Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dreamscapes.ca/i/739845
DREAMSCAPES FALL/ WINTER 2016 10 AS 2016 WINDS DOWN, SOME OF YOU MAY ALREADY be planning your vacations for 2017. So what are the hottest travel destinations for 2017? My guess is Canada will be one of them as 2017 ushers in our 150 th anniversary of Confederation. You can bet every province, and especially Prince Edward Island, will be hosting a series of grand spectacles to attract visitors from far and wide to join in their cele- brations. In fact, in preparation for the grand ballyhoo, 150 communities and organizations from coast to coast are each busily planting 1,000 red and white tulip bulbs in their gardens this fall so you can expect spring 2017 to be a blooming birthday card. I think it would be a great idea to continue the theme throughout the summer with red and white roses. A full list of "Celebration Gar- dens" across Canada can be found at canadasgardenroute.ca. So what else is happening in 2017? Bermuda is hosting the 35 th Louis Vuitton America's Cup 2017 in which the world's best sailors manoeuvre the fastest boats in a battle for the oldest trophy in international sport. Qualifying races start on May 26 and the top challenger meets the defending champions Oracle Team USA beginning June 17. And, let's face it, even if you're not an avid sailing fan, Bermuda is a pretty amazing place to visit. Post-Brexit London is forecast to be among the most popular international destinations. With the exchange rate at a 30-year low, there are myriad deals to be had. And London's poshest neighbour- hood, Mayfair, is set to experience a major renaissance. Mount Street has undergone a transformation and, with the opening of sig- nature boutiques such as Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga, Lanvin, Simone Rocha and Sophia Webster, it is ready to compete with Bond Street as the city's main fashion thoroughfare. With these new kids on the block, you can expect a bustling dining and nightlife scene as well. The area has already attracted the attention of celebrities such as Kate Moss and Amal Clooney. Remember Frankenstein? Well, you can walk in his footsteps when on August 30, 2017, the 220 t h birthday of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein (first drafted in 1816 in Lake Geneva), is commemorated. Explore how Switzerland inspired Shelley and then drive from Geneva to Evian Les Bains on the French side of the lake where the characters, Victor and Eliza- beth, honeymooned. The Center for Responsible Travel reports nature-based vacations now make up 20 per cent of all international travel. Adventure travel has become a whopping US$263-billion industry, which grew 65 per cent each year between 2009 and 2012. If you're into adventure travel, you might want to check out some of these exceptional sustainable travel tours in 2017: a Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour, which introduces you to the last remaining moun- tain gorillas in the world, or, perhaps, a visit to a remote Amazon tribe (gondwanaecotours.com); a Costa Rica Turtle Research expedi- tion with biologists at the most important nesting ground of leatherback turtles in the country (adventure-life.com); a dog-sled- ding and trekking journey along glaciers in Greenland to explore and photograph fantastic Arctic landscapes (bigchilladventure.com); or a nine-day hiking and photography tour of Patagonia in the com- pany of a celebrated photographer and nature documentary filmmaker (travelvisionjourneys.com). What a wonderful world we live in! I urge you to get out there and explore it. DS DS FROM MY TRAVEL BAG >> BY DONNA S. VIEIRA editor@dreamscapes.ca