All posts filed under: Features

TravelBloggers.ca

Heading Off On A Trip? Don’t Forget To Do These 8 Things BEFORE You Leave Home

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Whether you’re planning a long or a short trip – planning on hitting the road or taking to the skies we have a travel checklist you should look at before you go… 1. Make it easy for friends and family to reach you. Leave your mobile phone number and an email address with a trusted neighbor, friend or relative. You could also include your vacation destination phone number/email address 2. Make your home look like its being lived in. Use timers to turn on/off lights around your home, leave a radio on, and ask a neighbour to use your garbage bins as well as their own on garbage collection day. Ask a friend or relative (hire someone if you have to) to mow your lawn while you’re away. Nothing says “I’m not home” more than long grass or a driveway that hasn’t been cleared 5 days after a snowfall.

Between Los Angeles & San Francisco Is A Picture-Perfect Piece Of Paradise - The Monterey Peninsula, TravelBloggers.ca

Between Los Angeles & San Francisco Is A Picture-Perfect Piece Of Paradise – Monterey

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Cannery Row, Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey & Carmel-by-the-Sea – California Have you ever gone on a holiday and wondered if you’d really booked the right hotel? What if it’s in a bad area in a dodgy part of town? Sometimes you just have to hold your breath and hope you’ve got it right. We were visiting the Monterey area of California to do some touristy stuff like whale watching, and we booked a hotel in a town called Seaside. Ever heard of it? Us neither. On the map it looked fine, but what does a map tell you about a town other than it has roads and parks.

Pet Restraints - Think About Your Fur-kid's Safety On Your Next Vacation, TravelBloggers.ca

Pet Restraints – Why You Should Think About Your Fur-kid’s Safety On Your Next Vacation

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On The Road Again … With Man’s Best Friend!  We Chime In On Pet Restraints And Safety For You And Them. Remember the old days when you’d see a mother holding her newborn baby on her lap as the family went off on a day trip? Thankfully those days are long gone. While most of us – either by choice or by the threat of a fine – wear our seatbelts at all times. But what about our dogs (or cats)? Most people don’t even think about restraining their dogs when they’re in the car. If you’re a dog-lover I know you take Fido everywhere you go – I take my dog with me every chance I get, to introduce him to new places and keep his mind stimulated. But if you’re going to take your dog along on long or even short trips around town, doing so safely is very important. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that these outings can spell danger for their four-legged friends. Maybe you’ve never even thought about it before …

TravelBloggers.ca

Marvels of Monterey – Whale Watching In California

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The whales were side-by-side almost vertical with their noses pointed high in the sky – we were witnessing something truly special – a double breach (two Humpback whales flying out of the water and crashing back in at the same time) – but not just any two, this was a mother and calf, almost within touching distance of the boat!Our guide told us she had been doing this for 15 years and this was the first time she got pictures of it! Today though, this mother and calf breached so many times for us that she was sure many of us would have a good chance at a great shot. Unfortunately for us, one of the best photo opportunities of them together was so close to the boat that both my wife and I missed it because we had our long zoom lenses on our cameras – doh!

Safari Niagara, TravelBloggers.ca

We Live In Canada, But I Found A Tiger In My Backyard!

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Who would have thought that we could find tigers, elephants and lions in our own backyard here in Niagara? We were shocked when we found out that there was such a good Safari Park just down the road – about 30 minutes away (10 minutes from Niagara Falls, Ontario). To be honest, we’ve never bothered to stop in at wildlife parks or “big cat” parks that you see advertised along the highway because we’d always  imagined them to be hokey, lame imitations of “real” zoos. Based on our experience at Safari Niagara it’s safe to say we’ve been completely wrong about them and we’ll certainly investigate more in the future.

LugLess, travelbloggers.ca

“LugLess” on your next trip when you travel without the baggage!

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In a world where air travel is seeing a tightening of the baggage belt, travellers are considering their options … and if they’re not … they should be. Did you know that in 2012 airlines earned $6 BILLION in fees for everything from switched and cancelled flights to baggage?!? Last week on Shark Tank “LugLess” was on the block for bidding. None of the sharks took the bait, but the company caught our attention and we thought we’d share the concept with you. These days most travellers are incurring baggage costs of some sort. Whether it’s oversized, overweight or not included, we’ve found it’s pretty rare to escape extra fees of some sort unless you’re travelling internationally, have a bag included and pack smart. With airlines cracking down on baggage weights and sizes, travellers are left with few options for getting their gear to their destination. You either put up, shut up and pay the fees, or

Lighthouse, TravelBloggers.ca, Iain Shankland & Gail Shankland

Driving The Infamous California Highway 1 (San Francisco to Monterey)

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While we previously had opportunity to visit California in the Long Beach/Los Angeles area, this time we were going to see an entirely different region of California – the Monterey Peninsula. Flying into Los Angeles would have meant a 6+ hour drive north via the freeway to Monterey. Flying into San Francisco and heading south, required only 2 hours 45 minutes according to Google Maps -that decision was easy; we’d fly into San Francisco and head south.