The TravelRight Dispatch Bobbing along at the raft-up on Pelican Lake, Manitoba. POSTCARD FROM PELICAN LAKE"More beer!" Speedy paddle boarders and pedal boaters bring fresh coolers of icy pops to our flotilla. And loud! Seriously, you can hear this bunch across the whole lake (and it's big). My nieces and nephews try to get together every other summer or so for a weekend reunion. This year's bash was at my niece Sandra and her husband Marc's new forever home on Pelican Lake in southwestern...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The TravelRight Dispatch Canadian athletes backstage at the 2026 Gay Games opening ceremonies in Valencia. POSTCARD FROM VALENCIALast month, I headed to Valencia to cover the 2026 Gay Games, a week-long, city-wide sporting and cultural event held every four years in different cities around the world. It's a chance for LGBTQ+ people (and allies, Ray!) to play sports, win medals, experience different cultures and make new friends. You don't need to be a super athlete, just an enthusiastic one....
2 months ago • 3 min read
The TravelRight Dispatch Cuddles and Confidences characters pepper Old Quebec City. Here we are with Sponji. POSTCARD FROM QUEBECWe skipped town for Quebec City recently with my family for some hearty food, a history lesson or two and some interesting beers. We also hopped in a van for a few days of touring through Charlevoix, taking the gondola up to Montmorency Falls and buying chocolate on îles d'Orléans en route. Both Baie-Saint-Paul and La Malbaie delivered quaintness and comfort, and...
3 months ago • 2 min read
The TravelRight Dispatch Oh yes I did! A little bit of chocolate and a lot of Champagne goes a long way on Finnair. POSTCARD FROM FINLANDWhen Nicola from Jesson + Company asks, "Can you go to Helsinki Monday night?" I clear my calendar. I then hop on the inaugural non-stop Finnair flight from Toronto to Helsinki and get to know the quintessential Finnish lifestyle: sauna culture, the push-pull Swedish-Russian history, hyper-local New Nordic cuisine, and design icons like Marimekko fabric and...
4 months ago • 3 min read
The TravelRight Dispatch Demonstrating how calm the mules are at La Juana Colombia, Manizales, Caldas. (Jairo Ramirez Londoño) POSTCARD FROM COLOMBIAMy third visit to Colombia crystallized why I like going there. It's stunningly beautiful and filled with people doing interesting, entrepreneurial things. Plus, there are delicious dishes to look forward to at every single meal. As a guest of ProColombia in the city/region of Manizales, I spent a spectacular couple of days learning about...
5 months ago • 3 min read
The TravelRight Dispatch Sucking back a margarita at Barracuda Cantina, Playa Cerritos, Baja California Sur. Secret ingredient: orange! (Tim Stewart) POSTCARD FROM LOS CABOSYes, back in Mexico—this time to Los Cabos, a municipality at the bottom of Baja California Sur. BUT we side-stepped the south coast and instead wandered the Pacific coast town of Todos Santos (of "Hotel California" fame) and the beaches of East Cape at Los Barriles. We also explored the Sierra de la Laguna mountain...
6 months ago • 3 min read
The TravelRight Dispatch Watching for bus fires whales aboard SV Willow V in Banderas Bay, Nayarit. (Christy Buchanan) POSTCARD FROM NAYARITLook, Ma! No explosions! Now that the Puerto Vallarta disturbance has subsided, I feel I can safely write about neighbouring Nayarit. Visiting friends who live on their sail boat was the absolute best idea, a week of cockpit cocktails, fresh seafood and market meandering in La Cruz. Marina life is a comforting mix of hard and soft adventure, rounded out...
7 months ago • 3 min read
The TravelRight Dispatch POSTCARD FROM BEAR WEEKI know I make fun of Puerto Vallarta, but there's a time and place for everything, and Beef Dip was on the calendar last week. Bear Week over-delivers stellar pool parties, big beards and tiny trunks, with a killer day-long booze cruise we won't soon forget. Being a ginger bear, Tim is rather a unicorn, all dolled up in various shades of underwear. MAKE EUROPE 2026 A REALITY WITHHOW TO PLAN A VACATION The rooms and bungalows at Cannúa Lodge are...
8 months ago • 2 min read
The TravelRight Dispatch Hard-working journalists make a splash at La Douche, Guadeloupe. POSTCARD FROM GUADELOUPEOn a group media trip to Guadeloupe in November, I covered both geographical “wings” of the butterfly-shaped Caribbean island—the volcanic Basse-Terre and the beach-chic Grande-Terre. We combed the mangroves off the north coast, took a ferry to the Les Saintes archipelago off the south coast, hiked through the rainforests, selfied at waterfalls, chatted with parrots, toured a spa,...
9 months ago • 2 min read