I’M ALWAYS AT A LOSS FOR WORDS WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME WHERE TO GO WHEN THEY VISIT MY HOMETOWN. I have a hard time looking at Toronto as a tourist, so when I try to answer that question, Casa Loma …
Georgian Bay at sunset and through fog on the Chi-Cheemaun ferry
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE TRAVELING ON A SHIP. I’m not talking about canoes or dinghies or skiffs – I mean a ship, with decks and a crew. Stepping on board a ship feels like the beginning of an adventure. Before air …
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Elora Mill Inn & Spa and the Prettiest Town in Ontario
I HAVE WANTED TO STAY IN THIS HOTEL FOR YEARS. Built in 1832, the Elora Mill has been a hotel since the ’70s, but closed nearly a decade ago, and has been a construction site every time I’ve visited Elora. …
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Exercise Maple Guardian 2010: With the Troops in the Mojave Desert
MY WEEK IN THE MOJAVE DESERT WITH THE TROOPS wasn’t, strictly speaking, anybody’s idea of a vacation. There wasn’t much luxury to be found at Fort Irwin, where I spent a few days with one of the last groups of …
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Beach Life: Sun, Sand, Resorts and Spas on Mexico’s Mayan Riviera
I AM NOT A BEACH PERSON. Basking in the sun while waves lap the shore nearby might be heaven for many people, but I’m not one of them. Which made a recent trip to the Mayan Riviera on Mexico’s Yucatan …
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A Pleasant Case of the Blues by Mexico’s Lake Bacalar
THEY SAY THERE ARE SEVEN SHADES OF BLUE in the water of the Laguna Bacalar – that’s why its Spanish name is Laguna de los Siete Colores. My guess is that there are probably more than seven colours, ranging from …
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Lord of the Manor: Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, 2008
DISNEY BROUGHT ME BACK TO BRITAIN FOR THE SECOND TIME. Sometime in the mid-’00s I got on the movie junket circuit, and the most generous sponsor of those junkets – almost inevitably a night or two in a really good …
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24 Hours in NYC: Iconic Photos in an Iconic City
NEW YORK MIGHT BE THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED CITY IN THE WORLD. There probably isn’t an angle of the town that hasn’t been captured on film a thousand times, from the skyline viewed from the water to the canyon-like streets stretching …
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