Posts Tagged ‘Ontario’

Gentlemen (and women), start your motors!

It's Friday the 13th in Port Dover, Ontario (Photo: courtesy Norfolk Tourism)

The quain resort town of Port Dover, Ontario, is located in Norfolk County, on the shores of Lake Erie. Its population hovers around 5,500 - except for any Friday the 13th when thousands of motorcycle riders and enthusiasts converge on the town, no doubt startling the United Empire Loyalists in their graves, the folks who settled the area in 1794.

Cyclists of all stripes and sizes descend in a friendly fashion on the Town of Port Dover, Ontario (Photo: Courtesy Norfolk County Tourism)

As many as 75,000 bikers and fans of motorcycles and their admirers make their way to Port Dover on Friday the 13th from from all over Canada and the United States. "It's a friendly vibe," says one local resident.

If you can't make it for Friday the 13th, Norfolk County is alive with things to do all year long: live theatre, festivals, farmers markets, museums and historic sites, and plenty of summer activities such as boating, waterskiing and swimming. Visit Norfolk County Tourism - www.norfolktourism.ca for more information.

Riding the Rails, Canadian-style

Friends insist that I have an unnatural obsession with trains. I prefer to call it my wallet-friendly transport-of-choice. But it's about more than money. Trains offer the traveller an entirely different worldview.

In my early 20s, I hopped what was then CP Rail at the long-gone Allandale Train Station on the outskirts of Barrie, Ontario and embarked on a three-day train ride all the way to Calgary - sitting up. (What cash-strapped university student could afford a sleeper car?) In my mid-30s, I chucked a good job, sold my TV set and vamoosed to Europe for six months, three of which were spent mostly on trains. (I'll never forget the disgruntled, rifle-toting Czech border guard who barged into my train car insisting that my Canadian passport wasn't my own. But that's another story.)

Exactly one year ago, I took a 26-hour train ride from Varkala, in the south of India, all the way up to Mumbai. I shared a cabin for most of the journey with the Deepak family, a very hospital clan who took turns sharing their respective versions of various family sagas long gone by. It was entertaining. It was heaven.

I don't get the opportunity to hit the rails very often, so I leapt at the chance two weeks ago to take VIA Rail to a travel conference in Ottawa. This time a week ago I booked onto VIA Rail No. 42 heading out of Toronto bound for our nation's capital. I sprung for business class (formerly known as VIA 1), although I felt a bit guilty. Yeah, I'm still stingy with my coin 30 years later. However, we'd just pulled out of Union Station in downtown Toronto and already I knew the extra bucks were worth it.

Via Rail heads out of Union Station, Toronto (Photo: VIA Rail Canada)

5 Things You'll Love About Travelling Canada by VIA Rail:

1. The Scenery: I've travelled by planes, trains, automobiles - not to mention buses and the back seats of friends' cars, but I've got to say that the views from trains are by far the best. Much of this Eastern Ontario route hugs the shores of Lake Ontario for kilometre after picturesque kilometre. You get to kick back, enjoy the ride - not to mention the views of thrashing waves and dramatic skylines. Beats an in-flight B-movie any day.
   
   

   Picture-window views all for the price of a train ticket. (Courtesy: Via Rail)

2. Give it up for Wireless! Maybe this speaks to my lifelong thriftiness, but I don't like paying for wireless. If Starbucks and mom-and-pop shops across Canada can provide free wireless, then certainly trains and hotels can jump on the wagon. Kudos to VIA.
   

   Wireless trains are the only way to go when work calls. (Photo: Courtesy Via Rail)

3. Top-of-the-line Grub Say good-bye to shrink-wrapped sandwiches stuffed with cheese of questionable origins.
   
   

   Please your palate and take the taste test on VIA Rail. (Photo: Courtesy of VIA RAIL)

   I paid a bit extra for my Business Class fare but it was worth it. Vino included. Can it get any better?

4. Front Seat Views of Small Town Canada Taking the train across Canada all those years ago was a bonafide geography lesson. Ditto for my recent jaunt from Toronto to Ottawa, which took me by way of Port Hope, Cobourg, Gananoque, Smith Falls and other Ontario towns I normally wouldn't have passed through.
   
   

   VIA Rail chugs through picturesque Port Hope, Ontario (Courtesy: VIA RAIL)

   I remember my first long-distance train journey across Canada back in 1980. I was mesmerized by the place names of White River, Ontario, Humboldt, Saskatchewan and Hinton Alberta. Next time I hope to get off the train and stay awhile. I hear the annual Fohn Festival in Hinton is a must-attend.

5. Stress-free Travel Experience
   Short train jaunts can be just as thrilling as long-haul train journeys. You don't have to trek across the country to enjoy a great rail experience. You can head from Edmonton to Jasper, Quebec City to Montreal, Toronto to Niagara Falls. (Let's not forget, travelling en masse is eco-friendly as well.)
   

   Stress-free trip to Canada's biggest tourist destinations (Photo: courtesy of VIA Rail)

   A call to train travellers: Win a Canadian Living cookbook by sending us a photo taken on one of your train journeys anywhere in Canada. Send to: DougCanLiving@canadianliving.com.

To the outside world I'm just a guy walking down a Toronto street on a Saturday afternoon listening to his iPod. But in reality, okay, in 'my' reality, I'm in a 4X4 crossing the incredible Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, the world's largest salt flats.

And the guy you see in the morning line-up at Starbucks waiting for his dark-roasted cuppa to kick-start his day? He's not listening to Justin Bieber. (Trust me!) He's thousands of miles away, riding a rickshaw toward a temple in Chennai, India.

Podcasts are the new radio for me. Over the last two years I've become addicted, especially to travel-related podcasts. I get to plug into what I want when I want - and escape to wherever I want.

Over the next while I'm going to share with you - and rave about - my top 5 favourite travel podcasts.

First up: Chris Christensen of The Amateur Traveler.

Chris Christensen, The Amateur Traveler

5 Reasons You Want to Listen to This Travel Podcaster

• Format: Chris Christensen of The Amateur Traveler delivers an engaging and informative interview each week (his video podcasts are twice-monthly) with guests from all over the world. He typically follows a Q&A format with his guests, who range from amateur travellers to travel industry experts. And some weeks, I think he just follows his instincts and gives free rein to that day's guest, asking open-ended questions that enable the interviewee to take over. At the end of each episode he asks a standard set of questions. My favourite: "Describe to me a moment when you know you are the farthest away from home." He opens up entire new worlds by asking that question. Bonus: all podcasts are bursting with great take-away advice and service-tips. Chris crafts his questions in such a way that they bring out the unforgettable travel moments, but also the how-to and best tips and what do avoid.

• Personality: Friendly, informative, inquiring, articulate, thoughtful and honest. He's the first to fess up if he's goofed on a historical or geographical fact. He's soft-spoken yet gets the goods out of his guests. He doesn't come on like a hard-hitting journalist. Rather, he gently draws out descriptive detail and memorable travel experiences, and he asks questions that conjure up specific images in amazing detail - without even being there.  Gary Arndt, the award-winning travel blogger behind Everything Everywhere, frequently introduces Chris Christensen as "the man so nice they named him twice."

• Talks about Canada: Chris has devoted several podcasts to Canada. Listen his segments on Prince Edward Island, Toronto, the Yukon and Kingston, Ontario. This is what the rest of the world is hearing about Canada.

• Talks to Canadians: Not only does Chris occasionally cover Canada, but he also interviews Canadians who've travelled afar. In one episode titled "Traveling Iran by Bike", he interviews Canadians Friedel and Andrew Grant. Friedel guests in another podcast episode devoted to "Bike Travel in Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan)." Another excellent Canadian guest has been Montreal-born lawyer-turned-world-traveller Jodi Ettenberg who's behind the popular web site Legal Nomads. In this episode, Jodi reports on her trip to Chile.

• Great photos: The Amateur Traveller photography gallery is a must-visit for any travel enthusiast. My personal favourite is his Asia Photo Gallery.

More About Chris Christensen

The not-so-amateur traveller Chris Christensen, known to peers as Chris 2X

To know more about Chris, read his profile on the Amateur Traveler web site. You can also catch him on the weekly group panel podcast This Week In Travel.

Stay tuned for my No. 2 favourite travel podcaster. And I'd like to know of any travel-related podcasts you follow. Send me a message at DougCanLiving@canadianliving.com or, better yet, post your response here.

Happy travels!
P.S. Yeah, okay, as you've probably noticed above, our style is to spell traveller with two l's while the American spelling, which Chris uses, calls for just one l. Noted.

I just wanted to post a little follow up to last week's tapwater post. In yesterday's Globe and Mail, I read that certain cities in Canada are contemplating banning the sale of bottled water from some public venues after London, Ontario has voted to eliminate the sale of bottled water at city-run facilities (arenas, community centres, city hall, etc.).

London is one of the first cities in Canada to implement such a forward-thinking restriction. Now, cities like Vancouver, Ottawa and Kitchener are contemplating following London's lead. And, school boards in Toronto, Waterloo and Ottawa have (more...)