Category: Travel
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A Look Back at a Stopover in Colombo
It’s no mean feat: Sri Lanka topped the list of Lonely Planet’s countries to visit in 2019. To appreciate the scope of this achievement, you have to put it in perspective. Countries big and small around the world are vying to catch tourists’ fancy through impressive marketing campaigns, and unique value propositions. In Asia alone,…
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Luxury Brands and Services Are Targeting the HENRYs
As the Uber driver dropped us off, I wondered if we had the address wrong. We were looking for the entrance to a cocktail bar that my daughter had categorized as “secret.” My wife and I were back in San Francisco for the long weekend. The plan was to have a couple of pre-dinner drinks…
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Don’t Walk Left – A Perspective on Homelessness
I could see her from a distance. For that matter, I wasn’t sure that it was a woman until she briefly lifted her head to tuck her straggly hair back behind her ear. She didn’t look a lot older than my daughter. She was bent over the garbage bin by the roadside. Looking for food,…
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Scotland: Beyond Single Malts, Shortbread, and Scarves
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” Robert Louis Stevenson. My Scotland experience started the minute I hopped onto a taxi outside Edinburgh airport. “The Glasshouse Hotel please,” I told the driver as I settled into the backseat of the cab. “Ach aye,” came the reply. As he started…
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Dublin – There isn’t much not to like
My flight from Toronto to Dublin is full. As I settle down into my seat, I notice that my co-passengers are predominantly white and middle-aged. It isn’t a typical transatlantic flight where you find an eclectic mix of travelers. Toronto’s multicultural demography ensures that. It does not take long for me to figure out…
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San Francisco – A City of Parties, Parks, and Protests
The vestiges of the hippie movement are everywhere as I walk down Haight Street in San Francisco. It’s the 41st Haight-Ashbury Street Fair — the annual fair where people come together to remember and celebrate the “Summer of Love.” Pop-up stores peddle psychedelic wear and trinkets to middle-aged tourists who are here to relive the…
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Budapest – A Fascinating Tale of Two Towns
Budapest is a tale of two towns, Buda and Pest. Looking down at Pest from the Buda side is like old money looking down on the nouveau riche. To its residents, Buda is the classier side of the city. After all, the Buda Castle and many of the city’s attractions such as Fisherman’s Bastion and…
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Walking Prague – A Food Tour Worth the Money
Prague is a bit like Toronto. Everyone loves hockey and beer. But, the resemblance sort of ends there. Toronto is newish and modern. Everything in Prague is ancient. For instance, the “Old Town” in Prague dates back to the 9th century, and, the “New Town,” in case you are wondering, was established in the year…
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Havana Beyond Classic Cars, Rum, and Cigars
I will start with a cliché: Time seems to have stood still in Cuba. It is evident on my drive from Havana’s José Martí Airport to Hotel Nacional De Cuba. The typical buildings that you find near an airport — offices of companies that support the airport, hotels that cater to transit passengers — are absent.…
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When travel and fitness don’t go together
For someone who travels a fair bit, I have never hit the gym at a hotel. Occasionally, I do check out the hotel swimming pool, mostly to grab a beer by the poolside. I am not proud of it. But, the reality is that I have always struggled with balancing travel and fitness routines. Hence…