Jetsettersblog

From the southern slope of Haleakala, where the woodsy essence of protea perfume the air, to the ginger-scented eastern slope jungles, Maui is one brilliant bouquet.

Visiting Maui’s flower farms is a delightful way for your family to explore Maui’s hidden pockets of beauty, walking through flower tunnels and under flower canopies. Flower farm tours also allow you to meet Maui locals and see how their gardens grow.

Fragrant Orchids of Maui
Haiku, Maui

On this tour of the 2.5-acre farm and 5500 sq. ft. greenhouse, owner Karen Klemme shares her orchid growing secrets with visitors. You leave feeling you can nurture a blue-ribbon winner at the county fair. www.fragrantorchids.com

Hana Tropicals
Hana, Maui

Hana Tropicals is a 400-acre flower farm in Hana, Maui, offering three fun-filled flower farm tours: an escorted garden tour, an adventurous 4×4 Jeep ride and a weekend immersion tour. www.hanatropicals.com

Hana Maui Botanical Garden
Hana, Maui

On this self-guided tour, visitors follow a trail map along the 27-acre property. View not only thriving mature flower and fruit plants, but also towering native trees such as kukui, ulu and hala. www.ecoclub.com/hanamaui

Nahiku Tropicals
Hana, Maui

Planted in 1986, Nahiku Tropicals is a boutique flower farm where visitors can stroll among meticulously manicured gardens overflowing with a wide variety of one-of-a-kind flowers and trees. www.nahikutropicals.com

Some of the best travel memories are made in the car, scenery flashing by, tunes on the radio, wind in your hair and the freedom of the open road.

What a thrill it is to outrun the world for a few days, to dip out of cellphone range and live in a zone of uninterrupted motion. We’re talking road trips here—of CBC Radio, bags of chips and truck-stop coffee.

Hurtle across Canada on the 7,821-km (4,860-mi) Trans-Canada Highway, and you’ll touch two oceans—the Pacific and the Atlantic—and sweep through alpine meadows, valleys of fruit, sagebrush plains, the rocky spine of the Canadian Shield, lake after lake and forest after forest. If you can’t see our entire country by highway, pick one province, a piece of blacktop and take the nearest entry ramp.

Here’s your Canada road-tripping list:

•Heritage Discovery Circle Route, BC: This 2,423-km (1,506-mi) epic road trip begins in Vancouver, zigzags north to 100 Mile House, heads to the historic gold-rush town of Barkerville, then on to Prince Rupert, where you can access (by boat only) the Khutzeymateen (Canada’s first grizzly bear sanctuary) as well as take a spectacular ferry ride to Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands).

• The Icefields Parkway, AB: Sure, you can drive one of North America’s most scenic roads (Hwy 93) that bisects 100 glaciers, two national parks (Banff and Jasper) and sweeps past dozens of peacock-blue lakes. But even more impressive is to cycle this wide-shouldered, hostel-studded highway. Be sure to cool down with a tiptoe up to the Athabasca Glacier.

• Qu’Appelle Valley, SK: If you’re speeding along the Trans-Canada Highway, remember to veer north at the tiny community of Qu’Appelle. The endless swath of golden wheat fields splits open on Hwy 210 into a spectacular valley laced with a series of lakes, coulees and groves of trees—a recreational mecca for Reginans, who live 45 minutes away.

• Prairie Parkland, MB: If you’re slicing across Canada on the Yellowhead Highway (#16), don’t whiz by the prettiest town on the prairies: Neepawa. Just west of the town, veer north on Hwy 10 through Riding Mountain National Park to Dauphin and west to Inglis, home of five historic grain elevators—a fantastic site at sunset.

• Clearly Superior, ON: Now you’ll know why Canada’s Group of Seven artists lingered around this necklace of wide sandy bays on Lake Superior’s east shore in Ontario. Take Hwy 17 north from Sault Ste. Marie to Wawa, and be soothed by all that freshwater, the Lego-like blocky cliffs and spots like Pancake Bay—where voyageurs stopped to fry up some pancakes before restocking supplies in “the Soo.”

• Route de fleuve (The St. Lawrence Route), QC: Linking Baie-Saint-Paul to La Malbaie, Hwy 362 meanders through the artsy villages of Charlevoix and over mountains that tumble into the St. Lawrence—the result of a meteorite two km (1.25 mi) in diameter that crashed here 350 million years ago.

• Dempster Highway, YT: Drive the Dempster, one of this continent’s loneliest strips of loose gravel, and you’ll cross the Continental Divide (three times), two mountain ranges and touch the Arctic Circle. Begin in Dawson City and head northeast for 736 km (457 mi) to Inuvik, NWT—you’ll feel like you’re driving to the ends of the earth. (You kinda are.)

• The Top of the World Highway, YT: Only open in the summer, this unpaved road—running from Dawson City, YT, to Alaska (USA)—is so named because much of it runs along the tops of mountains providing amazing views.

• The Cabot Trail, NS: Drive along the skirts of Cape Breton Island, and you’ll breeze through beech forests and swoop over ocean bluffs. Dotted with fishing ports, craft barns (noted for their hooked rugs), quirky road stops and absurdly stunning ocean views, look for pods of whales in the water and moose along the forest trails.

• Fundy Coastal Drive, NB: We love this maritime journey especially in the fall, when the forests look like they’ve been shellacked with marmalade.

Besides the fiery colours, you can marvel at some of the highest tides on earth.

• Viking Trail, NL: Inhabited by Aboriginals centuries ago and landed on by the Vikings 1,000 years ago, the land this weeklong road trip slices through was later populated by 16th-century Basque whalers and is now home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

spectacular Gros Morne National Park and L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site.

Delta Air Lines has announced plans for expanded nonstop service from Japan to two popular leisure destinations — Honolulu and the Pacific island of Palau. Delta will begin new daily service between Nagoya, Japan, and Honolulu on Dec. 22, subject to government approval.

The flight will be operated with 216-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, with 35 BusinessElite seats and 181 seats in Economy. The announcement highlights Delta’s commitment to Centrair International Airport. Delta currently operates flights from Nagoya to Detroit, Guam, Saipan and Manila, as well as connecting flights to 10 U.S. gateways via Tokyo-Narita.

The airline also has filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requesting permission to start new nonstop service between its Tokyo-Narita hub and the Pacific island of Palau.

The proposed flights would operate four-times weekly beginning in December 2010 and would be the only scheduled nonstop service between Japan and Palau.

Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean that lies 500 miles east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles south of Tokyo, is a popular scuba diving destination. In addition to divers, the island has been attracting tourists interested in its well-preserved natural environment. Nearly 30,000 Japanese tourists visit Palau each year.

Delta also plans to begin operating nonstop service between Haneda Airport in central Tokyo and Detroit and Los Angeles, pending final approval by the U.S. DOT.

Opened on July 1, 2010, Best Western’s new Japan hotel is the 12th property to have joined the chain’s expanding presence in the country.

Situated between two major airports and close to the Shinkansen bullet train terminal, the 179-room Best Western Hotel Fino Osaka Shinsaibashi is located in Osaka’s Nanba and Umeda business and shopping district and within walking distance of the shopping and dining area of Shinsaibashi and Nagahoribashi subway station. Designed in contemporary style, the hotel’s well appointed guestrooms feature cable or satellite TV, in-room movies, comfortable working area, high-speed internet, refrigerator, coffee/tea maker and hairdryer. Hotel facilities include 24-hour front desk, restaurant, coffee shop and massage service.

IHG Ana Hotels Group Japan, the joint venture between InterContinental Hotels Group and All Nippon Airways, announced the opening of , the first co-branded hotel between Holiday Inn and Ana Hotels, a strong brand within the Japanese hotel industry.

This co-brand brings together the elements of the new Holiday Inn brand, which is currently undergoing the largest rebranding exercise in hospitality history, with elements of Ana Hotels.

The 165-room Ana Holiday Inn Sendai is situated close to the east entrance of the Sendai train station.

It is both a convenient location for business travelers as well as a starting point for leisure seekers looking to visit cultural and historical sites in the city of Sendai, the gateway to the Tohoku region.

Guests can expect the new look and feel, service standards and quality facilities reflective of the new Holiday Inn brand.

In conjunction with Ana Holiday Inn Sendai’s opening, the Ana Holiday Inn Sendai’s all-day dining restaurant, Chef Table, has been also been refreshed.

Additionally, the hotel employees have all received training that combines the best of the new Holiday Inn service standards as well as the detail-oriented service Ana hotels are known for.

HMS International Hotel GmbH, a partner company of Maritim, signed contracts to manage two new hotels in China. Both hotels are owned by one of the largest real estate developers in China.

The Maritim Hotel Wuhu is situated in the Sanshan district of Wuhu, which lies southwest of the city center, and four hours west of Shanghai by car.

It opened its doors in February 2010, and has been operating under the Maritim brand since July 1. The five-star hotel contains more than 602 rooms and suites, a ballroom, and 22 additional conference rooms of various sizes.

The Maritim Hotel Wuhu is set on Lake Lougou with a range of modern services and facilities and a selection with three different restaurants — a German specialty restaurant, a Chinese restaurant and an international buffet restaurant.

The Maritim Hotel Wuhu also contains a fitness studio, a beauty salon, and an indoor and outdoor pool as well as tennis, bowling and basketball.

The second hotel for which a management contract has been signed lies in Shenyang, in the northeast of China.

With 631 rooms and suites, the Maritim Hotel Shenyang will be even bigger than the Maritim Hotel Wuhu. The hotel will also contain 15 conference rooms of various sizes, as well as a ballroom. The culinary offer will include an international a la carte restaurant, a German specialty restaurant and a Chinese restaurant. The opening of this five-star hotel is scheduled for May 2011.

Other hotel projects in China are currently being planned. The Maritim Hotel Hui Zun, for which a management contract was signed in April 2009, is scheduled to open in Anting, near Shanghai, in spring 2011. For more information, visit www.maritim.com

Pan Pacific Hotels Group will enter the Australian market with an initial three properties by 2011. This marks the beginning of its presence in what will be a new growth market for the Singapore-based hotel management company, which owns and/or manages more than 30 hotels, resorts and serviced suites with over 10,000 rooms in Asia and North America under the Pan Pacific and ParkRoyal brands.

The new properties in Australia will be ParkRoyal Darling Harbour, Sydney (rebranded from Crowne Plaza Darling Harbour) and ParkRoyal Parramatta (rebranded from Crowne Plaza Parramatta) in Sydney. The third will be Pan Pacific Perth in Perth, Western Australia (rebranded from Sheraton Perth).

All three hotels are owned by Pan Pacific Hotels Group.

The 345-room ParkRoyal Darling Harbour, Sydney, which opens November 2010, enjoys a prime location in Sydney and sits just minutes away from Darling Harbour, the Sydney Convention and Entertainment Centre, George Street, Chinatown and the Queen Victoria Building. ParkRoyal Parramatta, which opens November 2010, boasts 196 rooms and is located in the city center in the heart of Parramatta’s trendy Church Street, a popular dining and shopping precinct on the banks of Parramatta River.

The rebranding of these two Sydney hotels marks the re-entry of the famous and respected ParkRoyal brand in Australia. The brand has its roots in Australia with the first ParkRoyal hotel in Melbourne (and named after the Royal Park opposite) opened in 1962. Meanwhile, the 486-room Perth hotel will be rebranded Pan Pacific Perth and opens in January 2011. The hotel offers great views of the Swan River and boasts extensive meeting and banqueting facilities with 11 function rooms, as well as an entire level dedicated to seven boardrooms with state-of-the-art technology. Outside Australia, Pan Pacific Hotels Group is also looking to expand its hotel portfolio under its ParkRoyal and Pan Pacific brands in North America, Asia, Greater China and New Zealand.

For more information, visit www.panpacific.com

Noosa, Australia’s first internationally managed resort to be built in 20 years, the five-star Outrigger Little Hastings Street Resort & Spa, opened three weeks ahead of schedule.

The hilltop resort above Hastings Street and beside Noosa National Park, began welcoming its first guests.

The resort comprises suites, villas and penthouses each with large private balconies overlooking national park and rainforest settings or coastal views to Double Island Point.

The resort also contains the Stephanies Ocean Spa, restaurant, bar and conferencing facilities for up to 500 delegates cocktail style.

To celebrate the opening of Outrigger Little Hastings Street, the resort is offering an opening special of AUD $279 per night ($242) in a one-bedroom suite for two including breakfasts.

There is no minimum night stay and the offer is valid until Dec. 22.

Located two-hours drive north of Brisbane, Noosa is known for its beaches and a water temperature that invites year-round swimming.

For more information, visit

www.outrigger.com.au 

Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve and Wellness Retreat, a luxury accommodation in South Africa operated by Red Carnation Hotels, recently captured on film a female Cape Mountain Leopard (Panthera pardus) and her five-or-six-month-old cub, which the company says confirms how effectively the reserve provides sanctuary to the endangered species.

Bushmans Kloof is dedicated to the preservation and protection of indigenous wildlife on both the reserve and in the surrounding Cederberg Wilderness area. For the past five years Bushmans Kloof has supported the Cape Leopard Trust, the organization dedicated to optimally facilitate conservation of the Cape’s predator diversity through simultaneously implementing conservation strategies, research projects and tourism initiatives.

Bushmans Kloof has sponsored ten GPS (Global Positioning Satellite system) collars on Cape Leopards — for a total value of R300 000 — in support of this conservation management project, which provides valuable data that aids research of the behavior of this elusive and enigmatic species.

To date, a total of 14 leopards have been collared by The Cape Leopard Trust in this region, including two at Bushmans Kloof.

According to Quinton Martins, project manager and one of the principal researchers of the Cape Leopard Project, the new pictures of only the second female to be recorded on camera in the reserve suggest this new female, named #F12, has territorially displaced #F9 (Amber), who was resident in the area. The camera was subsequently moved to a new site to gain photographic evidence of where Amber might be.

Bushmans Kloof is custodian to numerous rare or endangered species of birds and mammals, including one of the largest privately owned herds of the Cape Mountain zebra, the Cape clawless otter and the Clanwilliam yellow fish.

Renowned for its exceptional environmental and conservation projects, Bushmans Kloof was awarded the Relais & Châteaux Environment Trophy in 2007, as well as coveted Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Award:

Global Winner of Wildlife Conservations Programs (2009).

For information, visit www.redcarnationhotels.com

Flightless travel, also known as slow travel, keeps plane flights to a minimum or eliminates them from the itinerary altogether, so you travel by slower, more environmentally friendly, methods.

Travelers reduce stress and enjoy their journey more as they experience the sights, sounds, culture, adventures and personal encounters more that arise when traveling on a local level instead of rushing through airports and being crammed into airplanes.

Writing about www.Flightlesstravel.com for United Press International, Marcella Kreiter profiles the site’s co-founders, Tom and Lorraine McMillan in her June 13 “Consumer Concern” piece. Tom and Lorraine traveled for five months in 2008 when returning from New Zealand to the UK, using plane-less, alternative modes of transport.

They realized that up-to-date information was hard to find for those interested in this growing travel movement, and so they began www.flightlesstravel.com. The site was designed with the developing world in mind where clear and reliable travel information is hard to come by.

Visitors are invited to input their own itineraries, ideas, and suggestions; rate routes; or refer to the site to plan their own flightless journeys that meet their own travel needs and interests.

Additional information on carbon emissions, ethical travel and travel safety is also provided on the site.

Recently, the site saw a 700% increase in visitors as those stranded throughout the world by British Air strikes and volcanic ash airport shutdowns sought ways to flightlessly travel and return home, or continue to their next destination.

Visitors to www.Flightlesstravel.com  viewed innovative journeys and routings added onto the site by other users to help them to create their own alternative flightless travel itineraries.

Tom and Lorraine are articulate, and knowledgeable with a passion for environmental protection (Tom’s an environmental scientist) and enhancing any travel experience you undertake. They are planning their own summer vacation in July as a flightless journey between the UK and Italy — all flightless, of course!