GAP rebranding earns a G grade

G whiz! I just heard that GAP Adventures has rebranded itself as G Adventures.

How clever! Not!

The change was ordered after a U.S. judge ruled that GAP Adventures' name conflicted with the mighty clothing brand - GAP clothing was the first to register the name so it gets title to it, the judge decided.

So the adventure travel company decided to drop the "A" and "P" and just go with "G".

Gee!

One wonders what other "G" names the company flirted with? G Spot Adventures maybe? Or maybe Golly G Adventures?

As part of the rebranding, G Adventures is offering a contest where the winner gets a free trip anywhere in the world - you have to bring your own tent, of course.

G, I wonder if I'm eligible for that prize?

Maybe "CAP Adventures" or "GO Adventures" would have been a better label to stick on this "new"company but G, what do I know?

I give this name change a G- grade!

My Top 10 autumn color tours

Now that autumn is here - well, almost - people are sending me emails asking if I can recommend some places to see fall foliage in all its billiance.

So, I've compiled this list of my 10 favourite spots that I've seen Mother Nature change into her most colourful coat:

1- New York’s Adirondack Mountains: Just a few hours from New York or Montreal, the colour show put on in this awesome region by Mother Nature is truly one of the most spectacular you’ll ever see. Drives along narrow, winding highways bordered by fast moving streams lead to places like Saranac Lake, Lake George and Lake Placid. In between, a canvas of colour clings to mighty mountains where tress and rock blend together to make one fabulous site.

2- Quebec’s Mont-Tremblant: Just two hours north of Montreal, a blanket of colour spreads across this famous ski region in late September and offers some of the most vibrant shades of natural colour you’ll ever come across. The French Canadian ambience and food just add to the autumn glory in this area of glorious Canada.

3- New Hampshire: This state was always one of my favourites on family fall outings, especially the areas around Franconia Notch and North Conway. The colours in New Hampshire always seemed brighter and the festive mood of the people there in the fall seemed more enthusiastic and genuine.

4- Pennsylvania: We stumbled across northern Pennsylvania’s autumn glory after visiting a cousin in State College, home to the University of Pennsylvania. We were blown away by what we saw. The state has 108 species of native trees and most change colour in the fall.

5- West Virginia: This is a state that gets overlooked by a lot of leaf hunters. However, America’s most forested state offers some of the most brilliant colour changes. Here trees begin turning in late September and the spectacle lasts until late October – the peek season for the colours there.

6- Ontario: The area north of Toronto known as the Muskokas, and the Niagara Falls region, south of the city, are among the favourites for fall colour enthusiasts. The Agawa Canyon train trip is one of the top-rated spectacles anywhere, but the province’s other regions also have much to offer in autumn.
7- Virginia: This state's stunning landscape looks even better in the fall months and drives and hikes along the Skyline Parkway, Blue Ridge Parkway, Appalachian Trail and many other byways and highways will leave you speechless. Some suggest the Shenandoah Valley offers the best autumn moments but I find it difficult to recommend one Virginia region over another.

8- The Carolinas: Believe it or not, both North and South Carolina offer fall foliage seasons. They’re not as vibrant as their northern neighbours but they’re still pretty spectacular. South Carolina’s Upcountry, set amidst the rugged beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills and along the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Highway (SC Hwy. 11) are two areas we highly recommend.
9- Canada’s East Coast: Densely forested provinces like Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are the best places to see the changing colours. In the small town of St. Andrews by the Sea, N.B., just across the border with Maine, they celebrate the fall season with parades and fireworks and many cooking festivals.

10- Maine and Vermont: I left my favorite autumn destinations for last. The states of Maine and Vermont are without a doubt the most beautiful of all 50 when fall descends upon the northeast. In small seaside towns like Maine’s Boothbay Harbor to ski centres like Vermont’s Killington and Stowe, and every town and village in between, fall is celebrated like Christmas.

I'm now a 'Trusted Traveller' folks!

I can see the future of travel folks - thanks to my new NEXUS card.

Yes, I've become a proud member of the NEXUS club, which allows me to avoid the long lineups waiting to see a U.S. Customs agent at Pearson International Airport and go directly to a kiosk, where my eye is quickly scanned and I'm allowed to go to security without having to see an agent.

I'm now what they call a "Trusted Traveller."

No more having to play nice with a custom's officer when I'm in a bad mood early in the morning. No more having to line up like cattle. No more pushing and shoving. No more delays!

I must confess, I'm breaking a promise to my fellow NEXUS friends who asked me not to write this blog for fear others will rush to get their NEXUS cards and lineups will soon start forming in front of the easy to use kiosks.

But hey, I have a responsibility to my faithful readers.

Getting the NEXUS card was easier than I thought. Just applied online, got a invitation for an interview (I took the one offered at the Fort Erie border crossing because to get one at Pearson International would have taken months instead of the few weeks I waited) and a few weeks later I had my card!

You have to go through two same day face-to-face interviews with U.S. and Canadian customs officers (hence the visit to Fort Erie) but that took just over an hour. When I visited Fort Erie, I was struck by the number of autographed photos of sports personalities the Canadian customs officer had displayed at her desk. "The sports guys are all getting the NEXUS card because they don't want to line up, either," she told me.

I can use the card coming into or out of Canada - even when I'm arriving from overseas destinations. The card can also be used if I'm driving into the U.S. - everyone in the car must have a NEXUS card or you'll have to go through the regular line, though - and the Rainbow Bridge crossing at Niagara Falls has been converted into a NEXUS only facility. Talk about being privileged!

Of course, the conditions attached to the card are strict. If you're pulled over randomly for a check by a customs officer and they find you're bringing something back that you've not declared, you'll lose the NEXUS card right on the spot and a black mark will appear beside your name for seven years.

Going to the States looks a lot brighter now, though, thanks to my new NEXUS card.

Flying Dutchman hits the water

Flying Dutchman bus cruise takes you on a tour
of Amsterdam's great canal system.

Henny Groenendijk, our good friend at the Netherlands Board of Tourism - she's the best in the business, folks - sent me a list of things visitors can do while in her remarkable country this Fall.

One of the things that caught my eye was a new amphibious tour being offered passengers at Holland's great Schiphol Airport - the best in Europe.

Passengers with a long layover at Schiphol can now take a canal tour aboard the "Flying Dutchman" - half boat/half bus - and they can board the floating craft at the airport's new "Splash Zone."

The amphibious bus carries 48 passengers, cruises the canals on battery power and is a partnership between the airport, the city of Amsterdam and a local cruise company.

Tours last two hours and 45 minutes and are offered three times a day. Tickets cost about $56 (39 euros) for adults and about $28 (19.50 euros) for children. Booking online offers a 10 per cent discount.

Toronto's Annette Fatael, who had a nine-hour layover at Schiphol while en route to Tel Aviv recently, tried the bus cruise and said it was a great way to kill time. "It’s a huge tour bus and it was hard to believe that it was going to go into the water,” she was quoted as saying.

Paolo's Air Deal Today: Berlin

Berlin Airfare

$313

Return From Toronto

Air Taxes: $528.78

Travel Period:

Oct 20 - Dec 19, 2011

Ticketing until: Oct 15, 2011

Call: 1.866.929.6688

My blog surpasses 10,000 readers!

Paolo, who digs up great air deals for you, thank you for
your support by reading our blog daily!

DATELINE TAIPEI - Thank you readers - there's now more than 10,000 of you reading this blog every day.

We passed the magic 10,000 mark today - 10,112 to be exact - and it's so good to know that so many people tune in to see where in the world I am.

This trip to Taiwan, like all the others I make around the world, has been an incredible journey of discovery and I've been so happy that you've come along for the ride.

Since starting this blog in early spring, I've taken you to Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and I've shared a lot of thoughts and airfare deals with you along the way - plus a few fashion comments about the recent royal wedding that stirred up a lot of emotions and responses in you.

There's many more journeys ahead - I'm off to Turkey in a few weeks - so keep your bags packed and keep tuning in to see where I'm taking you next.

Thanks again!

Taiwan has some unique stories

Master Wu shows off the knife he made out of a bomb.

DATELINE TAIWAN – Taiwan is a unique country with some unique people.

Like the man who makes knives out of old bomb casings on Kinmen Island; and the painter in historic Jioufen who uses asphalt instead of paint to make his art – which has been bought by former U.S. president Bill Clinton and given to the late Pope John Paul II.

First, the knife maker, known as Master Wu, who lives on the southern island of Kinmen, which sits just six kilometres off the coast of mainland China.

During hostilities between the two neighbouring Chinas, over 600,000 propaganda bombs were dropped on the Taiwanese island – the country’s first line of defence – by the communist Chinese to try and persuade Taiwanese soldiers and citizens to come over to their side.

It didn’t work, of course, and after the bombing campaign ended in 1992, Kinmen was littered with old bomb casings, which Master Wu began collecting and started melting them down to make knives.

His cutting-edge business began and now Master Wu has become internationally known for his work and sells his knives to customers all over the world.

Then there ‘s painter His-hsun Chiu, who got the idea of melting asphalt and using it to paint pictures. If you think that’s incredible, he also uses a ladle instead of a brush to create the beautiful images that make him the most unique painter on the planet.

Clinton was so impressed with the painting Chiu did of him playing golf that he bought it – along with a few others. When Chiu presented Pope John Paul II the moving portrait he did of the pontiff deep in pray, the late Pope ordered it hung next to the Michelangelos in the Vatican.

Impressive stuff and I’ll have more on these incredible Taiwanese in the weeks ahead at www.travelife.ca – so stay tuned!

My 'likes" & 'dislikes' about Taiwan

The Taiwanese are a fun-loving lot!

DATELINE TAIPEI – There’s much to like about this incredible country of beautiful coastlines, dramatic black mountains, quaint villages, dynamic cities and gentle, peaceful people.

But there were a few things I didn’t like while travelling around this Asian beauty the past week.

My likes:

- Pineapple cake – yummy!

- Taipei’s subway – the cleanest on the planet!

- The Taiwanese people – the friendliest in Asia!

- Night markets – they’re so much fun!

- Temples – my favorite was Kuan-du temple, circa 1661!

- Clean streets – garbage doesn’t gather here like Hong Kong!

- Wi-Fi – it’s accessible everywhere in Taiwan!

- Soup filled dumplings – Ding Tai Fung restaurant was the best!

My dislikes:

- Stinky to-fu – yuck!

- Traffic chaos – typically Asian (thank goodness they have a great subway).

So, as you can see, my “likes” about travelling in Taiwan far outweigh my “dislikes”.

Taiwan's Kinmen a treasured island

Student soldiers put on a show for the
tourists each day by firing blanks from
the big guns that protected Taiwan
from China's mighty army a few kilometres away.

DATELINE KINMEN ISLAND - Travelling through Taiwan is like peeling an onion - every layer exposes new wonders.

Like this incredible island that once stood as the first defence against China's mighty communist army but today is being transformed into a vacation wonderland where local officials like Kinmen Magistrate Wo-Shih Li is hoping that his tiny piece of paradise will soon be overrun by tourists from China's mainland.

In anticipation of that day, Kinmen has cleaned up its beaches - that means they've rid 80 per cent of their beaches of the land minds placed on them to try and halt a Chinese advance had one ever come.

China and Taiwan have been feuding ever since Chinese came here in the 1940s to escape communist rule. Bombs rained down on Kinmen from China - only a few kilometres away - during that period but now, thanks to diplomatic efforts, the two countries are much friendlier - Taiwan is even the biggest foreign investor in China now.

Now efforts are under way to have a 6 kilometre bridge built between Kinmen and China's Xiamen, a popular resort town that I can see from where I'm standing on the Taiwanese island. Xiamen gets 30 million tourists a year and with a bridge, Magistrate Li anticipates a lot of those tourists will be drawn to his island. Already, Kinmen gets 360,000 Chinese visitors a year - they come by ferry.

Of  course, linking Taiwan to the mainland is always a sensitive issue among the Taiwanese thanks to Chinese insistence that Taiwan still belongs to it.
 

When the day finally does come and the bridge is complete, the Chinese will be thrilled to find an island lush with vegetation, a dramatic coastline and some of the loveliest people in Asia.

They'll also find a local liqueur known as Kaoliang that packs a punch sans hangover; peanut candies that are crunchy and sweet; thousands of bird species which migrate here each year; quaint villages that were built during China's earliest dynasties; and a culture that dates back 6,000 years when Kinmen was first settled.

The Chinese have been denied passage to this island for too long - it's time to bridge the gap because Kinmen is a treasure that more people should see.

Taiwan's temples are a must see

Taipei has hundreds of temples but the
one that goes to the top of my must-see
list is the 17th century Guandu Temple, the
oldest in Northern Taiwan. A golden incense pot
welcomes visitors at the entrance of this
multi-storey temple that clings to the side of a
rock mountain which affords visitors great views of the city.

The temples elaborate ceilings have you craning your neck during a visit.

I've never visited a temple that has so many floors.

The roots of a giant banyan tree tell how old this temple is.

The exterior walls of the temple are beautiful to look at.

The roof ornaments on this temple are some of the best I've ever seen,

Guandu is an active temple where the
ordinary people of Taipei come to worship.

I'm not a big temple guy but Guandu is well worth a visit.

Taipei bakery is over the moon!



DATELINE TAIPEI – On the eve of the Mid Autumn Festival, the staff at Taipei’s Kuo Yuan Ye Bakery are working overtime making moon cakes, the traditional gift of the annual three-day festival.

The workers are used to this rush – being the oldest and biggest bakery in Taiwan, Kuo Yuan Ye is the largest supplier for the little round-shaped cakes made with flour, butter and stuffed with fruit or other yummy items.



A chef shows visitors how
to form the moon cakes and
then shows the results.



Since opening in 1867, the bakery has popped billions of moon cakes into their giant ovens. This year alone Kuo Yuan Ye will make 670,000 boxes to feed its 28 stores spread throughout Taiwan – each box consists of between 10 and 12 cakes, by the way.



The family that owns the bakery is one of Taiwan’s most famous and over the company’s 145-year history, they’ve amassed quite a collection of artifacts, which they now showcase in a tiny museum above their main Taipei store.

The collection features the oldest wooden forms used to shape the cakes as well as a beautiful collection of wedding cake boxes and garments – after moon cakes the company’s biggest business centres around the wedding industry. Up until 2010, the company had sold almost 2.4 million wedding boxes.



Brides from Taiwan and Japan choose from elaborate to humble boxes which are filled with cakes and other pastries and exchanged between the bride and groom during the ceremony or to guests. The beautifully decorated boxes cost between $50 and $150 Cdn. and that includes the delicious goodies. Most brides keep mementos from the wedding in the boxes afterwards.



Visiting groups to the bakery can get a lesson in making moon cakes from one of the shop’s best chefs. Afterwards, visitors get to eat what they make while enjoying a cup of traditional oolong tea – the kind Taiwan is most famous.

Moon cakes are very much part of the Chinese culture and now so too is the Kuo Yuan Ye Bakery Museum.

For more information on the bakery, go to www-e01267@kuos.com.tw





Taiwanese really touch your heart

The subway trains and stations in Taiwan are spotless.

DATELINE TAIWAN – Maybe it was because I was holding a map, or maybe it was the puzzled look on my face, but whatever it was a lot of people wanted to help the stranger who seemed lost.

The scene I just described happened today while I was riding Taipei’s marvelous MRT –half subway, half light rail transit (LRT) system– to the northern river city of Tamsui, about an hour outside Taipei.

Unsure of where I was going, I kept looking at the transit map so I didn’t miss my stops en route to the city where Canadian missionary George Leslie Mackay established a hospital and college back in the late 1800s.

My constant referring to the map prompted several people on the train to approach and ask if I needed help. One woman, a Taiwan native who now lives in Vancouver but is here this week for the Mid Autumn Festival, insisted that she take me to the right platform so I got on the right train.

When the people on the train weren’t asking if I needed help finding my way, they were offering me their seat. That’s the kind of people Taiwanese are. They always greet you with a smile and may be even politer than Canadians. They are certainly the nicest people in Asia, which is saying something since most Asians are always kind to strangers.

It’s the people who really sell you on this country and they are the reason Taiwan touches your heart when you’re here.

(By the way, public transportation in Taiwan is really cheap - my fare to Tamsui from Taipei was less than $3 Cdn. One thiong you also notice about the subway system here is that it's very clean - and the people here are proud to tell you that Taipei's Metro is recognized as the cleanest in the world. Now that is something to be proud of.)

Taipei's famous dumpling restaurant Din Tai Fung well worth the wait

An army of cooks stand in a small kitchen
preparing the soup-filled dumplings all day.

DATELINE TAIWAN – You don’t come to this amazing country and not try the national dish – Xiao Long Bao, Taiwan’s dumpling equivalent to Hong Kong’s Dim Sum.

So, while touring Taipei, it made sense to stop at the most famous dumpling restaurant in the country, the original Din Tai Fung room located a short walk away from the city’s iconic Taipei 101 – until recently the tallest building in the world.

I arrived just before noon and already the lineup stretched outside the restaurant onto the street – a normal scene I’m told.

The line moves quickly, though, and soon I’m sitting at a table on the third floor of the four-storey restaurant, which opened in what’s known as Taipei’s Section 2 in the 1970s.

The baskets of Xiao Long Bao started arriving shortly after and although I’ve enjoyed the dish before in Toronto, it never tasted this good – the wrapping that holds the soup and meat in place melted as soon as it touched my tongue and the hot broth was unlike anything I’ve ever tried before.

The pillows of goodness come in a number of varieties and an army of chefs huddle in a small kitchen off the main entrance making them all day – in excess of 10,000 a day.

The restaurant is the most famous in Taipei, written about by the likes of the New York Times, and many of the patrons are foreigners who just have to try something they’ve read about.

They’re not disappointed. I’ll have more on Din Tai Fung in upcoming issues of TraveLife so stay tuned.

9/11 ghosts still haunt air travelers



DATELINE TAIPEI – It never dawned on me when I made arrangements to visit Taiwan that I would be flying on 9/11.

My friends, however, were quick to remind me.

I got here safely, thanks to Eva Air, but there were many empty seats on a flight out of Toronto that I’m told by airline officials is “pretty” full most nights.

So, on the 10th anniversary of the most horrific of terrorist plots against the United States and the free world, I’m left to assume that the ghosts of those who carried out the cowardly attacks on New York and Washington are still haunting us.

But so much has changed since that dreadful day – air travel will never be the same again.

And that’s a good thing, in my opinion. Pre-9/11 air travel was too lax and that resulted in hijackings and bombings against civilian airlines long before Osama Bin Laden and his thugs were ever heard from. The chances of madmen turning civilian airlines into “missiles” again has been greatly reduced now thanks to the security checks implemented post 9/11 – if they had been in place on that dreadful day; well, we’re only left to speculate.

Air travel has always been the safest form of travel and it’s been made even safer since 9/11 – too bad so many people had to pay the ultimate price to make it happen.

I’m not lost for words thanks to App

DATELINE TAIWAN – I’m so proud of myself – I can now communicate in over 20 languages.

Arabic? No problem.

Chinese? I can communicate in both the “Simplified” and “Traditional” forms.

French, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Russian, Spanish and even tricky Thai – you name it; I can talk to anyone in the world.

Okay, I confess. I didn’t spend the last five years holed up in a Biarritz class. I just downloaded an App on my iPhone called Trippo – and it was free!

Trippo is the coolest thing I’ve ever come across in the App Store. It allows me to ask a question into my iPhone in English like “excuse me sir, can you tell me where the railroad station is located?” and Trippo translates it into one of 24 languages and a voice repeats the same question in the language of choice.

So when I arrived in Taipei this morning, I just had to give it a try.

I stopped an airport worker and asked into my iPhone “can you direct me to the arrivals hall?”, then pressed the “translate to Simplified Chinese (the language spoken in Taiwan)” and held it up to the startled worker who broke into a wide smile as a lovely female voice inside the phone spit out my question in Chinese.

The potential of this App is endless. Who needs to hire a translator or guide in foreign countries? I will no longer be lost for words when I meet new people on my travels.

Isn’t technology wonderful?

Aruba is the jewel of the Caribbean

I took this photo of fun-loving tourists enjoying a
sail ride above one of Aruba's beautiful beaches.

DATELINE ARUBA - I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but I'm not a big fan of the Caribbean.

There are exceptions, of course. Grenada, Barbados and Bermuda (okay geography professors, I know technically Bermuda is not a Caribbean country but it's always lumped in with the other island nations of that region) are places I find fascinating to visit.

Now you can add Aruba to my "favourites" list.

Just returned from that treasured desert island which sits just north of Venezuela and I must say the country and its people captivated me.

Aruba's official slogan is "One Happy Island" and it seems smiles are etched on the natives' faces at birth.

Aruba is unlike any other Caribbean island I've visited. It really is a desert island with lots of cactus sticking up from the country's famous white sand. Aruba is more Arizona than Jamaica. The island sat under water for the first billion years of time and when the waters pushed back it left lots of coral on the land,  which helps filter the country's drinking water and makes it, according to locals, the best tap water in the world. I must say, the tap water was exceptional and it was sans chemicals.

Aruba is small - about 19 miles long and 8 miles wide, but proving once again good things come in small packages, the island has much to offer visitors, including some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world. There's lots of sunken World War II ships just offshore and they have become gathering places for tourists visiting the island.

The island was once part of the Dutch West Indies and the head of state is still the Queen of the Netherlands. Holland also handles Aruba's foreign affairs but everything else is controlled by Aruba's parliament.

The country is rimmed by white beaches and there's only one 18-hole golf course, a beauty designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. 18 years ago. The course at Tierra del Sol straddles the Caribbean Sea and playing it requires the strength of Superman because you are always battling hurricane force winds and that dreadful Bermuda grass that makes playing the course equivalent to teeing off on an SOS pad. But the course is in great shape and the views are superb.

Being so close to South America, there's a real Latin flavour about Aruba and the nightlife here is wonderful - lots of dancing and great rum!

I'll be writing lots of stories in the coming weeks about Aruba, including how Canadians have overtaken its beaches; how one man defies logic and makes wine on this desert island; and how I performed on the Robert Trent Jones course.

So stay tuned!