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Africa - Botswana - Look W-a-a-a-a-y Up - An African Adventure

Our guide, Justice holds up his dark hand and points. "Stop," he whispers, "Look to my right...and up." I look past his pink palm lit by the cool light, past the ant towers, scattered like 3 - 4 metre tall hoodoos across the grassland....

Africa - Malawi - Yellow Fever
The truck is moving. Sharon, our guide, stands, bracing one arm. "Get out your passports and health record book. You need proof of your yellow fever vaccination. We'll be at the Malawi border in an hour."

California - Los Angeles - California Dreaming...
"Repent Sinners!" The man's ebony face drips onto his baby-blue tracksuit as he stands on Pacific Blvd. admonishing mankind. The tanned blonde woman with the tutti-frutti bikini appears oblivious as..

Canada - British Columbia - East Meets West...and Heads out on Horseback
"Should I go for the hike, sit in the hot tub or go horseback riding?" Paula Disney, a guest from Portland, is laughing at her morning dilemma. "Maybe I'll just book the Thai massage and then nap."

Canada - British Columbia - Fish & Philosophy with a Twist
It is not every morning that I start the day with a cigar and coffee but on a recent excursion to Steveston I do just that. There is a bitter winter wind outside but inside Robusto Cigars and Coffee, I am enveloped in the heady warm aromas...

Canada - British Columbia - Galiano Girlfriend Getaway - How Badly Do You Need to Spa?
"The Galiano Island forest fire is raging. Residents are being evacuated. Regular ferry service is suspended. Ferries are reserved for emergency use only," the radio announcer reads his lines as if he's reading a grocery list.

Canada - British Columbia - Hiking Into Health
My idea of a spa getaway generally includes sleeping in and lounging about like a Harlequin heroine. Perhaps I'm passively receiving healing unguents and oils while draped on a chaise lounge. And someone is feeding me bon-bons. Oh, wait…

Canada - British Columbia - Hot Ideas for a Cold Winter
Sinking into the steaming waters, I let out a large, "Ahhh...." and then start to laugh as I realize my husband's deep sigh is in perfect sync with mine. We have just found another muscle-melting BC hot spring.

Canada - British Columbia - The Wild West Coast
Sinking back on the sun-warmed wood of the deck chair, I find myself sighing...again. I am sheltered in a nook of the wall of the Ancient Cedars Spa, wrapped in fleece blankets over my thick cotton robe.

Canada - Made from Concentrate
4,000 actors auditioned for Toronto's Lord of the Ring's $27-million production. 55 made the cut.

Canada - Quebec - Quebec Hills and Killer Croissants
You can sleep when you're dead." I quote my favourite traveling line to my husband Kevin, as he lies semi-conscious on the couch at Vert Le Mont B&B in Quebec's eastern township of Sutton.

Canada - The Royal Canadian Experience
Ed Boyce is talking to me from Missouri, the "Show-Me" state. It's apparent that his recent experience of chartering the Royal Canadian Pacific train has shown him plenty.

Canada - Vancouver - Chowin' Down in Chinatown
Jade Dynasty Crystal Prawn Dumpling is a long name for a two-bite dumpling, but it's somehow befitting such a mouthful of complex flavours.

Canada - Winnipeg - In Riel's Footsteps
The elms, ash and oak whisper in a background chorus, as Marr speaks, "Over 7,000 Mennonites first came ashore to Canada right here. It's referred to as The Landing."

Ecuador - Galapagos - Sharks, Boobies and the Beginning of Time - Galapagos Island Eco-Adventure
Snorkelling 1000 kilometres off Ecuador's coast in their Galapagos Islands is like diving into your television to find yourself in a very Finding-Nemo-inspired watery world.

France - Maps, Menus and Moments - Driving Through France
"Tres, tres, tres, tres bon," said the perfectly manicured woman at the boulangerie counter. I felt like I'd won the lottery. Apparently, I had picked the exact right baguette.

Guatemala - The Road To Hell...and Heaven
Apparently the road to hell isn't as easy as they say. It is hot, very arduous and certainly not paved. Gasping, at the top of mountain, I find it. Hell. I am perched on the edge of a Guatemalan hell.

India - A Harmony of Contrasts
The feral dog has his head down. His yellow body strains as he tugs at the flesh. He stands in the Ganges among pink plastic bags, decaying straw statues of gods and other rotting debris.

India - Birdland
The trilling, chirping, dipping notes swirl around my cozy tent/house - a messy mosaic of sound. I'm sure all 300 species of birds that have been spotted here are in full voice.

India - Bollywood or Bust!
"Excuse me ma'am. Take photo?" the young man points to his camera as a prop to his halting English. He looks up at us while his friends shuffle behind him. Like me, my girlfriends Dee Dee Sjogren and Karen Judd are about 5'10".

India - Illusions and Truths
In spite of my 5'10" frame, it is still difficult to pee into the wall-mounted pink porcelain sink. Freud could be right. This would be much easier with different equipment.

India - Take me to the River
I am a West Coast Canadian. My fashion sense could be described as prepared-for-the-emergency-hike look. I get out there.

India/General - Op-Ed - Trip Prep 101
I travel quite a bit. This, apparently, does nothing to help my ability to actually get ready for a trip or return from one.

Ireland - Smiling Irish lies...
All those superlatives describing Ireland are true. The green is luminous, the rock fences and homes exude quaintness, the gardens seem out of control and people are ridiculously friendly.

Italy - Tuscany - Life is but a Dream...
Ahhh...cycling in Tuscany. It sounds so romantic, so much like a dream. Even saying it now, I can almost believe it, and yes, it was like a dream, only it's the kind where you sit bolt upright and scream.

Malaysia - Malaysia Massage
I am not exactly sure how ripping three eyelashes out of my head is going to make my husband passionate, but at this point, there doesn't seem to be any turning back.

Malaysia - Terengannu Time Travel
It is a little surreal after traveling 35 hours to find out today is actually tomorrow. It gets stranger still to enter Kuala Lumpur's fabulous Shangri-La hotel to hear Diana Krall crooning "Peel me a Grape".

Mexico - Chiapas Chickens
The two women are young, perhaps in their early twenties. They stand barefoot on the cold stone of the town square in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Mexico - The Grandest Canyons - Train Travel that Teaches
The hot desert wind whips through the open-sided viewing car. The Sierra Madre Express train is rocketing full-throttle down the rails as we head towards Mexico's Copper Canyon.

Middle East - Op-Ed - Enlarging the Global Perspective
The guy looks like a 9/11 poster-boy for a terrorist. He leans across the aisle of our Abu Dhabi bus, so he can be heard, "Nice to meet you. I'm just coming in from Cairo from flight-training school. My name is Al Haw Jamal."

New York City - A Bite Out of the Big Apple
Riding in a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park is definitely a tourist cliche. It is not inspired but somehow it's necessary. It'd be like going to Venice and refusing to ride a gondola.

Portugal - Tripping Through Portugal - An Education of the Senses
Like all those deluded people who like to call themselves travelers instead of tourists, my husband and I are pleased to find a roadside restaurant that isn't listed in any guidebooks. We'd been doing our best to follow the River Douro towards Porto.

Syria - The Kindness of Strangers
The women are languid. The steaming marble baths are filled with the scent of lilies lit by the amber glowing candles. I walk past the bathers, past the foggy glass walls, looking, hoping, for the next empty bath. Finally I am led to the last room.

U.S.A. - Florida - Way Down Upon the Suwannee River
Like the Jack Daniels' in my guide's hip flask, the Suwannee River colours my dangling feet in a warm amber wash. Just like the old song, we are way down upon the Suwannee, somewhere in Florida, when we paddle our little boats around another ...

U.S.A. - New York State - Northern New York Freedom Trail
It is when Doris Herwig starts to talk about the Underground Railroad that she reveals her passion. She's explaining the "talking quilts" that folklore says were used as ways to guide fleeing slaves north to their freedom in Canada.

U.S.A.- California - Los Angeles - Stars and Paparazzi in the City of Angels
A woman could get used to having her own chauffeur. Unfortunately, the Beverly Hilton Hotel limits their icy-blue-complimentary Mercedes to a three-mile radius from their grounds.


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