You’ve got holidays coming up in the third week of August or, for that matter, the fourth week of March, and you’re looking for something uniquely Canadian to do.
You could troll websites, travel planners and brochures searching for that perfect adventure – or take the easy route and pick up Frommer’s newest guidebook, Far & Wide: A Weekly Guide to Canada’s Best Travel Experiences.
This unique and glossy full-colour offering is an ideas book and as such it offers a week-by-week, month-by-month guide to the best Canada has to offer, such as tasting the Salt Plains at Wood Buffalo National Park, immersing yourself in the Lore of Anne of Green Gables or placing your bets at the World Miniature Horse Chuckwagon Championship.
Nine of Frommer’s guidebook authors, including Banff-based writer and owner of Summerthought Publishing Andrew Hempstead, offered numerous suggestions as to what they thought are the best bets for their particular region.
Gene Shannon, Frommer’s regional editor in Canada, said the challenge wasn’t in finding inspiration, but deciding which to run and which to cut.
“It was challenging,” Shannon said recently, “but I think the main challenge was editing it down. There was a lot more we didn’t include and we had to decide what was most interesting and find out what time each thing was at its peak.”
All told, the 326-page full-colour book is packed with suggestions for four-season travelling in Canada. It offers not just where to go, but the best time to go as well, making it an intriguing snapshot of how unique Canada is, and the remarkable opportunities available to us in our own backyard, be it snorkelling with beluga whales or going deep underground in Rat’s Nest Cave on Grotto Mountain.
“The thing that strikes me the most are the breadth of things there are to do. I was talking with some others about how many of us have the urge to go and explore the world and see other places, which is natural. I think that is a great thing, but what a lot of people discover is that so much of what we find elsewhere we can find here. And this book is a great example. It proves a lot of that,” Shannon said.
Along with remarkable opportunities found in Canada’s outdoors, Far & Wide also features festivals, events, culture and history, Frommer’s top picks, where to go to rejuvenate and Canada’s quirkiest places and events.
Far & Wide also says a great deal about Canadian culture, reminding us of the numerous cultural groups that have added their piece to Canada’s puzzle.
“That is something a lot of people discover along the way; you go somewhere for the place, but you really enjoy it because of the people and that is usually what brings you back,” Shannon said. “That is one of the reasons people should make an effort to travel across Canada. There is lots to see, but there are lots of great people to meet and share with, and they also can teach you.”
Part of those lessons include breaking out of our usual travel patterns, which for many Albertans has always been head west, bound for B.C.
Instead, Far & Wide makes a compelling case to go north or east or to even stay a little closer to home.
“It is really a book that I hope can both teach people about what is available in Canada and break them out of their regular patterns, to find something new that might surprise them and hopefully inspire them to see another part of the country.”
For more in-depth information, Far & Wide also includes websites for each listing.
Far & Wide: A Weekly Guide to Canada’s Best Travel Experiences retails for $34.95.
