Our Blogs | The Great Canadian Travel Co.

Romantic Rhine River Cruise

January 26, 2018 | Sandra Jensen

A little bit of stress while travelling is natural, especially when your stopovers are an hour in each airport and then arrive only an hour before the last shuttle departs for the town from which you are to depart on your river cruise. Sometimes you are lucky enough to have important tour people on your flights that are with you the whole way, knowing that you aren’t the only one being delayed. Perhaps next time, I will fly in a day earlier so that I could have been more relaxed and seen some of Zurich before heading to Basel for my river cruise on the Rhine. Read More >

Birds of a Feather Stop Over Together

January 22, 2018 | Archived Blogs

Stopping over in Iceland is a popular way to get a glimpse into what the country has to offer on your way to other destinations such as London or Amsterdam. It allows you to get that one extra stamp in your passport and although it’s not always enough time to explore as much as you want, it still allows you to say, yes! I’ve been to Iceland. But humans aren’t the only ones to use this North Atlantic island as a place to rest their weary feathers.

Even if you’re not a bird brain or a budding ornithologist, Iceland has some spectacular bird life that both live and stop over to eat, rest, and raise their brood. In no particular pecking order, here are some pretty amazing feathered friends you can find while visiting, or stopping over, in Iceland. Read More >

Ireland Speaks to Me Like No Other Place on Earth

January 19, 2018 | Lois Farley

My maternal Grandma, Hannah Muirhead, emigrated to Canada from County Antrim, Ireland (now part of Northern Ireland) back in the late 1800’s. Two of her brothers and a sister had sailed to Canada a few years earlier. Sadly, her sister died of black fever on the crossing and was buried at sea, but her brothers arrived safely and made their way west to homestead at the Derry Corner, near Douglas, Manitoba. They then invited Hannah to come and join them. I can’t imagine leaving my family and everything that was familiar to me and sailing across the Atlantic to an unknown place, all at the age of 19. The courage to do that seems unimaginable. Read More >

Into the Ice and Lava

January 16, 2018 | Shauna Cook

Where else in the world are you able to go into a glacier – other than Iceland! I was lucky enough to visit one of Iceland’s newest attractions recently, and it is so incredibly unique!

We were picked up in Reykjavik from our hotel in a smaller sized mini-bus, and driven a few hours to the base camp at Husafell. On arrival, we switched to another bus that took us a short distance to meet our modified glacier vehicle for the journey onto Langjokull (Long Glacier) – the second largest glacier in Iceland. Read More >

Now That’s How to Go “Postal”, In the Very Best Way!

January 12, 2018 | Lois Farley

Every now and again I read something that makes me say “H’uh? Really? Wow!”, and this story was one of those.

Posted by Yahoo Lifestyle based on a posting to Reddit, it’s about a tourist that drew a map on an envelope in lieu of an address to a remote farm in Iceland, and it actually got delivered! https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tourist-drew-map-postcard-lieu-195106212.html Read More >

A Year in the Life… Almost (Why Travel Agencies Exist)

January 09, 2018 | Archived Blogs

I’ve worked at The Great Canadian Travel Group almost a year now. And although that is not a long time, I have definitely learned a few things that I didn’t know before working here. It’s amazing what kinds of information can be soaked up if you just listen and ask questions. There is a lot of information floating around, even when you don’t think it’s important, it may come in handy one day. Like how to make a proper pot of coffee or that when representatives from various travel companies come calling, they generally bring treats like chocolate or cupcakes. Travel consultants like food. Read More >

Allison’s Top 5 Reasons to Take an Expedition Cruise

January 05, 2018 | Allison Silvaggio

According to the Travel Industry Dictionary, an expedition cruise is defined as a cruise, typically aboard a smaller vessel, with an emphasis on the natural habitat of exotic destinations and responsible tourism. It also implies a cruise with on board experts in the ecology of the destination and a certain level of rigor, such as in Antarctic cruises. Read More >

A Game of Thrones Tour in Ireland

January 02, 2018 | Karen Pearson

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. Read More >

Glaciers and Ice

December 20, 2017 | Allison Silvaggio

Did you know that about 10% of land area on Earth is covered by glacial ice? Antarctica is the world’s largest ice sheet, and is so large that it even covers mountain ranges and a bunch of volcanoes. Yes, volcanoes… underneath the ice. So as the world’s fifth largest continent, and on average, the highest AND coldest out of the seven, Antarctica and its glaciers are a sight to see. Just don’t forget your long underwear! Read More >

West Greenland

December 19, 2017 | Shauna Cook

I was so excited to visit West Greenland. I departed Copenhagen airport, and flew with Air Greenland to Kangerlussaq, Greenland. Kanglerlussaq is a nice little village in the heart of Western Greenland. It has a well-equipped international airport as it was formally a US Airbase. For the larger planes arriving from Denmark, this is the only place in Greenland they are able to land. Once we arrived in Kangerlussuaq, we had about 3 hours to wait until our next flight north to Ilullisat left. There is not much in the way of airport security if you are travelling domestically in Greenland – nothing at all in fact! We went outside and did a little walking tour of the area including some really unique gift shops and the local police station. When it was time to meet our flight, we made our way back into the airport and readied ourselves for our flight north! Read More >

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