For Travelweek: Condor aims to increase Canadian capacity with help from travel advisors

Condor Airlines may be best known as the number-one leisure airline in Germany, but the brand has its sights firmly set on the Canadian market.

“We’ve been adding a little bit of capacity to Canada every year,” said Mikko Turtiainen, Director of Sales, The Americas. Travelweek spoke to Turtiainen in Vancouver, where he was meeting with media and the social team at YVR to increase local awareness of the brand…

Read the rest at Travelweek

For Explore: Ontario Adventurers, We Found Your Next Epic Trip (Sponsored Content)

It’s the quintessential Canadian experience: packing up the car and heading out into the wild. But expectations can clash with reality when popular outdoor destinations are crowded, especially when other hikers and campers are noisy and there’s a lineup for the best views.

Just a few hours’ drive from Toronto or Ottawa, Abitibi-Témiscamingue is a completely different kind of getaway. With more than 65,000 square kilometres of territory and 22,000 lakes, there’s plenty of room to breathe in untouched landscapes where you can really connect with nature and disconnect from everything else…

Read the rest on the Explore website

For Explore: Don’t Miss the Ottawa Valley’s Wildest Outdoor Summer Festival this August: Water and Dirt (Sponsored Content)

Summer is here, and that means it’s time to play outside! The aptly named Water and Dirt Festival in the Ottawa Valley celebrates this spirit of outdoor adventure over two packed weeks in August, pairing adventures on the region’s many lakes, rivers and trails with great food, live music and community spirit—with a healthy dose of competition thrown into the mix…

Read the rest on the Explore website.

For Travelweek: Tourism beyond the beach: Interview with Michelle Fridman, Secretary of Tourism of Jalisco

Puerto Vallarta is a perennial favourite destination for Canadians, but new air routes and an increased focus on authentic cultural experiences are changing travel patterns within Mexico’s Jalisco State.

“The Canadian market has been extremely important for Jalisco for a long time,” said Michelle Fridman, Secretary of Tourism of Jalisco. “We receive so many Canadians to Puerto Vallarta, but we are seeing more and more Canadians exploring the rest of the state.”

Travelweek connected with Fridman in Vancouver, where she was meeting with tour operators, airlines and other trade partners…

Read the rest at Travelweek.

For Explore: I Experienced The New Overhang at Malahat SkyWalk on Vancouver Island, and Here’s What It’s Really Like

I kept hearing the same question in the days leading up to the grand opening of The Overhang at Malahat SkyWalk: “Are you going to do it?”

I seem to lack whatever self-preservation instinct triggers a fear of heights, so for me, there was no question—I would absolutely be one of the first visitors to step out into the first-of-its-kind glass viewing cube at the very top of the SkyWalk’s Spiral Tower. It’s not every day that you get the chance to stand 250 metres above sea level with only six centimetres of glass between your feet and the water and forest views below…

Read the rest on the Explore website.

 

For Explore: Your Best BC Summer Adventure Starts at Kootenay Lake (Sponsored content)

More than 100 kilometres long and up to 150 metres deep, Kootenay Lake is the largest natural lake in southern British Columbia. Lined by six welcoming communities and surrounded by two towering mountain ranges, this massive glacier-carved watershed is the perfect place to embrace lake life this summer—no matter what that looks like for you…

Read the rest on the Explore website.

For Travelweek: Ship tour: Seabourn Encore’s milestone moment with first call in Vancouver, ahead of AK season

It was a milestone moment in Vancouver last week as the Seabourn Encore made its maiden call during a seven-day sailing to Juneau, marking the start of the cruise line’s 2026 Alaska season.

The nine-year-old ship will sail weekly between the two destinations until September, when it will cross the Pacific and spend seven months in Asia before returning to Vancouver next spring.

At just 690 feet in length and 92 feet in width, the 600-guest luxury ship can reach remote areas and travel narrow waterways throughout its West Coast sailings…

Read the rest at Travelweek

For The Seattle Times: Safe spaces, stronger futures – Empowering the next generation of leaders (Branded content)

In an increasingly unstable world, Seattle’s youth are a key resource for creative problem-solving, visionary leadership, and community building. However, young people’s ideas are often minimized or dismissed.

Youth with marginalized identities, in particular, face social pressure to self-protect by making their voices smaller. In identity-safe spaces, young people can shed those layers of self-protection, enabling them to take inspired risks and grow into empowered civic leaders and community advocates who will shape the city’s identity in years to come…

Written for The Seattle Times Content Studio. Read the rest on The Seattle Times website.

A freelance travel writer/editor based in Vancouver