Who is Karen:
Karen often refers to herself as the Accidental Travel Agent. While in University studying education she was at a crossroads in her life, questioning what she really wanted to pursue. It reminded her of how some clients look to us to suggest what kind of trip they should plan or where they should go. So she has always been able to relate. She decided that pursuing Travel and Tourism was the route for her and, as they say, the rest is history. She has worked in the travel industry now for almost 20 years, and has been at Great Canadian Travel since 2014, when she merged her own travel agency into ours. Karen’s favourite part of her job is experiencing trips through the excitement of her clients. Being a part of their experience and their holiday is so rewarding.
Top 5 Travel Experiences:
- Six weeks exploring Bolivia and Peru
- Soaking in the French-inspired atmosphere in Quebec City
- Seeing the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
- The stunning scenery around Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper in the Canadian Rockies
- Escaping the Winnipeg winter to scuba dive in Cuba
What is Karen’s closing comment:
Our team here at Great Canadian Travel has been to so many places and has experienced so many adventures and challenges, you will truly be in good hands with us. Not every trip is about the adventure of a lifetime, sometimes you just want to get away and need someone to help you book your hotel and airfare. We take the time to give you the personal, hands-on service you need to make it easy for you. After all, isn’t that what a trip should be about? I look forward to talking to you!
My partner Chris had told me so much about Salar de Uyuni. The photos from his previous trips were stunning. I was so excited to see the salt flats that I didn’t even mind waking up around 4:00am. The drive from our accommodations to Incahuasi Island took about an hour. In the dark, the salt seemed so much like snow on a gravel road that I felt like I could have still been on the prairies. That feeling was reinforced when the sun came up and everything I could see for miles was white and flat. It was like being on Lake Winnipeg in January, and I felt completely at home. Even some areas where the salt was shallow looked like when the lake starts to melt in the spring and there is a layer of water and slushy snow on top of the ice. The only indication that it was not snow was in one area where the water was bubbling up like a geyser, and around it the salt looked like sand. 
My Spanish teacher Renato, who is originally from Peru, has been telling me for four years how great the food is in his home country. After my recent trip, I can confirm that’s true.
For me, travelling is not just about seeing things. It’s about new experiences, trying different food, and interacting with the locals. On my recent trip to Peru with G Adventures, I opted to take Best Bite’s culinary tour, which accomplished all three of those things. 
Having just returned from nearly six weeks in South America, I have a renewed appreciation for Our Home and Native Land. Here are some of the many things we take for granted that I missed while I was away: 
Driving through Salar de Uyuni in the dark, I felt like I was at home on the prairies, driving down a gravel road in the middle of January. The salt looked exactly like snow in the glow of the headlights.
One of the many activities offered by Tambopata Eco Lodge is a visit to the nearby farm that supplies most of the produce served to guests and staff.
On Thursday of 
Imagine you are sitting in something that looks somewhat like the seat and roll cage from a race car, without the race car around it. Imagine you are hanging from a cable 15 feet above the ground. Imagine you begin to pedal, which propels you slowly through the trees, the ground falling away until you are 60 feet or more above the ground. Imagine that it is peaceful, the only sounds made by the breeze rustling the trees, some birds chirping, and the occasional squirrel squeaking. Imagine that all you can see are the treetops surrounding you and perhaps the next rider, depending on your location along the one-kilometre trail. Imagine that the only sensation is the gentle swaying of your pod and the occasional bump as it runs over a connection in the cable.
During my recent trip to Ireland, our first activity was the Winterfell Game of Thrones Experience at Ward Castle and Demesne. I confess that I had my doubts about this situation. I have never watched even two minutes of Game of Thrones, and thought that part might be boring, although I was looking forward to the archery. The entire three hours from the airport to Strangford (including stops), I kept wondering, ‘Who came up with this terrible idea?!’ I thought that arming 20 sleep-deprived and jet-lagged people with bows and arrows was an utterly bad plan. However, I was completely wrong. It was a great ice-breaker for our group, who hadn’t met before we landed in Dublin. It was also a lot of fun. Our guide William was thoroughly entertaining and informative. He explained how it came about that Game of Thrones used Ward Castle and Demesne for shooting parts of the show, and took us around the grounds to point out areas that were used in the filming. He knows many details about the show and was able to tell us exactly which scenes were filmed there. 
In October, I was part of a group of travel agents who went on tour jointly sponsored by Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland. We were so fortunate, as this was the first familiarization trip that combined both countries. It was a whirlwind trip, quite literally, and so much fun. I was lucky enough to travel with a fabulous group of people from all across Canada, from Vancouver to St. John’s. In no time, it was like we’d always known each other.
It seems that there’s always a health “curve ball” being thrown at travellers and the latest is the Zika Virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) is predicting that up to four million people could become infected by the end of 2016, especially with the Olympics coming up in August in Rio, an area already heavily infected.
