With summer road trips heating up, we’re looking for more out of hotels than just a place to catch some zzz’s. For 2008, destination hotels – hotels that inherently offer activities and amenities that make for a unique vacation experience – are the hot ticket, offering road enthusiasts everything from rustic wilderness resorts and majestic castle settings to water parks and casinos. But with the cost of filling up gas tanks climbing, we’re opting to take road trips closer to home. So to help you get a head start on your plans, Hotels.ca has compiled the top ‘Road Trip-able’ destination hotels that are a perfect fit whether a romantic getaway or a fun family outing is on the itinerary. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you experiencing feelings of jealousy when a co-worker or friend returns from vacation? Hmmm…then I’m afraid you’ve got a bad case of vacation envy, a direct result of a pervasive condition now known as Vacation Deprivation.

North Americans are prone to workaholism as they continue in their never-ending pursuit of happiness – that is, the ever increasing acquisition and consumption of goods and services. We should be looking to Europe though, to find a better balance in our lives. People over there (and of course I’m generalizing) take the time to enjoy what they already have…and it works too! Companies are as good as the workers that back them up so happy workers mean profits. And what’s the best gift you can give an employee? More vacation time! According to Mad Morten, a minimum of three weeks paid vacation is mandatory (yes by law people) for every Norwegian worker, regardless of seniority. I tell ya, I’d certainly be more willing to take on that extra project with this kind of incentive.

But it’s not always just about having enough vacation time. I used to dread planning a holiday because my company wouldn’t spring for a temp in my absence so that even when I was supposed to enjoy my time off, I’d be stressing about the mounting work that awaited me. That is perhaps why according to this year’s Vacation Deprivation survey, nearly one third of British Columbians are not taking all of their vacation time.

Click on for more of the Ipsos-Reid findings and find out how we can keep this condition from spreading (management make note!) Read the rest of this entry »

In a new Dabbler travel mini-series, writer and seasoned globetrotter Valerie McTavish offers Snapshots from her current travels in Cambodia and Vietnam. Her final stop: The largest city in Vietnam. If Beijing is “the City of Bicycles,” then Ho Chi Minh City is “the Capital of Motorbikes.”

Stepping off the sidewalk in Saigon could easily be considered suicidal. I’m standing in the Ben Thanh Market area studying my map to plot a route that requires the least number of street crossings. When I look up, a wall of styrofoam chunks is an inch from my nose – the courier with this impossible balance of junk on his bicycle has decided to use the sidewalk to skirt a jam on the road. Read the rest of this entry »

In a new Dabbler travel mini-series, writer and seasoned globetrotter Valerie McTavish offers Snapshots from her current travels in Cambodia and Vietnam.

The sun has risen in the mist over the lush morning of Vietnam. I am 6 hours on the rails south of Hanoi, clunking past nameless villages. We are still north of the infamous and still bomb-pocked Demilitarized Zone where ironically much of the fighting happened during the American War. While most people on the train are fighting to hang on to a thread of sleep as they jiggle in their bench beds, Vietnam has yawned and stretched. Tableaus of urban life click past me like scenes from a Viewmaster. The slides contain a young man surfing on a wooden plank over a muddy field behind a water buffalo as his father hauls on a rope slung through the beast’s snout; a pony-tailed girl squats in the next plot over hacking at the earth with a hoe; a woman in a conical hat folds in half to inspect the grains hidden in her vibrant green rice paddy; a single tomb sits inexplicably in the centre of a farmer’s field, its only mourner the stick-scarecrow in a plastic poncho. Read the rest of this entry »

In a new Dabbler travel mini-series, writer and seasoned globetrotter Valerie McTavish offers Snapshots from her current travels in Cambodia and Vietnam. Second stop: Halong Bay, possibly Vietnam’s most famous natural attraction.

Limestone towers float past us as we dip our paddles into the waters of Halong Bay. The rise of these rock islands is at once stunning and puzzling. They jut out of the water, pointy and sure and then stop. Some of the islands are lush with green shrubs and grass decorating their face, while others are a finger of stone, bulbous at the bottom and seemingly teetering on a disappearing needle beneath the surface. We negotiate our way around the hundreds of Junks (really replicas of the traditional Chinese Junk boats) that have ferried the tourists to this World Heritage Site in varying degrees of comfort and luxury. There are over 200 boats working their way through these islands and trotting visitors into the few designated sites, like Surprising Cave. The natural beauty of the massive cave is spectacularly destroyed by the coloured lights and long line of tourists who all feel a need to rub the surface of the stalactites and point out all the formations that look phallic. Read the rest of this entry »

In a new Dabbler travel mini-series, writer and seasoned globetrotter Valerie McTavish offers Snapshots from her current travels in Cambodia and Vietnam. First stop: Angkor Wat, the 12th century temple in Angkor depicted on the national flag of Cambodia and made famous by Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider.

The rain came as we began our descent. Big drops on a dusty forest trail, welcome after a day of dry thirty-eight degree heat. We join the herd of tourists heading down in the dusk. All the stereotypes are present. Us; independent travellers (not tourists!) be-decked in MEC clothes, fully prepared with flashlight in hand. We’re focused on a mission as we negotiate our way past shuffling slipper-footed girls huddled under umbrellas and pasty-legged retirees struggling with the physical demand challenged by their girth. We move in stealth silence. The quiet might be confused with sacred reverence on this mound at the heart of Cambodia – home to the world’s largest temple. In truth, our mood is more of disappointment. In the final moments of the sunset, blooming clouds destroyed our hopes of seeing the golden temple. Angkor Wat illuminated at sunset is a trophy shot sought by all visitors. Read the rest of this entry »

Heads up people! One of our readers has just alerted me about a not-to-be-missed WestJet deal!

Dabbler reader Anya writes:
Peeved at the world today, I decided to get away. And as I was searching through a multitude of websites offering “the cheapest flights around,” my WestJet page suddenly read “50% off. Today Only.” The prices literally changed within half a second!

Having just gone through the grueling process of trying to find half decent ticket prices to Russia, I’d just learned the lesson that it’s better to book earlier than later because every day that you wait, the prices increase. Well, there goes that theory! Is there nothing in the travelling world that’s constant?!

Here’s the link to the WestJet deal. You can get in on the deal today for travel on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays until March 19, 2008 but hurry! They say the sale is “for today only!“

Even though Vancouver is only a few hundred years old, there is a heck of a lot of history, much of which is bound to raise a brow or two. To get a better idea, watch the above video featuring Chris Mathieson from the Vancouver Police Centennial Museum as he offers a small sampling of what to expect in one of his fascinating “Sins of the City Walking Tours.”

A unique two-hour must-see for anyone wanting to learn about the edgier side of this great city, the 10-block tour on foot leads you through the oldest parts of Vancouver as Chris regales you with stories about:

* Bootleggers, prohibition, and the often quirky evolution of liquor laws (and their enforcement) in the city
* The development of the early drug trade and the surprising Vancouver origins of Canada’s narcotic laws
* Racial and labour tension boiling over into demonstrations, riots and murder
* The evolution of the sex trade, from brothels to streetwalkers
* The city’s considerable predilection for gambling

Pick a topic: Drugs, sex, alcohol, gambling and there will be something worth discussing. It would also be very worthwhile to discuss the origins of the phrase “skid row” with Chris; our Downtown Eastside is a classic example, especially when you look at its early history.

Previous to working at the Police Museum, Chris worked in Chinatown and gave tours of that area, discussing the history of the early Cantonese immigrant community. Although he sometimes alluded to the brothels, opium dens and gambling houses that used to be there, he didn’t get to cover them in any detail. Once he started his new job, the topic seemed like a perfect fit for the Police Museum. And, of course, it’s just darned sexy stuff!

The Police Museum has always been relatively unknown to those who live in Vancouver, but the tourist guidebooks (like Frommers and Lonely Planet) consistently rate it as one of the best and most interesting museums in the city. Tourists have definitely found this tour appealing (thanks in part to an international surge in so-called “black tourism”), but locals also seem to be keen on learning more about their own city’s naughty past, particularly when we have such a squeaky clean appearance.

Chris says that back then, men greatly outnumbered women in Vancouver, which is why brothels weren’t just about sex. Men went to a brothel to smoke cigars, drink brandy and hear some music. It was about finding the comforts of home and sometimes that included the services of a woman. The city’s first madam was named Birdie Stewart, who opened a brothel at the corner of Water and Abbott streets. But as the neighbourhood grew, the community forced her to move. A cream-coloured building on Alexander Street was a hospital before it became a brothel and then a rooming house, which it remains today.

“Ohhh! That’s why things are that way!” is the most common reaction. Often, people will walk down the street and see things, but not really understand them. Why are there separate “Gentlemen’s” and “Women with Escorts” entrances into the old hotel bars? Why is Vancouver so casual when it comes to marijuana? Why do we have government-run liquor stores? Why are there so many rumours of tunnels under Chinatown?

There really are too many misconceptions to recount. A few include: That Vancouver is a quaint seaside city with a quiet and boring history (the tour proves otherwise!), that the issues of the Downtown Eastside are a recent phenomenon (they’ve been there for 120 years), that there was a large system of tunnels in Chinatown (ummm… no!), that Vancouver is and always has been a multicultural city (we’ve actually been pretty profoundly racist for much of our history)…the list is long.

The Downtown Eastside and Gastown are the oldest (and some of the most beautiful) neighbourhoods in Vancouver. Chris doesn’t go down Hastings Street on his tour, as it can be a bit chaotic; the majority of the tour happens on quiet streets that are perfectly safe during the day. He’s not had an incident and honestly doesn’t expect one (part of this tour is about busting the reputation of the Downtown Eastside; there’s so much more to it than Hastings and Main).

Now in its second year, Sins of the City Walking Tours are led by Chris himself, rain or shine, every Friday and Saturday from 4 – 6 PM throughout the summer. All tours depart from the museum, which is located at 240 E. Cordova St, Vancouver.

The cost is $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. This includes tax, as well as admission to the museum on the day of the tour. There is no age limit set, but this is definitely a tour for adults. A few cool parents have brought their teenagers, but this is definitely racy material.

Reservations are required 24 hours in advance by calling 604.665.3346 or emailing programs@vancouverpolicemuseum.ca. Chris can accommodate up to 30 people per tour, and can do tours at custom times and days for groups of 10 or more at a discounted price, regardless of the season. For more info, visit www.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca

If you have kids, you know that travelling with them is hardly a piece of cake. It’s simply not feasible to pack all of a child’s necessities, yet it’s just not possible to do without. Until now, there have been few options for parents, so to accommodate their needs, Wee Travel rents baby equipment to people visiting Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria.

Launched by Shana Cherry and her Toronto-based sister Lesley, Wee’s mission is to make it easy for parents to travel lighter by providing a full range of hard-to-pack baby equipment and supplies. In other words, they provide everything that parents could possibly need when travelling so that they don’t have to bring it all with them.

The idea was hatched after Lesley and her son visited Shana in Vancouver a couple of years ago. Shana’s son had outgrown his cot, stroller and other kid-size equipment, so Lesley had only to pack some clothes. But when Lesley and son visited a friend in New York, things weren’t so easy. Her hosts had assured her they had everything, but Lesley discovered that meant poorly maintained equipment that had obviously been in storage for some time. She ended up buying a new stroller.

Many people have very old equipment which is inadequate and likely doesn’t meet current safety standards, so in addition to travellers, Wee also caters to local grandparents who have small children visiting. Hotels frequently use this type of service, as do big budget film and production companies, airlines, car rental companies…pretty much anyone who has a baby or toddler coming.

The rentals offer temporary solutions for newborns to children up to eight years of age. These include car seats, cribs, Pack ‘n Plays (fold-up playpens that infants can also sleep in), ExerSaucers, swings, bags of toys, high chairs, change tables, rockers, beach packages, strollers and joggers (double and single), backpacks for hiking and snugglies for newborns out for a stroll with their parents…virtually anything you require for your child when you’re away from home.

Read the rest of this entry »