Brittlestar has wonderful content about Canada and being Canadian. His take on tourism videos in Atlantic Canada makes us want to go back to that part of the world, especially in late summer. His take on Halifax: a lot of walking uphill. Brought back great memories of my time walking a lot uphill in downtown Halifax.
Canadians aren't stereotypically good at conveying how good Canada is, especially as a travel destination. Shy about self-promotion is good, unless you want to get people to come visit you.
Even among Canadians, traveling to Atlantic Canada is not high on the list of travel destinations. I might have thought the same thing until I went there to find out for myself. Prince Edward Island, a popular tourist destination, is trying to figure out the best way to manage tourism marketing.
Brittlestar said it well in one of his recent Substack entries:
One of our poorest character traits as Canadians is to dismiss anything Canada has to offer until it is celebrated elsewhere then we become annoyingly patriotic.
Here’s the reality…
We don’t have to wait for some other place to tell us our place is cool.
Our place is cool.
Occasionally cold, but still cool.
You can catch his YouTube videos or find him on a platform that is more your speed, such as TikTok.
See Canada through Canadian road films
How Canadian film can show U.S., North Korea what Canada looks like
We are in the dog days of late August. We wrote a piece a long time ago on the beauty of road trip Canadian films. Maybe you've done your summer travel or travel is too expensive for you. Watching Canada through road trip films can serve a travel requirement where you can sleep in your own bed.
Highway 61, Cas & Dylan, and One Week are just some of the Canadian film titles we mentioned. I miss the type of films that Tatiana Maslany used to do as a film actor. Maslany was influenced by Gena Rowlands, who just recently passed away, and John Cassavetes. From the Guardian:
When Tatiana Maslany was 20, she wondered whether acting was really for her. The Canadian was already 11 years into her career, having begun working as a child, and had recently relocated from Regina in Saskatchewan to Toronto in order to be where the jobs were. "I suddenly had this urge to re-evaluate why I was doing it," she says. "Was I just doing it because it was this thing I did as a kid?" But then she watched John Cassavetes' 1974 film A Woman Under the Influence, in which Gena Rowlands' suburban housewife reaches breaking point. "And I thought: 'Yes, that's it! That's what I want!'" she exclaims. "I wanted that level of freedom and inventiveness and presence and connection. It was so powerful to watch. That movie showed me what was possible."
Come back to Canada and do those kind of films (not with Joey Klein).
If you have a favorite Canadian travel film — English, French, or whatever language — please let us know.
Just had a realization-- Is there seriously no other regional rail offerings besides GO Transit (ON) in all of Canada?
— Olivier Bourgeois (@olivi_eh) April 29, 2024
BC? AB? QC? There's no non-VIA passenger rails between cities outside of Ontario? Why?
You'd think Calgary-Edmonton or Vancouver-Whistler would be easy wins.
This is a topic where we have gone into detail. Whatever our criticisms of Amtrak are in the United States, there are stretches where trains are a great option to get from Point A to Point B. You could fly from Rome to Florence but having been on the train between the 2 Italian cities, you know the train is the only way to go.
This person mentioned Calgary-Edmtonton and Vancouver-Whistler. We would add Regina-Saskatoon. You can take Via Rail from Winnipeg to Saskatoon but that isn't terribly convenient from a schedule standpoint. I took the overnight bus (Greyhound RIP) from Winnipeg to Regina that worked out well enough.
High-speed rail brings people closer together, even in wide open spaces such as Alberta
I took short buses in between Atlantic Canada points: Charlottetown-Moncton as one example. Trains to and from Prince Edward Island have a major barrier in the Atlantic Ocean. Halifax-Yarmouth would take you across Nova Scotia.
I've done Vancouver to Victoria in a seaplane. Gorgeous trip though frighteningly expensive. Downtown to downtown travel is psychologically freeing on vacation. Compare that by contrast to Vancouver to Tsawwassen and then BC Ferries to Swartz Bay to Victoria. Speaking of Victoria ... .
For those who don't follow the CFL, the league has had Touchdown Atlantic as a way to draw interest in getting a team into Atlantic Canada. Regular season games have been held in Moncton, NB as well as games (finally) in Nova Scotia in Wolfville in 2022 and Halifax, the ideal site for the Atlantic Schooners, in 2023.
Touchdown Atlantic has shifted to Touchdown Pacific in Victoria. The BC Lions host Ottawa on August 31 (Labour Day Weekend) at Royal Athletic Park. The stadium is about 2 km away from the water's edge in downtown Victoria. You do move uphill away from downtown but not nearly as steep as Halifax or St. John's.
I recommend Red Fish, Blue Fish for dinner after the game if you are going to the British Columbia capital for the game. Beautiful seafood and a view of the sunset into the harbour. The government building lights up at night in the harbour. Munro Books is just down Government Street.
Victoria is also a good stepping point to explore Vancouver Island: Nanaimo as well as Tofino and Ucluelet.
We talk about travel to Canada tied to sports events. I went to New Brunswick in part because of Touchdown Atlantic in 2013. The Toronto Blue Jays were recently at Wrigley Field, which draws Canadians to come in part because of sports. Met a very nice father and son who came in from Bathurst, New Brunswick. They drove to Bangor, Maine and then flew to Chicago.
Canadians and Americans can get along better if they know each other's country. That leads us to the final news story.
Yesterday, met a guy at a gas station, he asked where I was from and I said Manitoba Canada and he goes how do you say hello in your language?? He was American
— Marni Cramer (@CramerMarni) August 17, 2024
We started this blog many moons ago to get a better understanding of Canada by Americans. Whatever progress we have made, well, there is a long way to go. Americans are not taught to be curious about the world. Those who are curious know a lot, such as your humble narrator.
CanadianCrossing.com travel coverage
Say hello, bonjour, Nǐ hǎo (Mandarin), Tansi (Cree), or Taanshi (Métis). Do say hello in some form.
video credit: Brittlestar
photo credits: Cas & Dylan; Brittlestar; CFL
Twitter captures: @olivi_eh; @CramerMarni
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