The week started out great. We put the kids on the Zoom Airlines flight direct from Ottawa to Cancun. Zoom, an Ottawa-based international charter, offers flights and all-inclusive packages to southern destinations. (This year, the Mexican destination is Puerto Vallarta.)

Steeped in British history, Barbados is the most modern and sophisticated of all the Caribbean Islands. Barbados has a highly educated population and one of the highest standards of living in the British West Indies.

Deep in New York State’s Hudson Valley, there’s a home away from home, beckoning.

Fragrance, colour, and delight await you at this old quarry site.

Whether you want a quiet getaway during the holiday season or an elegant Victorian New Year’s, consider spending a night or two at historic Spruceholme Inn.

Would we be fit enough for our “adventure challenge”? We’d signed up for what was billed as an exhilarating 15-day Veracruz Adventure Challenge with Esprit Rafting of Davidson, Quebec. The package includes rafting the rapid-filled Barrancagrande River in the Sierre Madre Mountains, horseback riding, mountain hiking, and hiking through remote and lofty villages.

“I hereby bequeath to the Government of Canada as a public park in trust for the citizens of Canada… my several properties at Kingsmere, in the Province of Quebec, amounting in all to nearly Five Hundred (500) acres, and the houses and other buildings erected thereon.”