Best Trip TV Travel Blog

It’s exactly 3 months until Christmas, and we know Santa and his elves are working full throttle. But not just putting in overtime in the workshop and training the team for their big flight Christmas Eve. Santa's got a new summer gig. Finnish Lapland, with its Arctic landscapes, Northern Lights, ancient winter customs and herds of wild reindeer, is a natural bucket-list destination for Christmas lovers.Santa Claus Village in Finnish Lapland keeps the spirit of the original, Northern European Christmas alive...

France has the Eiffel Tower. The U.S. has the Statue of Liberty. But the visual shorthand for Japan is not man-made. It’s Mount Fuji.The Japanese archipelago is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Chains of volcanic mountain ranges form the spine of the Japanese islands, and mountains have assumed immense cultural and spiritual significance over the millennia.Nearly every population center is associated with one or more mountains, where forests of bamboo, Japanese cypress or maple, and fields of wild flowers like azaleas...

You might be on a cruise in the Caribbean before the holidays. Cruising in the Americas – that’s the cruise region for the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America - could begin again in about a month’s time, if significant industry developments this week bear fruit. Testing the Waters in EuropeAny regular reader of our newsletters will know we’ve been following the slow progress of cruising’s return.In the Spring in response to the pandemic, Europe-based cruise lines repatriated their ships to...

France. Italy. Spain. If you’re imagining traveling again to Europe, you’ll have no problem picturing yourself in any of three independent boutique hotels that have just opened in spectacular historic properties. All three belong to the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group of over 500 independent and unique hotels in 90 countries. They all have special character and offer themes that are even more relevant in the new world of travel: small size, privacy, and locations that allow guests to...

In less than a month, the landscape for Canadian travellers has been transformed.Back in March, the COVID-19 virus was determined to be a ‘known factor’ and so it was no longer covered by regular travel medical insurance policies. Since then, Canadians who have wanted to travel have not had coverage for expenses incurred if they contracted the virus while abroad.All that changed just a couple of weeks ago. With much of the world learning to manage the pandemic, and commonly-accepted safety...

The first announcement was a bombshell. Then, like dominoes, they all fell. United Airlines started the landslide when it revealed it was dropping change fees - forever. Why? Air passengers in the US dropped to below 100,000 a day at the peak of the pandemic travel shutdown – recovering to 10 X that number over the last month, which is still only a drop in the bucket of pre-COVID air travel rates. Something had to give.Change fees – at United,...

Meet the Luxury, All-Inclusive Expedition Cruise Line Launching during COVID You might call it bucking a trend. Atlas Ocean Voyages is debuting, even during the global pandemic that currently has all cruises put on pause.The new cruise line’s first ship is ahead of schedule to launch in July 2021. World Navigator will be the first of 5 new ships for the new cruise line. All 5 ships will be sailing by 2023Adventure meets LuxuryAtlas Ocean Voyages ticks all the boxes for lovers of...

As the world prepares to travel again, there’s a huge trend emerging: going small.  We know what the ingredients of travel are going to be in the immediate post-pandemic future of travel: More space. More privacy. More flexibility. The travel industry is rising to the occasion with an innovative sweep of new, and newly-important touring options that make touring with your own ‘bubble’ – whether it’s your family, extended family, group of friends or couples on their own – suddenly easy. Smaller groups....

The kids are back to school (whatever that looks like this year for your nearest and dearest), but on the calendar, summer isn’t quite over – yet. The Autumn Equinox – the first day of Fall – arrives this year on Tuesday September 22, so we still have a couple more weekends of ‘summer’.You may not have done all the traveling you wanted this summer, but you can catch up now in spirit. Serve up an celebration of summer travel...

From breathtaking beaches, up through rainforests and cloud forests, Costa Rica’s terrain rises from the sea to mountain ranges and, like icing on a scenic cake, a string of volcanoes that are evidence of the country’s location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. There are over 200 identifiable volcanoes in Costa Rica that date back more than 65 million years. Half of those show volcanic activity but only half a dozen are classified as active volcanoes.Costa Rica’s volcanoes are signature...