Vancouver Olympic memories...Richard Branson arrives today...Iceland blog

You'd think that four months and a day after the glorious Vancouver Olympic Games ended, that chief organizer John Furlong would've had a day off.

Nope.

"Not yet," he said in a swing through a post-G20 Toronto today. "I'm hoping maybe this weekend."

Furlong was busy, of course, with the Paralympic Games in March. Since then, he's been advising folks in London about the 2012 Games and Sochi, Russia about the 2014 Winter Olympics. He's also chairman of the board of Own the Podium.

Today, however, he was in town mostly to talk about the massive and impressive official commemorative book of the Olympic Winter and Paralympic Winter Games, titled "With Glowing Hearts."

There's everything you can imagine, including breathtaking scenery and athlete shots, photos of the opening and closing ceremonies and shots of the amazing volunteers. There are mountains aglow with light. Some even have snow on them (sorry, John). There's a guy named Crosby waving a giant Canadian flag. There's Moir and Virtue and a tearful Joannie Rochette and Alex Bilodeau and Shaun White and Lauren Woolstencroft, who swept all five of her Paralympic alpine events for Canadian glory. And, yes, there's something on the Georgian luger who was killed early on, Nodar

There's also a photo of give guys standing at a urinal, with their jackets revealing the fact they were from Peru, Croatia, the U.S.A. and Mexico. I guess there's solidarity everywhere at the Olympics.

Oddly enough, Furlong said this marks the first time an organizing committee has put out a post-Games book. You'd think it was a natural after, say, the Sydney Games or even Salt Lake, but it didn't happen.

"We tried not to leave anything out," he said as he went through some favourite photos.

The book retails for $85. Proceeds are split between the publisher, the bookseller and VANOC, which is using the money to help balance its budget.

Furlong yesterday said he still expects a balanced budget, but no major operating profit from hosting the Games. The Games budget included a $110 million fund to help maintain the Richmond Oval for speedksating, the nordic venues in the Callaghan Valley and the Whistler sliding track.

Olympics ended four months ago yesterday; the Paralympics a few weeks later. The Vancouver organizing committee had 50,000 workers at the peak, and Furlong said he's now down to 20. Not thousand. Twenty.

"We have a few more contracts to deal with and we have to do a proper audit and prepare a final report for the International Olympic Committee."

Furlong is now heading up the Own the Podium program, which helped Canada top the gold medal standings in Vancouver. He's trying to keep that going for Sochi, Russia in 2014 and to boost Canada's performance at the Summer Games in London in 2012.

"We want to be a contender in most sports," he said. "We haven't won a team medal at the summer Games in six decades."

To improve Canada's standings, Furlong and OTP are going to need corporate funding. They did quite well with Vancouver, but London and Sochi will be tougher sells. He also realizes the competition will be very tough.

"Every country is doing the same thing as us," he said, noting that Russia, in particular, wants to improve on a disappointing result in Vancouver.

Vancouver had 14 venues, but Sochi has 70 projects under construction, Furlong said, and they stretch over a 135-kilometre-long area.

"I think they'll get it done. Failure is not an option. This is about the face of Russia in this century."

Furlong said he expected a few dozen letters from Canadians after the Games. Instead, he said he received thousands. One of his favourites was from a couple who wanted to rent out their B and B in Squamish, B.C. They thought they had rented to some folks from Switzerland, so they festooned their place in red and white and brought in Swiss flags.

When the tenants arrived for the Games, they were Germans. It wasn't necessarily a problem, but the owners had relatives in the World Wars and had something of a history with Germany.

"By the end, they were good friends and exchanged keys. She told me the Games had removed hatred from her family's home."

Furlong said he expects Vancouver to get its Canadian face back on this week for Canada Day. That's the day they'll officially open Jack Poole Plaza on the waterfront; the plaza named after the guy who got Vancouver's bid off the ground some 10 years ago. It should be great, but it might not rival the feeling in the streets four months ago.

Furlong laughs when he talks about how Canadians went so wild in the streets and how he remembers talking to folks in China about the lack of people walking through the Olympic park in Beijing on a daily basis.

"I asked someone one day why they didn't open the doors and he told me, "Everyone would've come.' I guess in China, that's a lot of people."

VIRGIN AMERICA TAKES OVER THE THOMPSON

Should be a pretty good bash at the new Thompson Hotel in Toronto tonight. Virgin America chief Richard Branson and a bunch of celebrities were due to arrive on the tarmac at Pearson Airport today, then make their way downtown for a rooftop party under the (potentially chilly) stars.

I mentioned the other day that it was going to be interesting to see how Air Canada responds. I got a note from the good folks at AC the other day to remind me that they earlier added new services from Toronto to Orange County, as well as San Diego (which started June 17). They've also boosted service to San Francisco to five flights a day and brought in lie-flat suites in Executive First service on select flights to Los Angeles.

Capacity is to be increased 51 per cent between Toronto and California this year, compared to last, officials said.

LINDA BARNARD IN ICELAND

Star entertainment writer Linda Barnard, always good for some laughs and travel insights, is making her presence felt in Reykjavik. And apparently standing in both Europe and North America at the same time. You can check her out by clicking on this link. Keep up the good work, Linda.

Gay Pride Parade New York; a time as had by all...Linda Barnard in Iceland!

OTTAWA (BUT MOSTLY NEW YORK, REALLY) – Don’t ask me why I’m filing from Ottawa when I should be at the Toronto Star Amateur Golf tournament media day. But it has something to do with terrible weather in Toronto and two aborted landings at the Island Airport Sunday night. That’s nobody’s fault. But the situation was horribly handled by Porter Airlines, so I’ll do more on that later today if and when I get a chance.

In more colourful news, I’m happy to say I’m no longer a Gay Pride parade virgin.

I’ve always meant to check out the Pride parade in Toronto; I just never got around to it. (For information on the parade and pride week in general, which has already begun here in T.O., check out The Star's special Pride Week section) But Sunday it was Pride Day in New York, and my travel bloggers conference had a lunch break from noon to 1:30. The parade route came down Fifth Ave. and turned at 13th St., just a block from where our conference was held at NYU.

So instead of sitting down to pizza or a salad or a sandwich, I grabbed a steamed hot dog (Toronto’s are better) and a bottle of water and found a shady spot to watch the parade. It took about 40 minutes for the motorcyclists to show up to kick things off, but it was pretty fun.

There were a couple hundred motorbikes, mostly looking pretty menacing with colourfully garbed folks on top. One older guy and a guy with a shaved head riding on the back stopped for a mid street smooch, while a woman of a certain age with breasts of a certain size rode past bare-breasted. That was the only nudity I saw in about a half-hour of parade watching. Maybe I missed it, but it seemed pretty tame compared to the stories I’ve heard in Toronto.

I enjoyed the running commentary from a guy with a p.a. system near Washington Square. When a bunch of guys came by tossing lavender flags in the air in unison, he yelled out, “Hey, it’s the flaggots. Hi, flaggots!”
It was all in good fun, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves on a hot but just-shy-of-sultry day in Manhattan.

One question: Are so many “floats” in the Toronto parade sponsored? The New York version had Kiehl’s body products and something called Green Chimneys, as well as Delta. The Delta folks had a banner that ready “Fly Out to the World, " which was clever.

I wanted to get a cab back to my hotel in lower Manhattan but they were impossible to find so I hopped on the number six train. I forgot that some stations in New York are only for northbound service and others for southbound, so visitors often end up wandering about trying to find the right station. And I don’t think they’re marked nearly well enough; not as well as Toronto from the outside, and certainly not as good as London or Paris in terms of overall routing information I don’t think. At least the air conditioning worked, but I walked a half mile to get from one line to another in the heat of the underground maze on Saturday, then found the three-storey escalator was busted.

Anyway, it’s always great to get into the energy of New York City, and this weekend was no exception. I topped it off with a great pizza at Harry’s Italian on Gold Street, across from the Gild Hall hotel by Thompson. Great, Napoli-style pizza with a thin crust (a touch too burned, however), a tasty mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and a lovely tomato sauce.

 

TBEX BLOGGERS CONFERENCE

Thanks to the folks who put on a great Travel Bloggers Exchange 2010 conference in New York City on the weekend. Lots of good speakers, even if I didn't fully understand all the jargon.

It was the second gathering of travel bloggers from (mostly) North America, and they'll do it again next June in...Vancouver.

 

Vancouver and B.C. tourism folks were sponsors of this year's event in NYC, as was the Canadian Tourism Commission. They gave out bagels and coffee on the street Sunday morning, which was a nice touch.

 

“We're interested in what bloggers have to say,” said Amber Sessions of Vancovuer tourism. “And, yes, we kind of like to be cutting edge.”

 

There were tons of Canadians in the audience this weekend, by the way, including regular Star contributor Heather Greenwood Davis, as well as the enormously respected Evelyn Hannon, who has a web site for women travellers called journeywoman.com.

 

Too bad Toronto didn't get involved for TBEX 2011. But Toronto is hosting the CTC's Go Media event in August; bringing together media from all over to learn about Canadian destinations.

 

LINDA BARNARD IN ICELAND

Star entertainment reporter and mad gal about town Linda Barnard is flitting about Iceland in fine style, avoiding volcanoes and trying her best to get into a bit of trouble. Here's a link to her latest blog...

http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Iceland/Southwest/Reykjavik/blog-509864.html

Air Canada doesn't impress Frommer...Florida "Live" site to combat oil fears...

Good blog today - excellent actually - by newly minted Star columnist Pauline Frommer.

Writing at Pauline Frommer's Daily Briefing, Frommer today checked out the latest "deals" on Air Canada and found our favourite airline rather wanting in the bargain department.

Here's a sample of what she had to say:

Usually when a carrier begins a new route, its a good thing for passengers. The newcomer to that corner of the market undercuts the competition to establish itself, every one's prices drop and bingo! Consumers get a deal. Increased competition leads to lower prices.

Well, it seems that Air Canada doesn't use that playbook. Sure, its website pays lip-service to the idea that travelers will snag a steal if they book these new European non-stops before the deadline (May 18 in this case). The fares listed certainly look tempting--$403 each way Toronto to Copenhagen! $415 to Brussels! $425 to Rome. But once you get all the way to the end of the booking process, what with fuel surcharges, fees and taxes, rates across the pond are a good $350 higher than expected. And if you go to a general search engine or the website of one of Air Canada's competitors on these routes--as you should--you find that the other carriers are slaughtering Air Canada on price, often to the tune of $200 to $300 less. Air Canada's vaunted non-stops didn't come up in the affordable end of any of the searches I did, either.

It's a common complaint.

Just for fun, I went to expedia.ca this morning and checked on a flight from Toronto to Rome. It ended up being around $1,100 return on Air Canada, which isn't horrible but it's not exactly cheap, either.

In fairness, however, it was virtually the same price on the other airlines I checked. So Air Canada isn't always a bad deal.

I'm a frequent flyer on Air Canada and it's worth a little extra money to me to be able to gather points. A trip to Europe and back is maybe 10,000 miles, and that's about two-fifths of the 25,000 points you need for a flight in North America using Aeroplan points. Those flights, at least to the west coast of the U.S., where I like to go, tend to cost $500 or so. Using my very limited math skills, that means those 10,000 miles I get are worth about $200 - two/fifths of $500 if you get where I'm going with this. That being the case, it's worth it to me to fly Air Canada and pay $200 extra on a trip to Europe. At worst, I break even. But I like Air Canada more than, say, United or American Airlines for sure. And I REALLY like flying non-stop.

There is almost nothing good that can come out of a stopover at another airport. So for sure I always aim for the non-stop flights. All that having been said, Frommer is right to point out that some of Air Canada's deals aren't nearly as attractive as they might first appear. So thanks for a great blog, Pauline.

FLORIDA FIGHTS OIL FEARS

Florida tourism folks have been quick, and understandably so, to tell folks not to worry about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They sent out a note today to announce a new site for folks to help keep track of things in the Sunshine State, and good for them for being proactive.

"Florida is alive and well, and open for business," they said. "VISIT FLORIDA, the state’s official tourism marketing organization, is inviting potential visitors to see for themselves at Florida Live, where they can make their vacation plans based on real time information from local beaches and Florida residents - not based on misconceptions resulting from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Florida’s clear beaches, blue waters, sunny skies and classic getaways haven’t changed.

“A picture is worth a thousand words, and a real person‘s view is worth a thousand paid photographers,” says Will Seccombe, chief marketing officer at VISIT FLORIDA. “That’s why we’ve taken the step of hosting consumer generated content on our tourism site. People want to see what’s really happening, not just what the ‘marketing guy’ is posting.”

NO, WAIT - LET ME TRY IT ONCE!

Spotted a report at travelweekly.com today saying that the Hedonism III resort in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, will drop its erotic theme, as parent company SuperClubs will rebrand the property.

Hedonism III will close Aug. 22 and reopen Oct. 14 as Super Fun Resort & Spa," according to travelweekly. The rebranded 225-room property will be "targeted at the wallet-conscious adult traveler looking for an all-inclusive vacation, minus some of the amenities that are included in our higher-priced, super-inclusive Breezes and Hedonism II plans," said Paul Pennicook, president of International Lifestyles, SuperClubs’ worldwide representative.

Airport transfers, motorized water sports and premium-brand liquors won’t be included in Super Fun’s rates. Local wines and liquors will continue to be included, as will all meals, accommodations, and entertainment.

The resort will offer a small clothing-optional beach but no nude pool. Hedonism is known for its wild theme parties, a nude water slide that snakes through the disco and its nude beach and nude pool.

"The specific niche market which Hedonism Resorts traditionally has attracted will continue to be served by the 280-room Hedonism II resort," Pennicook said.

Thank God for that. Still, I'm not sure how I can get a "Hedonism II" receipt past the boss on my next expense report......

MAN LOSES DOG ON DELTA FLIGHT

I hadn't spotted this until today, but it seems a guy from Seaforth, Ontario was on a Delta flight from Mexico City to Detroit - and they lost his dog.

The poor guy, Josiah Allen, was in Puerto Vallarta with his girlfriend, Erin Docking, when they found what appeared to be a stray dog on the beach; a small, white animal that looks like a terrier. They ended up "adopting" Paco as their own and checked in with him on a flight home. When they got home, however, there was no Paco.

Reports say Delta at first said the dog remained in its cage at the airport in Mexico City. But they later admitted that Paco had disappeared — and offered a USD$200 travel voucher in compensation.

Allen and Docking have collected hundreds of signatures for an online petition entitled: “Tell Delta Airlines to PLEASE FIND Paco!” He's got something going on something called petitionsite, which I had never heard of.

“Lost baggage is one thing, but a live animal...,” Allen told the Consumerist website, where he first aired his complaints.

Other reports have suggested Paco busted out of his cage and eluded security staff at the airport. I don't like the poor mutt's chances. Then again, maybe this will be like "The Incredible Journey" and he'll make his way slowly home....

Kinda doubt it.

BRITISH AIRWAYS STRIKE PROVISIONS

Things are heating up in Britain, with strikes slated to start next week against British Airways. But a report on travelmole.com today said British Airways has pledged to fly more than half of its Heathrow schedule during the first of four cabin crew strikes planned for next week.

 

The carrier aims to operate more than 60% of long haul flights and more than 50% of short haul flights from Heathrow in the first strike period on May 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22.

BA will add to the schedule “where possible”.

 

The airline said it will continue to fly to every short haul destination on its network. All flights at Gatwick will operate as normal as will flights to and from London City airport during the entire strike period.

Olympic memories...and a major one to come - starting tomorrow in Vancouver

ON MY WAY TO VANCOUVER - It's gonna be hard to top Sydney, but I think having the Olympics in my own country might do the trick.

Sydney was the first Olympics I was at on the Star's behalf. I was the assignment editor and also wrote a daily notebook for our web site, a job I've done at the Olympics since. I don't recall my Sydney notes being called a blog. I don't think the word was invented yet, although I could easily be wrong. And the Internet was fairly rudimentary. No Google I can recall. No YouTube. I filed updates along the way, but it wasn't a huge deal.

There was more going to the web in Salt Lake City in 2002, where I was pretty busy keeping up on Skategate, and quite a bit happening web-wise by the time Athens rolled around in 2004. The Star website was quite important by the time Turin came around, and critical in Beijing given the 12-hour (or was it 13?) time difference. That played havoc with our scheduling. We had to do a schedule of what was going on the web, of course, plus what would be in the paper. Because so many events happened in the middle of the night in Toronto, we had to write a schedule that included not only events that would make into the paper but events that had to previewed because they'd happen in the middle of the night the following day, if that makes any sense.

Suffice to say it was horrible from an assignment point of view. I don't think poor Rosie DiManno has stopped shaking her head over the times I'd ask her to write a column reviewing something that our readers had missed 36 hours before or would likely miss two days ahead of when she was writing. Or something like that.

Anyway, here comes Vancouver. And our website will be ENORMOUSLY important. I'll be filing updates all day, every day on all the major events involving Canadians. If we're expected to compete for a medal, I'll be all over it. If we win, I'll file flash stories and maybe some background and a quote, then move on to the next one. If we lose a medal we should've had, that'll be a flash story on our website, too. And if some figure skating judges try to rip us off again, well, that'll be covered, too.

Sydney was an absolute blast. It was a country I'd always dreamed of going to, in a great city, with great people. They put the media up in what was an old insane asylum (yes, I know; a perfect spot. You can say it). But there wasn't room for little old me, so I was headquartered in a hotel way downtown in Kings Cross, the pseudo red light district. It was absolutely fine; no worse than Yonge and Dundas. Had a view of the Harbour Bridge and downtown, which was spectacular, from the top of a hill. The subway was close by, although it took an hour to get the main Olympic Centre west of town and that got kinda old. The hotel was fine, but there was an awesome coffee shop on the ground floor with wonderful cappucino, and I met a guy from down around Chatham, as I recall, who was a Sydney cop. He and and his wife had a small baby and we chatted most mornings. One night they put me up at the media village but in a room that had a bathroom and living room that was shared. I got up to use the washroom in the middle of the night and a woman from Sweden or Norway, maybe, spotted me and screamed that it was a women's only residence. I had to change rooms at 3 a.m. and, boy, wasn't that fun.

My wife was lucky enough to come along for part of the Sydney Games and got to attend a few events. But the one she remembers most, I think, is one she didn't actually go to. She was at the track stadium, as I recall, and was wearing some Canadian gear. She had chatted with the folks around her and they were teasing each other about Aussies and Canucks. The way I remember the story is a guy near her was listening to Daniel Nestor and his partner, Sebastien Lareau, go for the gold medal in tennis against the Woodies, an Australian doubles team. It was match point and the Canucks were about to win one of the few medals we managed to snatch in the Down Under Games. The guy with the radio in his ear took out his headphones and handed them to my wife and said, "Here, you listen; it's your gold medal."

Isn't that a nice story?

I grew weary of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi." It seemed vaguely menacing when shouted out by barrel-chested young men with shaved heads, I gotta say. But I loved the Aussies, and I loved the beer and the food and Bondi beach and Dunk Island and the wineries of the Yarra Valley. And I was in tears when we visited the Ocean Road and I stood in the sun and watched the waves pound against the Twelve Apostles rock formations.

Salt Lake was, sorry, kinda boring. But they had a barbeque outside the media centre where you could get ribs, and the light beer was actually quite good. Athens was awesome as I snagged several of the reporters some accomodations a mere 50 metres from the main press centre. The guys who got those rooms still give me high fives for that one. The Athens people also had a Heineken bar on the roof, where we'd go every night and down a couple cold ones in the warm, Athens air. And there was a half-decent place across the road for outdoor dining; good squid and Greek salad (go figure). Even a halfway okay sushi place. I got to spend a day on the island of Hydra when it was all done; great spot for a day trip if you ever are in Athens and want to see one of the Greek islands but are short on time.

Turin wasn't bad. But it was warm-ish and dry and never quite felt like the Winter Games. Vancouver might have the same issue, I don't know. But at least on a good day you can see the mountains, and there's always the ocean views even if it's drizzly. Turin had terrible media breakfasts, I gotta say. Whole, homogenized milk was the only option for cereal so I had to add water to make it edible. And they had the same two cereal options every day; corn flakes and cocoa puffs. I swear to God; Cocoa Puffs. They also had a toaster that took about three minutes, and I'm not kidding, to make a piece of toast. I actually got in a fight with a guy who I thought was taking my piece of toast. Not proud of that but it's true. The breakfast was awful, but the cappuccino was, naturally, awesome and they had a great salad bar and risotto and great pizza and pasta. And I got to see Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen win medals in speedskating; the first time I'd seen one of our athletes win a medal in person. Wonderful memory.

Beijing was great cuz it was, well, Beijing. I got to see the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall, where Randy Starkman bought a silly hat and Dave Perkins took a ride down a hill on a toboggan-like contraption and had a huge grin on his face all the way to the bottom. Fun stuff. I also got to see Michael Phelps win his record eighth medal and to see the opening (see photo at right) AND closing ceremonies and got to watch Usain Bolt win his magical 100 meter race. Talk about nailing the quad. That will be hard to top, as Vancouver's events are pretty spread out and it's unlikely I'll get out of the media centre enough to see anything live.

But just being there makes me the envy of all my friends, and it'll be a thrill to watch on TV and be out on the street soaking up the atmosphere. And maybe I'll get out to see part of a hockey game or another speed skating race.

Lots of great memories from the past five Olympics, for sure. And a boatload still to come.

I'll be writing a daily blog from out there, starting next Monday the 8th. So look for that. I'll try to throw in the odd travel news from around the world but more than likely it'll be all British Columbia and all Olympics all the time.

And I'll try to keep up with Twitter, where you can find me under the username jbyers11.

TRAVEL ALERTS WIDGET

Just in case you missed it, we here in Star Travel are thrilled to have travelalerts.ca as part of our website. There's a large "widget" on the right side of our home page, naturally www.thestar.com/travel, where you can find the travelalerts symbol and find help in booking flights, hotels and cars all over the world. You also can find great deals at www.travelalerts.ca, so be sure to check out both the widget and the travelalerts web site. And I'll try to keep giving you deals of the day when I'm not providing the rundown on Canada's Winter Olympic athletes.

Cheers,

Jim

TOO MUCH SEX IN SPAIN...HOTEL TOILETRIES...JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY.

Boy, things are getting goofy in Spain these days.

I ran across a story on Twitter (thanks to a London Times tweet, which was a referral from a story in the Spanish paper El Pais) today about how prostitutes have been having sex with johns in full view of tourists strolling along Las Rambla.

Nothing wrong with a little raunch, and Barcelona (see Las Rambla photo below) is known for a pretty laissez-faire attitude. But the German paper BILD (I won't link to it but if you're desperate to see the images you can probably find them) published photos of two women clearly engaged in sex with men in what looks like a fairly open part of the city. And that's way over the line.

Spain is, of course, a very religious country. But there's also an ability to shrug off sexual issues, at least some of the time. It makes for an interesting dynamic.

Fed up with the prostitutes, the Barcelona city council has voted to open more brothers in town, mostly around La Rambla. Locals, and opposition parties of course, have reacted in horror and have said the mayor wants to turn Barcelona into Amsterdam south.

Meanwhile, not far off shore on the island of Mallorca, there's a bar called Playa de Palma that apparently encourages sex parties. Many folks wouldn't care about that, but German tourists apparently have found that images of them cavorting on stage have made their way onto video, and back to Germany. This doesn't always go over well with the boss...or the spouse.

BILD, always up for a good sex story, says patrons are unaware they're being secretly filmed on mobile phones, with the footage being uploaded to various porn sites that I won't mention in a family blog.

My favourite part of the BILD story I spotted the other day was a comment from the local police.

"The nightclub's license does not cover sex parties," said one cop. "For that the owners need a pornography license."

"We will investigate it with our special department."

At least he didnt' say his "special unit."

PASS THE SOAP

Read a cool item on USA Today's hotel blog today. Barbara De Lollis reports that Holiday Inn will start putting Bath & Body Works products in its bathrooms; particularly, the Coconut Lime Verbena line. Coconut-lime sounds like a Jimmy Buffett tune to me, but I love both smells. I don't like using sunscreen, personally, unless it smells like coconut, cuz that always reminds me of Hawaii. Stupid, I know, but I admit it.

I've always had a thing for hotel toiletries, as the maids who have to replace the stuff in my room would probably attest.

I had reams of stuff at home until my wife and I cleaned most of it out the other day. I give a lot to my sister-in-law, but I'm also sentimentally attached to a little bottle I have with the name "Napili Kai Beach Club" on it, from Maui. And a small (well, kinda big, actually) jar of bath soap from Sandy Lane in Barbados.

Anyone care to admit if they're the same?

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

The Bulfinch Boston wants you to ‘Cut the Bill at the Bull’ as it celebrates its fifth anniversary. With this promotion, a minimum three-night stay gets you a choice of five amenities, all priced at $5 (U.S.): overnight parking; continental breakfast; dry cleaning service; pressing service or a cocktail. The nightly rate with this deal starts at $159. The Bulfinch Boston is located in the city’s Bulfinch Triangle, in a nine-storey flatiron building with 80 rooms and suites. Nearby attractions include Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. See www.bulfinchhotel.com.

OVERRATED TRAVEL SPOTS, EMILY MATHIEU IN S. AFRICA, DEAL OF DAY

The Times of London online publication, www.timesonline.co.uk, has a story posted about the most over-rated travel spots around the world. They've been getting a fair bit of attention for it, too.

It apparently came about because of a new book called The Road Less Travelled, which has an intro by my favourite travel author, Bill Bryson. Before we get to some of the great comments Times readers have offered, here's a look at their list of five over-rated destinations and their suggested alternatives:

 

1. Stonehenge: "You can't touch it, you can't walk inside, you can't wander about its space and you have to pay an entrance fee to see it." Recommended alternative: Avebury, which the Times says is "larger and has a much more accessible stone circle."

 

2. Petra, Jordan: "The tourism village that has grown up around Petra now threatens to outsize the city itself." Recommended alternative: Lalibela in Ethiopia. "(They) challenge Jordan's Petra in number, artistic accomplishment and, above all, atmosphere."

 

3. The Colosseum: "The entire building is a traffic roundabout." Alternative: The Roman theatre in Pula, Croatia.

 

4. Machu Picchu: "You're well above 100 pounds (about $180 Cdn.) before you've even set foot in Machu Picchu...that is if you fall within the number of people allowed in daily." Alternative: Bolivia's Isla del Sol.

 

5. Angkor, Cambodia: "There's no escaping the crowds here." Alternative: "Equally spectacular but far less touristy Borobudur, Indonesia."

 

Interesting stuff. And some really interesting reaction from readers, too.

 

"I lived less than 10 miles from Avebury for most of my life," wrote Drew Whitehead. "I'd say the experience is 10 times better and more intimate than Stonehenge."

 

Robin from Loxley wrote: "Lol - 'want pretentious stories to tell people about your travels when at dinner parties - pick THESE destinations!' (we presume he means the alternatives). Seriously, I've been to 4/5 of these places and they ARE worth going to. We live in a crowded world, get over it!

 

"The road less travelled is fine for people who are paid to write travel books," wrote Nick Millar. "Unfortunately I need to earn a living, pay my council tax and then take a holiday to places I find interesting. White water rafting the Grand Canyon was the greatest experience of my life. Visiting Angkor, Petra and Machu Picchu are all up there in my top-ten. However, give Ayres Rock or Uluru a miss and see the black stump 200 yards off the track 60 miles west of Rabbit Flats somewhere in the Northern Territory of Australia. This amazing sight I found when I went for a pee when our truck broke down. Truly amazing, a burnt out stump. I wonder if it features in the Road Less Travelled..."

 

That's hilarious.

 

A friend in the travel biz here in Toronto tells me he'd nominate the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen as over-rated.

 

"I know Hans Christian Andersen is a national treaure but for the scores of tour buses I just don't get the fascination with a rather boring, small sculpture," he said. "I would love to have those few hours back."

 

Any suggestions? Especially for Canada? Let me know at jbyers@thestar.ca

 

Thanks.

 

 

BABOONS AND WHALES AND SHARKS, OH MY

 

Star reporter Emily Mathieu continues her search for great white sharks in South Africa. Not having a lot of luck getting any to rattle her cage, and I mean that literally, but she's having a good time and writing some great travelogues from the road.

 

Today she's got a nice photo of Simonstown and some funny anecdotes about her search for sharks.

 

Check her out: www.thestar.com/travel.

 

RECOVERY ON THE WAY, PART 47

 

You know when we'll be out of the recovery phase of the economic downturn? When we stop writing stories about whether we're out of the economic downturn. Therefore, by default, we're not out of it. Because I'm clearly writing about it.

 

Okay, that aside, the latest piece I saw came from travel agent central, where they reported that a "recent analysis by Piper Jaffray and Citibank" showed that while "the U.S. hotel industry posted a sharp dip in revenue per available room, the industry’s occupancy and average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) seems to have stabilized over the summer."

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

Los Olivos, California - Fess Parker Wine Country Inn
Celebrate California Wine Month in Central California's Santa Ynez Valley at this luxury inn with the "Taste Los Olivos Package," starting at $595 U.S. (Sunday through Thursday, almost a 40% discount, not including taxes). Package includes: Local wine tasting for two at eight locations in Los Olivos and at the Fess Parker Winery located on the Foxen Wine Trail; Dinner for two with California wine at Petros Los Olivos located inside the Fess Parker Inn; Lunch for two with California wine at Patrick's Side Street Café; and Deluxe accommodations for two nights at the Fess Parker's Wine Country Inn. Package costs $995 for Friday and Saturday bookings ($1,300 value plus taxes). www.fessparker.com.

I happened to stop in while on holidays in the area a couple years ago. We went to the winery, which is where they shot the scene in Sideways where Miles dumps a big vat of red wine down the front of his shirt. I didn't expect great wine but Fess Parker makes some great whites and some wonderfully rich syrahs. The Frontier Red is occasionally seen in Ontario and it's pretty good. But the reserve syrah is rich and powerful and smoky and wonderful, as is a lot of the syrah in these parts.

The sauvignon blancs in the Santa Ynez Valley are also quite snappy.

When my wife and I went to the winery, we chatted with the guy and found it was Fess Parker's birthday. Fess Parker, for those who may not recall, played Davy Crockett on TV in the old days. They said it was his 80th birthday and that he'd be singing at the hotel.

Who could resist? We went in and it was like an old-time, homey, middle American delight. He sang a song to his wife, who used to be a dancer in Hollywood. She also managed to get up and sing. Their great grandaughter, I think, sang God Bless America. There was a group of barber shop quartet singers, women, from Bakersfield, and they looked like something off the set of the Lawrence Welk Show. Cheryl Ladd also sang a tune, and it was a hoot and three-quarters.

We also had dinner at the Hitching Post II, made famous in the Sideways film. It's got fabulous wine and awesome steaks for a ridiculously low price. And Los Olivos, the town, is a frontier-style delight with high-end wineries and boutiques alongside saddle shops and down-home grocery stores.

A dynamite place for a visit.

Don't forget your coonskin cap.

"FAKE CANADIANS"...ERNIE ELS IN TORONTO...JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

I wrote last week about how Conde Nast Traveler magazine was touting a "new age" of American travel and how it seems Americans feel more confident overseas these days, thanks in part to President Barack Obama.

But the website Gadling had a pretty good rant on the subject from Sean McLachlan on the weekend. McLachlan, who I don't know, says he often stops folks with Maple Leaf flags on their backpacks to find out where they're from.

He says that "only about half turn out to be Canadian. The other half are American. No Brits, no Aussies, no Latvians. It seems the fake Canadians all come from south of the border."

"Are they illegal immigrants coming to steal our heath care and eat all our maple syrup? No, they're pretending to be Canadians because their guidebooks have told them they'll be safer in all those scary foreign countries."

McLachlan says it's a "stupid" move but also hypocritical in that Americans love to wave their flag, but then (some, anyway, apparently) want to hide behind ours when they're on the road. The trouble with this reasoning is that Americans who may hide behind the Canadian flag while roaming the streets of Singapore or Paris likely aren't the ones who display the red, white and blue on their front porch 365 days a year. The bedrock America-right-or-wrong types don't even carry passports, I suspect.

Anyway, it's an interesting talking point, and I'd LOVE to see some reaction from south of the border.

TIGER LOOKING VULNERABLE?

It was as stunning for the big boys as it was for us golf fans.

There was Tiger Woods on the 18th hole at the Barclays Tournament on Sunday, needing to make an eight foot putt or so to force a playoff. He always makes those putts. But not this time. Instead, Heath Slocum drained a 20-footer to win, putting Tiger in the second spot.

J.J. Henry, who's in the Toronto area today with Ernie Els for a charity event at Magna Golf Club (it's to benefit the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine), says he couldn't believe it.

"I was joking with Ernie on the way up here Sunday night," Henry told me this mornng by telephone. "Ernie sees Tiger hit it to eight feet and he thinks it's over; it's time to head to the parking lot." I thought he'd knock it in the middle and give it the fist pump and that would be all she wrote."

Henry says it's giving players a bit of confidence that they might be able to take on the seemingly indestructible Woods.

"It seems he can never miss and then sure enough he does. Maybe it gives us all a little bit of hope, if you will. No doubt. No question."

Els (photo at right) wasn't about to give the perceptive Mr. Woods anything he might take the wrong way.

"He's bound to miss one and eventually he misses one. But he's won five times this year and when he hasn't won he's usually in the top five. He's phenomenal. What Y.E. Yang did to win the PGA was incredible. Eventually somebody had to beat him down the stretch. We're all human at the end of the day."

Henry says he's excited about the idea of the Olympics taking up golf for the 2016 Summer Games. The IOC's executive board has okayed the idea of adding golf and rugby sevens, but the full IOC has to vote on it in October.

"If you can't get excited about representing your country and be part of something as special as the Olympic Games, I think you're doing the wrong thing," Henry said.

"I think it would be incredible for the game and good for the Olympics, too," Els agreed. "We're very clean. No scandals. We almost police ourselves in a way. The Olympics need us as much as we need them. They might need us more than we need them."

Els said majors will still be the huge draw for players, "but the Olympics might only come around once or twice in your career."

Els turns 40 on Oct. 17 and would be nearly 47 by the time the 2016 Games come around.

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY...MIAMI MAYFAIR

Keen negotiators will like the Let’s Make a Deal promotion at Florida’s Mayfair Hotel & Spa. Here’s how it works: you make an offer on a nightly rate through the Mayfair’s reservations department. They either accept that price, or counter with their own price. A bit of haggling here and there and both guest and hotel end up with a satisfying rate – that’s the idea anyway.

According to the Mayfair, you’ll have a better chance negotiating a lower room rate for weekday travel, when the hotel isn’t as busy. And depending on availability, the rate you negotiate may or may not apply to every night of your stay. The 179-suite Mayfair is in Coconut Grove, the hip Miami neighbourhood known for its thriving bar and restaurant scene. For your Monty Hall moment call the reservations department at (786) 220-7050. The deal is valid for travel through Oct. 1.

GOLF CRUISE???...SIGN ME UP!

Silversea Cruises says it's again hosting its Silver Links golf program, with 12 itineraries for 2010 aboard its Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper ships.

Golf is available at 30 courses in 15 countries in the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. Among courses available are Royal Melbourne, Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand, The Fairmont course in Acapulco and Royal Quebec.

Prices start at around $3,300 for a 10-day cruise. But how much fun would that be to cruise at night and play golf during the day?

For information, go to www.silversea.com

TROUBLES IN TOKYO

My son arrived at the airport in Bangkok on Sunday and was told his flight to Tokyo was cancelled because of a typhoon that's wreaking havoc on air travel in Japan. Today he was told he might not get out until Sept. 3 because so many people are trying to get their flights to Narita.

He said he's been put up at a hotel with several other Canadians who appear to be in the same situation.

I told him to smile and be nice to the folks on the ground at Bangkok Airport. In my experience, the front-line people take all the abuse when it's not their fault, so anyone who acts sympatethic and is polite usually gets better treatment. At least, I hope so.

CERTIFIED FRANCE TRAVEL EXPERTS, AIRLINE WOES, JIM'S DEAL OF DAY

They're not the first country to do it. But that doesn't make the French any less clever for instituting a program to certify travel agents in Canada and other countries as France experts.

Agents have to learn all sorts of general information on French regions and the diversity of the country, as well as specialty areas such as culture and art. Once certified, they earn a, well, certificate and have their names listed for the public to see. So far, 35 agents in Canada have been certified as France experts, 32 in Quebec and three in Ontario.

"We'd like to do more by the year-end but we don't want too many," said Caroline Putnoki, Director for Canada for Atout France - the France Tourism Development Agency.

As I devoured a plate of Basquez Chicken (lovely and tender, in a broth with tomatoes, olives, spices and half a hard-boiled egg) at Biff's Bistro on Front Street, I couldn't resist asking Putnoki if there would be a test for the reporters on hand at Monday's lunch. Naturally, she took the bait.

"Okay," she said. "Where is Clermont-Ferrand?"

Having spent years thumbing through atlases, I was able to mumble something about central France and was feeling slightly smug, although I couldn't say EXACTLY where it was in central France. (West of Lyon, if you care). Putnoki quickly punctured the balloon by asking what department or region it was in. Not a clue, and that's what I get for being a smart aleck.

As for the department, it's Puy-de-Dôme department, in the Auvergne region. Turns out there are tons of old volcanoes in the area. I had no idea.

The web site for general France travel is www.franceguide.com. Travel agents can go to www.francetraining.ca for information.

RECOVERY? MAYBE NOT JUST YET

Couldn't help but notice three airline stories in today's business section of the Star. Chris Sorensen had a piece on West Jet delaying delivery of planes from Boeing. On the same page today is a story on how British Airways PLC might see revenue fall by $1.77 billion this year and how Japan Airlines might have to lay off 5,000 folks.

Which leads me to suggest all this talk about an economic recovery is just a tad premature, at least in the travel biz.

JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY

Choose your savings at Marina Inn at Grande Dunes, with the new ‘Fall into Autumn’ promotion. The South Carolina resort has a $149 (U.S.) room rate available through Nov. 22, along with a choice of six bonus offers, all free of charge: full breakfast for two; a suite upgrade with private terrace, king bed and full kitchen; golf for two at championship course Arcadian Shores; two tickets to the Carolina Opry; two tickets to Brookgreen Gardens; or 50 per cent off your second night’s stay. The $149 rate is per night and based on a two night stay, double occupancy. Bookings must be made by Sept. 30 to qualify. See www.marinainnatgrandedunes.com. Don't forget the great golf in that part of the world.

OLYMPIC DEFENSE WOES

Great piece in today's Star - www.thestar.com - by reporter Allan Woods on how holding the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 could strain Canada's armed forces. We also have to worry about the G8 Summit in Huntsville, Ontario next year. And there's the continuing morass in Afghanistan, which shows no signs of abating.

Defence officials said in a memo that Canada might have to outsource military work in Afghanistan and pull soldiers from low-profile foreign missions to relieve the pressure of fighting in Kandahar, guarding the 2010 Olympics and protecting world leaders in Muskoka.

CRUISING FOR CASH

I had no idea they made that kind of money. Writing in his blog at USA Today, Gene Sloan reported that pilots who guide ships in and out of Galveston are pulling in $300,00-plus a year. That's even more than most travel journalists. (Note to Revenue Canada; I'm kidding).

MAGAZINE READS - IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

There's some great stuff on the travel newsstands this month. Check thestar.com/travel for my latest review of travel magazines. There's stuff on tourism in Haiti, as well as a look at a Conde Nast Traveler column on surging American pride overseas.

Interesting reading.

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

MONKEYING AROUND

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

STEEL DRUMS

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

BEER WARS

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

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

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

ALL BARNARD, ALL THE TIME

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nice.

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

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

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

PRETZELS? WE DON"T NEED NO STINKING PRETZELS

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

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

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

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

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

BARNARD BLOGGING

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

HOTEL/BIKE DEAL IN GUELPH

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

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

For details, visit www.deltaguelph.com