Transat representatives announced big changes for the brand during an intimate lunch at Vancouver's Seasons in the Park restaurant yesterday, including the retirement of Nolitours as of today.
"It's very positive news,†said Nicole Bursey, commercial director. "This simplification makes it easier for the traveller and travel agency partners to understand our brand. 
It runs through several neighbourhoods between Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River, but can Main Street really be called a neighbourhood of its own? With some of Vancouver's hottest restaurants and a modern shopping scene that still hearkens back to the street's history as Vancouver's Antique Row, many residents think so – and the MLS® system agrees. Search for a home in the Main neighbourhood and you'll find listings along Main, stretching each side to Ontario and Prince Edward, from 16th Avenue to 49th (anything north of 16th comes under Mount Pleasant East on the MLS®).
Here are five great reasons to love this this hip and happening ‘hood…
With new direct Dreamliner flights from Vancouver to Delhi launching on Air Canada October 20, a direct flight from Toronto available now and Canada’s recent addition to India’s e-visa program, it’s never been easier for Canadians to travel to India. In light of the royal visit to the subcontinent by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last month, we sat down with Cris David, president of Insight Vacations Canada, to talk about four luxurious Indian travel experiences fit for a prince.
India’s luxury hotel offerings include over-the-top converted palaces and former royal residences, like the Taj Lake Palace on Lake Pichola in Udairpur, built in 1746 for Maharana Jagat Singh II.
“It’s a building no one would be able to build today,” David said. “It’s a magnificent sculpture in marble in the middle of a lake, built as a pleasure palace. You can hear stories and anecdotes about the shenanigans of the royalty who once lived there.”
The hotel has been featured in several movies, most notably as the home of the title character in Octopussy.
“Arriving is a breathtaking experience,” David said. “You come in on a private jet boat and are showered with rose petals. You’re escorted to the front desk under a sequined umbrella to protect your skin from the sun.”
Ranthambore National Park is the former hunting ground of the Maharajahs of Jaipur. Responsible modern hunters, of course, hunt with cameras rather than guns, but the park remains the best place to search for Bengal tigers in the wild.
After a long, hot day in the royal hunting grounds, it’s only reasonable to rest your head at the Nahargarh Ranthambore, built in the style of a traditional hunting palace in the foothills of the Aravalli Mountain Range near the park.
“There’s no place better to retire to after a photo game safari than the Nahargarh,” David said. “These are incredible spacious guestrooms decorated in traditional Rajput style.”
This classical dance style featuring elaborate makeup and costumes stems from traditional dance and theatre performance styles in the southern region of Kerala. Dramatizing epic stories, performances in the sixteenth century would last all night long – up to eight hours. Modern performances are much shorter so that they can be enjoyed in an evening.
Incorporating highly specialized eye, foot and body movements, Kathakali requires intense training.
“The dancers train for six years before they start to perform,” David said, adding that each dancer spends up to three hours applying the makeup for a single performance.
You may have visions of riding an intricately decorated elephant, channelling princes past. But as tourists and tour operators have started to recognize the exploitation and harm inherent in riding these creatures, the former bucket-list activity has gone out of favour, with most reputable tourism providers halting the practice altogether.
“We’ve removed wildlife rides from all tours,” he said in his launch presentation, to a round of applause. “Riding elephants is exploitative and cruel to the animals and is something we’ve taken out of all our programs, not only in India. We’ll take you to places you can see them, meet them, but not ride them.”
Visit elephants at a refuge, but let your dreams of riding them go.
Originally published at FlightNetwork.com
WestJet landed in Vancouver for its Travel Trade Expo last week (May 12), bringing 70 outside suppliers and 450 travel agents together for an evening of learning and celebration at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
The expo, now in its second year and attracting twice as many agents as the inaugural edition, replaces multiple events showcasing individual destinations so agents can get all the information they need about the airline and the destinations it serves at one action-packed showcase…
Oakridge is already a sought-after neighbourhood, with lots of large detached homes for those who can afford them, as well as great transport links and shopping. And soon, with major new retail and residential development plans on the table, it’s about to get even more desirable as a go-to hot spot. Here are five reasons why buying into Oakridge is a good purchase…
Turismo Chile hosted 100 travel agents last week at a training session and cocktail reception at the Loft at Earls in Vancouver. It was the only Canadian stop for the nine-member delegation with representatives from properties and travel operators from Patagonia to the Atacama Desert…
Visit California touched down in Vancouver this week with a massive media delegation of 21 partners representing destinations from across the state.
"Western Canada is a really important market for us,†Jennifer Sweeney, Visit California's director of public relations, told PAX, noting that the areas share "proximity and affinity†– for example, with a focus on culinary experiences and outdoor activities…
Docking at the canal-side Amita Thai Cooking Class in Bangkok, I’m greeted by founder Tam Piyawadi Jantrupon and her staff: Soy Sauce the rooster and Basil, a Mynah bird known for his masterful impression of a police siren. There are human staff members here, too, of course, all members of Tam’s family.
This is a family operation through and through. The cooking school is part of a compound of six houses that has been in Tam’s family for three generations – including the house where she was born. She grew up here along the canal when the waterway was the primary form of transport and commerce, and vendors would travel from home to home by boat, selling fruits and vegetables.
The canal is still a site of commerce, but the wares on display are tourist trinkets and Buddha image statues. Longtail boats still navigate the waters, too, but again, they’re primarily a tourist activity rather than a vehicle of everyday life.
In Tam’s compound, though, the old ways are preserved. The extensive herb and spice garden, overflowing with lemongrass, “pea” eggplant, turmeric and more, is a throwback to a time when families had to produce as much food as they could on whatever land they had. (The kaffir lime, she notes, doubles as an excellent hair conditioner.) The recipes maintain the cooking techniques Tam learned as a girl from her aunt and grandmother, both teachers at Thailand’s first home sciences school.
That garden now provides ingredients for the cooking school, where groups of up to 10 guests learn traditional recipes in a half-day, hands-on course that sees them cook themselves a multi-course lunch. For my small class of five, it’s coconut rice with papaya salad, satay with spicy peanut sauce, and green chicken curry in coconut milk (tofu for me, the vegetarian), with a hefty serving of fresh fruit for dessert.
Tam uses the ultra-local ingredients she’s just picked, but as she demonstrates the recipes she suggests alternatives that will be easier to find at home. Instead of local pandanus leaves, home cooks can use wheatgrass or watercress to give flavour and colour to coconut rice. Shredded carrot or cucumber works in place of green papaya in a green papaya salad. This knowledge will come in handy later, since Tam provides each guest with recipe cards to take home and posts some of her recipes on her website.
After watching Tam’s demonstration and tasting the dishes, we head to our own cooking stations, where the ingredients are beautifully laid out, pre-chopped and measured. Still, we need some help to ensure we get the curry’s cooking temperature just right and the ingredients for the papaya salad pounded correctly with mortar and pestle (garlic takes a real whopping, but papaya and cherry tomatoes require a gentler touch). Soon, the cooking is finished, and we’re ushered to a table on a shady terrace set with everything we’ve prepared. It all looks and smells fantastic, and we do our best to eat as much of it as we can, but it’s not long before we’re completely stuffed. We manage to eat a few fresh rambutans (lychee-like fruits) and pineapple for dessert, and then it’s time to say goodbye.
If you go: Amita Thai Cooking Class is located on the Sanam Chai Canal in Bangkok. The 3,000 baht (approx. $110 CDN) cost per person includes hotel pick-up and drop off service and travel in a speedboat from Maharaj Pier to Tam’s compound.
Originally published at FlightNetwork.com
"A wealth of beauty. A huge, hectic place of human experience, colours, cultural elements, art, music, food, celebrations and festivals. An assault on the senses.â€
That's how Cris David, president of Insight Vacations Canada, described India to PAX in an interview ahead of the company's 2016-17 Luxury Gold India program launch in Vancouver last week (April 28)…
Founded in 1296, Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand and the capital of Chiang Mai Province. Straddling the Ping River and surrounded by old city walls, Chiang Mai is a beauty of a city that offers a peaceful alternative to the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. One day is hardly enough to soak up all that Chiang Mai has to offer, but here’s an action-packed single day itinerary to get the highlights.
Morning
Watch the sun rise over the river, then get head to one of the local temples. Be sure to wear clothing that covers your shoulders and knees, a respectful way of dressing required to enter these sacred spaces.
Start with the visually stunning Wat Phra Singh temple complex, dating to the 14th century. While the main assembly hall (Viharn Luang) is certainly impressive, don’t miss the smaller Viharn Lai Kham hall, where three walls are covered in 19th-century murals illustrating local stories.
Next, head to a “monk chat” at the nearby Wat Chedi Luang, where young monks sit with visitors to talk about Buddhism or any other subject that allows them to practice their English.
Afternoon
Head to the Baan Kang Wat Artists’ Village, where craftspeople live above their shops in a modern and airy community built in the style of a traditional village. Pop into the lovely shops, or stroll to the back of the village to take a look at the garden spilling over with squash and other vegetables. Before you leave, perk yourself up with a Thai coffee at the Old Chiang Mai Café.
If it’s Saturday, head to the Wua Lai Saturday walking street market for some authentic street food and shop for souvenirs, especially woven clothing and textiles made in the traditional style by local Hill Tribes. Bring Thai baht (the local currency) and be sure to haggle.
Night
Head to the Anantara Chiang Mai in time for the evening candle-lighting ceremony featuring traditional Thai dance on the main lawn. Then, stroll past the pool to dinner at The Service 1921 Restaurant and Bar in the riverside colonial house that used to serve as the British consulate. (Ask to take a peek at the private dining room hidden behind a secret bookshelf upstairs.)
After dinner, walk five minutes down the road to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. If you’re not shopped out, you can browse the many stalls of merchandise – or, if you’ve already purchased all the treasures your suitcase can hold, get your feet back in shape to do it all again tomorrow with a fish pedicure, where tiny garra rufa nibble away at your dead skin.
A fine day, indeed.