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Active Travel
Get Ready to Partner Up with Other Girls
09/08/10 18:00
For more information, go to www.dirtydancingfestival.com.
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When Camping Bites ...
26/07/10 10:54
Available in packs of 5 to 20 ($4.99 US to $15.99 US) at www.dontbitemepatch.com.
From my travel gear column in
Ab-zorbing a New Sport
29/06/10 14:33
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/kind+adventure/3204368/story.html#ixzz0sGiJu68t
Veg Out - With Exercise!
18/04/10 10:55
Vegetarians on group trips are often sentenced to nibbling on uninspiring side salads while other travellers feast on gourmet meals. Realizing that they must be hungering for more, travel consultant Diane Garvin has created Active Veggie Tours, a new organization offering fully escorted first-class trips with a focus on proper vegetarian cuisine and exercise.
“I hate it when I go on vacation and come back five to ten pounds heavier,” says Garvin, who is based in Belleville. “I have a fear of cruises because of that!”
The inaugural Active Veggie trip is to Southern Spain and Portugal in September. This will be followed by voyages to India, Australia/New Zealand, Southern France, South Africa, Egypt and Peru. Garvin says that some of the trips will have a culinary theme, complete with vegetarian cooking classes.
While most of the day is spent on a luxury motor coach, each trip incorporates several sessions of at least two hours of moderate exercise. Depending on the location, possibilities include hiking, yoga or swimming.
The Southern Spain and Portugal trip takes place from September 15 to 23 and costs from $1849 (not including air). For more information, visit www.activeveggietours.ca or call (613) 779-5794.
The inaugural Active Veggie trip is to Southern Spain and Portugal in September. This will be followed by voyages to India, Australia/New Zealand, Southern France, South Africa, Egypt and Peru. Garvin says that some of the trips will have a culinary theme, complete with vegetarian cooking classes.
While most of the day is spent on a luxury motor coach, each trip incorporates several sessions of at least two hours of moderate exercise. Depending on the location, possibilities include hiking, yoga or swimming.
The Southern Spain and Portugal trip takes place from September 15 to 23 and costs from $1849 (not including air). For more information, visit www.activeveggietours.ca or call (613) 779-5794.
BYOS (Bring Your Own Sweat)
14/04/10 11:17
$38.00 at Lululemon
From my travel gear column in
rebstevenson.com Giveaway!
29/03/10 14:33
All you have to do is watch my Sleeping Around videos (playlist HERE) and tell me which of these places you’d most like to stay overnight and why (use the comments field below). I will enter all of the comments into a draw on April 2 and randomly select the winner.
This book really is inspiring - I recently reviewed it for The Vancouver Sun. See details below!
Cheers, Reb Read More...
Stepping into Magic
25/03/10 01:07
Harry Potter's was a brick wall. Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter's was a wardrobe. Alice's was a rabbit hole.I, too, know of a magic portal in England.
It is called the Lewes Train Station. Some might argue that it's nothing special -- a place where London commuters wish away their hangovers and teens in school uniforms munch Walkers Crisps after school.
But I assure you that the instant I stepped out of Lewes Train Station, the ordinary world vanished. In its stead stood an enchanted landscape.
To my left was a small Norman castle jutting out of a cluster of heritage buildings. Before me, steep Station Street with its wee sidewalk nestling against two pubs. And to my right -- the most seductive part of all -- a dramatic chalk cliff capped with a toupee of verdant grass.
Just like that, I was under the spell of the South Downs. Read More...
The Ten Commandments of Biking
19/03/10 14:04
Butterfield and Robinson knows cycling trips. The Toronto-based tour company was conceived on a bike path in Europe back in 1966.
Since then, B&R has created dozens of high-quality vacations that teach travellers how to find a different kind of balance on two wheels – namely, the art of slowing down to experience the world at a peaceful pace.
In addition to their classic trips (which include programs for beginners, adventures with kids and grand journeys), this year B&R launched two self-guided bike tours.
The Citizen asked CEO Erik Blachford for his tips on pedaling perfection.
- Do it in Europe – the roads are smaller and the drivers are respectful. For people who like great food and wine, I recommend Burgundy. People who want harder biking might try Tuscany.
- Say no to spandex – Nobody looks good in lycra. Wear mountain bike shorts that have a pad. They look better and they have pockets.
So...We Thought We Could Dance
20/12/09 13:38
Last year around this time, my dad Jack started exhibiting some bizarre behaviour. Whenever he had a spare second, he would obsessively watch instructional dancing DVD’s as though they were a combination of cocaine and porn. Sometimes, when I got up in the morning, there he was, dancing on the spot in the living room. He might have been there all night. I’m not sure.
Now, my dad has had many obsessions over the years - guitar, baseball, apple orcharding, chemistry, Mac computers, cashews...- but this once seems to be enduring. Flash forward one year and he is still taking multiple dance lessons every week.
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One Ultimate Experience Book
07/10/09 08:17
In keeping with the 1000 Places to See Before you Die, 100 Things to do Before you Die and 30 Angry Phrases to Scream Before you Die trend in publishing (ok, made that last one up), Lonely Planet is releasing 1000 Ultimate Experiences this month. Thankfully no death theme this time - that was getting a little depressing. 
Here are the ultimate Canadian experiences included in the book:
Best Road Trips -- Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island
Classic Train Trips -- Rocky Mountaineer
Most Extreme Environment -- Banff National Park
Best Adventure Travel Ideas -- Cycling the Icefields Parkway
Top 10 Boys (and girls) - own Adventures -- Cattle drive, Alberta
Best Party Cities -- Montreal, Canada
The World's Best Human Races -- Grouse Grind Mountain Run
Most Lip-Smacking Street Food -- Poutine
The Best skiing in North America -Blackcomb/Whistler, British Columbia, Canada,
Whitewater, Nelson, British Columbia and Banff, Alberta
Sea kayaking -- Johnstone Straits, Canada
Here are the ultimate Canadian experiences included in the book:
Best Road Trips -- Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island
Classic Train Trips -- Rocky Mountaineer
Most Extreme Environment -- Banff National Park
Best Adventure Travel Ideas -- Cycling the Icefields Parkway
Top 10 Boys (and girls) - own Adventures -- Cattle drive, Alberta
Best Party Cities -- Montreal, Canada
The World's Best Human Races -- Grouse Grind Mountain Run
Most Lip-Smacking Street Food -- Poutine
The Best skiing in North America -Blackcomb/Whistler, British Columbia, Canada,
Whitewater, Nelson, British Columbia and Banff, Alberta
Sea kayaking -- Johnstone Straits, Canada
Into the Deep, Dark Woods
28/09/09 15:27
This being the Fairy Tale Route, I have been thinking a lot about The Brothers Grimm and why their stories were so captivating. For me, it wasn’t the nubile Princesses or those evah-so-clevah talking animals. Nah, it was the scary bits. Namely:
1. Getting eaten up (you can’t just say “eaten,” you must say “eaten UP” in a fairy tale).
2. Having a terrible spell cast upon you.
3. Ingesting poison.
4. Administering poison.
5. Listening to the ’80s hair band Poison (well...I think that’s frightening).
6. Being given the old heave-ho from your loving dad, who has shacked up with a warty new wife.
7. Good news: you’re getting a new bedroom. Bad news: it’s a child-sized oven.
Hamelin’s old town is delightfully picturesque, but today I went off in search of something a little moodier than rat toys and McDonalds’ in Tudor houses. The air was thick with moisture, lending a nice gloomy touch to the area (yes!). I was headed up the mountain that overlooks Hamelin - possibly the very mountain over which the Pied Piper led the children, never to be seen again (double yes!). As soon as I started up the steep footpath, I felt so very alone. And vulnerable. And - what the HELL was that leaf noise!?!!!! - jumpy.
2. Having a terrible spell cast upon you.
3. Ingesting poison.
4. Administering poison.
5. Listening to the ’80s hair band Poison (well...I think that’s frightening).
6. Being given the old heave-ho from your loving dad, who has shacked up with a warty new wife.
Hamelin’s old town is delightfully picturesque, but today I went off in search of something a little moodier than rat toys and McDonalds’ in Tudor houses. The air was thick with moisture, lending a nice gloomy touch to the area (yes!). I was headed up the mountain that overlooks Hamelin - possibly the very mountain over which the Pied Piper led the children, never to be seen again (double yes!). As soon as I started up the steep footpath, I felt so very alone. And vulnerable. And - what the HELL was that leaf noise!?!!!! - jumpy.
CRUNCH! CRACK! CREAK!
The forest has its own voice, you see. It tells you this: there is most certainly a hungry wolf lurking around the next tree. Or, if not a wolf, it’s a big fat Wildschwein that smells pork sausage on your breath and wants to avenge his cousins. No - it’s a cursed woodsman who hasn’t seen a woman for a hundred years, and boy oh boy is he ever “amorous.”
(Let us keep this blog PG rated).
Moreover, the forest reveals this secret: out of fear, humans walking alone through the woods develop wild imaginations - so wild, they start inventing stories that aren’t true. You might even call them fairy tales.
Summer Camp...in Downtown Toronto
12/07/09 14:15
By Reb Stevenson
Move over Algonquin Park, there's a new destination for happy campers in Ontario: downtown Toronto!
(Cue chorus of laughter from tents everywhere.)
Adopting a carved wooden bear as its mascot, the hotel aims to summon your best memories of summer camp -- in a less supervised setting, of course.
"It's an adult return to that free-wheeling, nostalgic feeling of long summer days," says manager Ana Yuristy.
Read More...
Reinventing Yourself Through Travel
17/04/09 09:19
You can’t afford the trip.
Giraffes scare the bejeezus out of you.
Adventure travel is for young men with six-pack abs.
Go on…make all the excuses you want. But Carol Patterson won’t buy them.
The Calgary-based author of a new book called Reinventure: How Travel Adventure Can Change Your Life, Patterson urges you to tackle risks head-on.
Why? Not so you can flaunt a stamp-riddled passport or show off a new Turkish carpet at your next neighbourhood gathering.
For Patterson, the true reward of travel is something intangible: personal growth. Read More...
Glo-Kayaking
17/01/09 12:35
By Reb Stevenson
FAJARDO, PUERTO RICO–Kayaking in the pitch black seems counterintuitive – idiotic, even.
Apart from the weak green strobe effect coming from the safety lights on our lifejackets, we are as blind as the bats that occasionally dart overhead.
And we keep crashing into the mangroves.
A group of 20, we glide in single file down the narrow canal.
READ MORE HERE
The Brompton: Origami meets Bicycle
20/10/08 15:49
Old Hall Short
29/09/08 18:17
Born a Ramblin' Gal
21/09/08 20:32