Q. Bright colours beckon, travel bliss is high, must bottle a bit of this dream. Aha! A souvenir. Which of your travel souvenirs do you treasure most? Which are shoved into the bottom of a junk drawer, mess cupboard, or deeply embowelled storage box? Which souvenirs do travellers regret getting

Q. Kraken? . A. Thanks to the Seattle Hockey naming czars, the googly-eyed Kraken is getting even more attention. As if this mythical, massive Norwegian sea creature wasn’t already lording its pop-culture prominence over Jörmungandr, Six-Headed Scylla, Lernean Hydra, and all the other mythological sea monsters. We’ve seen Kraken in

Q. Are you ready for a new year? Let’s break out the New Year’s Eve good luck charms to usher in a fantastic 2025. Any  global rituals that seem particularly relevant? . A. Are you looking to travel more this coming year? Colombia has a winning option. Time to get

Q. It’s hard to imagine that some of us used to look forward to airports and regular flights: the anticipation of an adventure, roomy seats, white linen meal service, delicious food 😱. Is it still possible to find some of the romance of the journey in a train – particularly

Q. Have you ever dreamt about living in another city – for awhile, forever? Which city tops your expat list and why? Or perhaps you are landing in another place for work or for school. Which cities are particularly popular amongst resident expats? . A. For the 11th year, InterNations

Q. For those of us who adore Christmas, the season is already well in swing. Where are some particularly beautiful places to travel if you want to steep yourself in Christmas spirit? . A. We can start with Google, who offered up the most-searched destinations on Google Flights for trips

Q. Some days are daydream days. How can we get away – if not in reality, at least in our minds? One particularly stunning destination for a flight-free fantasm? Venice. Nobel Prize-winning poet, Joseph Brodsky (1940- 1996) – after ‘scanning this city’s face for seventeen winters’ – has written about

Q. Speaking of ‘pulling out all of the stops’: when you look into creators of stunning organs, the Quebec-born Casavant Brothers come up a lot. Who were they, and how did they develop such a glittering reputation as organ crafters? . A. Papa Casavant – born 1807 in La Présentation-de-la-Sainte-Vierge

Q. How to capture the soul of a big city in a single stem flower? Plenty of cities haven’t been granted their own flowers – rude. They have to share petals with other urbanites in their states, provinces, territories. What are some cities that have been accorded their own blooms?

Q. Congratulations to Victoria which, once again, has been named top Small non-US City in the World by the 2024 readers of Condé Nast Travel Magazine. Living just a hop, skip and a ferry/seaplane from this capital of British Columbia, we are delighted at the news. ‘The most British city