landed in three dozen cities, including New York, Atlanta, Raleigh, N.C., Jacksonville, Denver, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
Malkoff’s campaign was organized with AirTran.

Malkoff, 33, a comedian and filmmaker, posted updates throughout the month on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and on his blog, http://www.MarkOnAirTran.com. He also posted wacky videos, like one in which he flushed the airplane toilet to watch it suck up an entire roll of toilet paper that he had unrolled down the aisle of the plane.

In another video, he was hosed down on the tarmac by the Flint, Mich., fire department. He had no access to showers and had been using baby wipes in the airplane bathroom to clean himself. I've sat next to people on airplanes who I wish would take the same precautions, but that's another story.

Malkoff, a former audience coordinator for “The Colbert Report,” had said at the outset that he was using the month to try to overcome his fear of taking planes. He said in an e-mail that after talking to the pilots and spending all those hours in the air, “I’ve pretty much gotten over my fear of flying.’’

His past projects have included “Mark Lives in IKEA,’’ documenting his weeklong stay in an IKEA store, and “171 Starbucks,” in which he visited 171 Starbucks stores in Manhattan in less than 24 hours.

Now that I think about it, I kinda admire the guy. I just wonder if he got any airline points out of it.

 

MAGICAL MUSKOKA

Having docked a friend's sleek motorboat for the first time earlier in the day, I was lucky enough to take the wheel on a sunset ride on Lake Muskoka on Thursday. From Miller Island we went south to get the last, golden, orange and pink sparks of the sunset and then motored around Browning Island, then ducked back past Walkers Point as the sky deepened to purple and grey behind the row of darkening trees.

My friend, who grew up in the U.S. and is very well travelled, turned to me as we banked towards the setting sun and said, 'You've been all over the world, what do you make of this place,' or words to that effect.

I'm not much for poetry, but I think I said something about how the rocks and the trees and the water and the wide sky seeps into your soul. Muskoka isn't the most spectacularly beautiful place on earth. There are bigger lakes; wider rivers, higher hills and taller trees in many parts of the world. But there's something magical about a tiny group of purple irises clinging to a heft of Canadian shield four inches above the waterline. There's something magical about pink granite and pale green lichen-covered boulders spilling out into the water and spindly trees eking out a living on the poor soil that drove settlers crazy up here until they discovered they were sitting on a tourism gold mine. There's something magical about the light that plays across the deep, dark waters of the lakes up here.

We stayed at The Rosseau by JW Marriott the other night. There was a wedding party, and they came crashing down the hallway around 2 a.m. I got up and watched them parade harmlessly past our room and into their own (we trust), then opened the curtains to see a spectactularly full moon cascading light the length of the lake. It was truly spectacular; huge bands of bright light dancing for miles.

I'm typing this little note on our friend's dock, sitting on a recliner and watching the sun sparkle on the bay. The water is making those lovely lapping noises as it bounces on the rock-strewn shore, and it makes a wonderful "gallumping" noise when it finds a particularly deep crevice. There's a wooden rowboat sitting just so a few feet away, and it's bobbing in the gentle water and beckoning someone to take it for a nostalgic spin.

A couple hundred yards away there's a tiny, sagging, perfect brown and white and green boat house on Tiffany Island that I just adore. I've probably taken a hundred pictures of it over the years. It looks like something from the 1920's, and I pray it never disappears as it's such a perfectly placed little building and so wonderfully echoes what I'd like to think is a gentler era, before the advent of jet skis and wakeboarding.

There's nothing wrong with those, of course. I've done my share of waterskiing (shield your eyes, folks) and taken our kids out on tube rides, so I can't complain when someone else does the same thing. Still, I much prefer to paddle quietly around the bay in the stillness of the late afternoon sun, watching turtles warm themselves on a small log that sticks up a foot or so above the water and looking for chipmunks scampering on the rocks or loons silently paddling on the water. The other day I spotted a really large pike scudding through the shallow end of the bay. I thought briefly about going for a fishing rod but I don't have a license anymore and, besides, I preferred the idea of letting it stay free and not running a hook into its mouth just to give me a moment of excitement. It was thrilling enough to see it in the water, lazily swishing its tail as it skimmed alongside the canoe and knowing I wasn't doing anything to harm it.

A good friend of ours in Toronto told me a couple years ago he's lived in the city for decades and never been to Muskoka. He's a golfer and has family in Montreal, so he naturally tilts his car in other directions on a Saturday morning.

But I can't imagine not having time up here every year. We don't own a cottage but we're lucky to have friends who put up with us in exchange for rent or dishwashing or cooking dinner to the sounds of Bruce Springsteen or even the B52's, and I'll be eternally grateful.

I love Hawaii, and it's a thrill to roam the streets of Hong Kong or Paris or New York. But I'll take Muskoka in the summer over any place in the world.

TRASH TALKING IN TORONTO

It was pretty hot news for a while here at the Star.

We got an email from one of our staffers on Monday to say he had spotted a story in the San Francisco Chronicle’s travel section that mentioned how Toronto was worse than Honduras these days in terms of tourism, what with the garbage strike and all. It sounded a little goofy. After some digging, I found that Larry Habegger at World Travel Watch had put out an advisory that mentioned how Canada was his latest “warning” given the garbage strikes in Windsor and Toronto.

Next on his list was Honduras, which has had a military coup and is in the middle of some particular nasty goings-on. As it turns out, he wasn’t putting Canada’s garbage woes ahead of machine gun-toting military types in Central America. It was simply that Canada was first alphabetically in a list of five countries he noted have issues, those being Canada, Honduras, Mexico (dengue fever), North Africa (bubonic plague in Libya) and Thailand (security for an ASEAN political meeting).

As for Toronto, Habegger was pretty mild.

“Residents living near the sites complained of the stench and visitors were surprised to see the mounds of trash throughout the city that is known for its cleanliness,” Habegger wrote at worldtravelwatch.com.

Still, the Chronicle has a substantial readership. Habegger’s column also appeared in the Chicago Tribune, which would be of more concern to southern Ontario tourism folks.

Andrew Weir of Tourism Toronto told me in a Twitter message (ain’t technology wonderful?) that the “economy and changing travel patterns are the big determinants this summer (in terms of Toronto’s tourism issues). Other forces like strike are lesser, hard to measure."

In an email to the Star, Habegger said he “didn't list Toronto as 'the' or 'a' worst place to travel, I simply included an item in my World Travel Watch column about Toronto and its garbage strike. The intent of the column is to flag for readers developments around the world that might have an adverse effect on their travels, so if they're heading for Paris and the Metro system is shut down by a drivers' strike, they'd know about it. Or in the case of this week, if heading for Honduras, know that the country's in the middle of a political crisis; dengue fever is increasing in Mexico; security is tightened for a summit in Thailand; or, garbage is piling up in Toronto because of a garbage strike.”

Given that there was no garbage pickup in Naples (the original one in Italy, not Florida) for seven months or thereabouts last year, a two-week strike in Toronto is probably not much to worry about unless you’re David Miller.

Far bigger issues for tourism-dependent hotels and restaurants in Toronto are the new passport rules for Americans and the relative strength of the Canadian dollar.

Hell, Vernon Wells’ prolonged hitting slump has probably hurt Toronto as much as the garbage strike by pushing the Blue Jays off the main pages of North American sports sections. Most tourists don’t hang out much at Christie Pits or York Mills Arena and it’s not like there’s black plastic garbage bags piling up at the Royal York (are there?)

Still, isn’t it about time to get this strike over with? I’m not seeing much leadership from either side in this dispute.

KUDOS FOR CANADA, BIZARRE ICE CREAM...AND A SHORT BREAK

You've seen the ads in the paper, we trust. The Canadian Tourism Commission a few weeks back launched a major campaign with the theme "locals know."

The emphasis is for folks to "discover the Canada you don't know," and it's quite nice. The website, localsknow.ca, has lots of interesting pictures beyond the usual CN Tower/Banff Springs Hotel stuff, and it's interesting to see how many "hits" each picture has had.

As of Friday morning, the clear winner seems to be a picture of people snorkelling in what looks like Caribbean waters. Us folks in Ontario know it's up near the Bruce Peninsula, but it looks like lots of people have no clue as the picture had received more than 60,000 hits; dwarfing some pretty cool spots such as Writing on Stone provincial park in Alberta, which looks really beautiful and which I hadn't heard of.

Forbes.com recently included the campaign in its list of great tourism web sites, so good for the CTC.

Forbes said the locals know campaign "uses hand-held camera work and postcard-style print ads to showcase some of the country's hidden gems. Locals are also invited to submit photos of their favourite spots."

Staying local makes a lot of sense in this day and age, and we're blessed with some remarkable places to visit. I haven't had a chance to spend as much time exploring the country as I'd like, but I'll add Charlevoix, Quebec (a lovely, gentle landscape with a great artists community in Baie St. Paul) and Twillingate, Newfoundland (hospitable, interesting people and breathtaking ocean vistas).

WEIRD ICE CREAM

Just got around to perusing the New York Times Style Magazine for summer travel, and spotted a piece on unusual ice cream makers in the San Francisco area, where experimentation in just about everything is a way of life.

Balsamic straweberry isn't that exotic, but Bi-Rite Creamery and Bakeshop on 18th St. will give you chocolate ice cream topped with bergamot olive oil and Maldon sea salt. And Sketch Ice Cream in Berkeley makes one with Earl Grey tea, cardamom, saffron and homegrown rose geranium.

Over at Humphry Slocombe in the fascinating Mission District they have a variety with foie gras and gingersnaps (uh, maybe not for me), as well as strawberry/candied jalapeno, which I'd definitely try. The Times said owner Jake Godby even does something called Secret Breakfast with, wait for it, corn flakes and bourbon.

Personally, I'd prefer Captain Crunch and tequila but there you go.

TAKING A BREAK

I'm off for a few days. Back in blogging action next week....

AIRPORT NANNIES? GET REAL. ALSO: AIR CANADA LABOUR WOES

Spotted an item the other day that said Etihad Airways is bringing in nannies to help

entertain children of elite passengers who use their premium lounge at Abu Dhabi airport.

This, presumably, will allow mummy and daddy to peruse the newspaper or drink themselves

silly and not to have to deal with annoying children wanting (the nerve) to be entertained.

 

Honestly, it boggles the mind. If you're taking your children with you on a trip, shouldn't you want

to be with them?

 

There have been known to be long delays at airports, so at least in theory this might have some use. And at least this involves pampering for children and parents. Don't get me started on how people

keep complaining that their pets should be allowed on board an airplane because poor little

Fifi gets terrified in the cargo hold.

 

It's a joke. Pets don't belong in the passenger compartment of an airplane.

 

And kids don't deserve to be shunted off to a nanny at an airport lounge.

 

NO OLYMPIC WORRIES?

 

It might take a few more days for Air Canada's labour situation to clear

up. But a spokesman for their biggest union says they won't use the

Vancouver 2010 Olympics as a bargaining chip to try to get a better deal

from the airline.

 

The bargaining team for the International Association of Machinists and

Aerospace Workers is meeting today amongst themselves and wants to meet

Friday with Air Canada. They narrowly voted earlier this week (50.8 per

cent to 49.2 per cent) to reject a tentative contract that would have

frozen their wages for almost two years.

 

Union spokesman Bill Trbovich  said finance and clerical divisions approved

the same collective agreement and all union membership needs to approve the

deal so that there’s a united front when it comes time for Air Canada to

ask the federal government for changes in pension legislation, according to

a Canadian Press report. Air Canada says it needs immediate pension relief,

and is seeking $600 million in loans to survive the recession.

 

It's probably a tempting target, but Trbovich said the Olympics won't be

used as leverage for a better deal.

 

“If we have a contract and they go ahead and try to disrupt the Olympics,

it would be a wildcat strike, which would be illegal. And we’re not going

to do that. You’d get fined and thrown in jail.”

 

 

HORSESHOE RESORT DEALS

 

Horseshoe Resort near barrie is offering a series of special packages. The Operation Elevation deal starts at $259 per night and provides a room for two adults and two kids, breakfast for all four people and an "Abraska Family Treetop Adventure" for all four. There also are ATV trips on a Rhino Safari, golf packages and other deals.

 

Go to www.horseshoeresort.com

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WEST JET ON THE RISE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Like I said, room for improvement.

IRELAND FOR BREAKFAST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PEARSON APOLOGY

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

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

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

Fair enough.

HIKING IN THE BUFF

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

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

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

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

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

CANADA DEALS

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

GRETZKY CLASSIC COMING UP IN THORNBURY

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

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

 

 

 

THE FRIENDLY SKIES OF AIR CANADA...

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALL CARRY-ON, ALL THE TIME?

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

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

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

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

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

MIAMI NICE

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

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

Go to www.Miami443.com.

DALI WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME

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

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

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