Who is Martha:
Martha is one of Great Canadian Travel’s senior travel consultants and has been in the travel industry for 30 years, having owned and operated her own agency for 20 of those years. She has a list of clientele that date back to her first year in the industry. Martha speaks fluent Ukrainian. Martha can book it all, from cruises, to tours, to hotels, to airfare and she works closely with Arnie, our Africa Specialist and handles many of Great Canadian’s bookings to Africa.
Top Travel Experiences
- Martha has done her fair share of travelling over the years. The office is happy to be home to the tall, wooden giraffes she carefully brought back from a safari. But, these days, she is happy to stay home and send her clients anywhere they need to go.
What is Martha’s closing comment:
Keep calm and let Martha handle it for you!
This blog from Martha Banias, one of our senior consultants, was first published in March 2016 but, in these days of upheaval in the travel industry, it holds true more than ever! So, we feel it’s definitely worth republishing and serves as her Best Days Ever! blog, because among her best days are days she spends working with her clients.
Are ‘real live’ travel consultants, who you can actually talk to on the phone and who know you by name, becoming obsolete in today’s modern world of online booking engines? This is the question that many are asking, and I’d like to answer it with a resounding ‘No’! Travel consultants are, if anything, even more essential now than they have ever been, and I’d recommend anyone to work with one when considering your next vacation. Read More >
There’s solo travel advice and then there’s solo travel advice for women — in very many circumstances, these two lists intersect quite often. Everyone should upload their travel plans, ticket numbers, passport pictures etc, to a Dropbox, Google Drive or other cloud-based service. Everyone should keep some cash socked away in a secret spot in their bag. It’s a good idea in hotels to leave the “do not disturb” sign out or your television on so people think the room is occupied and you avoid thieves sneaking in while you are out.
Then, there’s advice specific to women — and specific ways female solo travellers can stay safe while travelling alone. Here are few of our favourites and a few tried and true ways that keep us ladies safe on the road. Read More >
If you are a dual Canadian citizen used to travelling to or transiting through Canada by air with a non-Canadian passport, you will no longer be able to do so as of November 10, 2016. You will need a valid Canadian passport to board your flight coming back to Canada.
If your country of origin needs you to enter and exit that country using a passport issued by its government, you will still need a valid Canadian passport to board your flight to Canada. Make sure to carry both passports when you travel.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/dual-canadian-citizens.asp#background
We’ve all heard of expedition cruises, that kind of hybrid vacation that sounds somewhat exotic and somewhat rugged and wild. But do you need to be a dedicated adventurer to enjoy an expedition cruise? Or do you have to be a seasoned cruiser? The answer is neither! Expedition cruises are a wonderful type of travel all to themselves, and in my mind they are a bit underestimated. So here I’d like to tell you a bit more about what an expedition cruise really is, and why it could be your new favorite way to travel… Read More >
