Category: Canada 🇨🇦 (Page 4 of 7)

Japan and Singapore top 2019 list of world’s most powerful passports

2019.10.01 / Robert

Euan McKirdy and Maureen O’Hare at CNN write »

Japan and Singapore have held onto their position as the world’s most travel-friendly passports.

That’s the view of the Henley Passport Index, which periodically measures the access each country’s travel document affords.

Singapore and Japan’s passports have topped the rankings thanks to both documents offering access to 190 countries each.

South Korea rubs shoulders with Finland and Germany in second place, with citizens of all three countries able to access 188 jurisdictions around the world without a prior visa.

Finland has benefited from recent changes to Pakistan‘s formerly highly restrictive visa policy. Pakistan now offers an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) to citizens of 50 countries, including Finland, Japan, Spain, Malta, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates — but not, notably, the United States or the UK.

The best passports in 2019 are:

1. Japan, Singapore (190 destinations)
2. Finland, Germany, South Korea (188)
3. Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg (187)
4. France, Spain, Sweden (186)
5. Austria, Netherlands, Portugal (185)
6. Belgium, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland (184)
7. Malta, Czech Republic (183)
8. New Zealand (182)
9. Australia, Lithuania, Slovakia (181)
10. Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Slovenia (180)
More at the Henley Passport Index

Notes

» Canada has been ranked 6th four years in a row. They were ranked 2nd in 2014, then dropped to 4th in 2015, and have been holding steady in 6th since 2016.

» The USA been on a steady decline since 2014 when they were ranked 1st. They dropped to 2nd in 2015, 4th in 2016, 5th in 2017 and 2018, and to 6th this year.

» The UK has been on a steady decline in the rankings, dropping from 1st in 2015, to 3rd in 2016, to 4th in 2017, to 5th in 2018, to 6th this year.

7 Scenic Drives Through Quebec

2019.07.08 / Robert

Quebec is the biggest province in Canada, and there’s a whole lot to see and do.

Destination Canada has put together seven wonderful road trip routes which will take you to some of this provinces’ most beautiful wonders and sought-after experiences.

Some of these trips are short, while others will take you quite a bit longer, and really embrace that road trip spirit.

1. The New France Route – 56 kilometres / 35 miles – Road trip highlights starting in Quebec City include Domaine de Maizerets, Maison Girardin, Montmorency Falls Park, Auberge Baker, Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area

2. The Fjord Route – 235 kilometres / 146 miles – Highlights include Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, Musée de la Nature, the Musée du Fjord, Saguenay Fjord National Park

3. The King’s Road – 280 kilometres / 174 miles – Highlights include Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade church, the Quebec Folk Culture Museum, the Old Prison of Trois-Rivières, Lake Saint-Pierre

4. The Wine Route – 138 kilometres / 86 miles – Highlights include many vineyards, Brome Lake, Mont Sutton

5. The Navigators’ Route – 470 kilometres / 292 miles – Highlights include Centre de la Biodiversité du Québec in Bécancour, Îles du Pot à l’Eau-de-Vie archipelago and Île aux Lièvres, the Musée maritime du Québec, Bic Provincial Park, Pointe-au-Père Maritime Historic Site

6. The Whale Route – 880 kilometres / 546 miles – Highlights include Cap-de-Bon-Désir Interpretation and Observation Centre, Daniel Johnson Dam and Manic-5 Generating Station, Pointe-des-Monts Lighthouse, Vauréal Canyon

7. The Gaspesie Tour – 1,230 kilometres – 765 miles – Highlights include the Rimouski Wildlife Reserve, Reford Gardens, Exploramer, Bonaventure Island, and Gaspesie and Percé Rock provincial parks

Learn more at Destination Canada

World’s Most Powerful Passports as of Q3 2019

2019.07.05 / Robert

The Henley Passport Index has released its third quarter ranking of the world’s most powerful passports in 2019.

The index is compiled from data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and measures global mobility based on visa-free access to destinations. It also uses data from the index’s 14-year history, “to show how travel mobility has changed over the past decade, looking at which passports have gained in strength and which have fallen behind.”

Japan and Singapore hold the world’s strongest passports, with Visa-free access to 189 destinations. South Korea dropped to second place, joining Germany and Finland with Visa-free access to 187 destinations.

The United Arab Emirates entered the top 20 index for the first time in the list’s 14-year-history, moving up an astonishing 41 spots. Other countries that climbed standings include Taiwan, which climbed 24 places over the past ten years and ranks 30th.

The USA and the UK each dropped to the lowest position they’ve held since 2010, sharing the sixth spot with Canada, Greece, Norway, Belgium and Ireland.

Pakistan now offers an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) to citizens of 50 countries, including Finland, Japan, Malta, Spain, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates — but not, notably, the USA or the UK.

Afghanistan is once again at the other end of the rankings, with its citizens needing a prior visa for all but 25 destinations worldwide.

Most Powerful Passports of Q3 2019:
1. Japan, Singapore (189 Destinations)
2. South Korea, Germany, Finland (187)
3. Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg (186)
4. France, Sweden, Spain (185)
5. Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland (184)
6. Canada, Norway, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, UK, US (183)
7. Malta (182)
8. Czechia (181)
9. Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Lithuania (180)
10. Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia (179)

The Least Powerful Passports of Q3 2019:

101. Bangladesh, Eritrea, Iran, Lebanon, North Korea (39 Destinations)
102. Nepal (38)
103. Libya, Palestinian, Sudan (37)
104. Yemen (33)
105. Somalia (31)
106. Pakistan (30)
107. Syria (29)
108. Iraq (27)
109. Afghanistan (25)

Source: Henley Passport Index

Watch » Bikepacking Alaska to Argentina and around the world. The story so far (2014 – 2019)

2019.06.29 / Robert

Iohan Gueorguiev’s videos are well made, but they are generally an hour long.

With this video Iohan recaps his trip so far, from Alaska to Argentina, in less than 15 minutes.

If you like this, you’ll love his full length videos.

Watch » The Voyageurs

2019.06.26 / Robert

Voyageurs is the French translation for voyager – a person who goes on a long and sometimes dangerous journey. However, in Canadian history, the term has an added significance.

This 1964 National Film Board film tells the story of the men who drove big freighter canoes into the wilderness in the days when the fur trade was Canada’s biggest business. The film recreates scenes of the early 19th century.

Updated: See The World Through Iohan Gueorguiev’s Eyes

2019.06.01 / Robert

Updated June 1, 2019 to add link to his latest video.

In May 2014, Iohan Gueorguiev (website – YouTube – Twitter – Instagram) started cycling from the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The plan was to cycle to the tip of South America in a year, maybe a few more months.

Bai Bin Finishes His 14-Month Run from Antarctica to the Arctic Ocean

2019.05.12 / Robert

Bai Bin, a Chinese man, has become the first to finished a 24,000 km, 433 days (14-month), fourteen country run from Antarctica to the Arctic Ocean.

Beginning at the Great Wall Station in March 2018, Bai Bin arrived at the Arctic Ocean in Inuvik, N.W.T. in May 2019. Continue reading

Mushers, an Impenetrable Blizzard, and The World’s Hardest Dog Sled Race

2019.05.05 / Robert

It’s not the Iditarod, but about the 1,000-mile long Yukon Quest.

Elisa Shoenberger, writing in Deadspin:

Today, the Quest winds its way up through the Yukon and Alaskan wilderness, passing villages and remote houses along the way. The middle point is historic Dawson City, the capital of the Klondike Gold Rush, filled with casinos, dance halls, hotels, banks, and luxurious shopping back in the day. It was even once called “The Paris of the North.” The first musher to Dawson City wins a few ounces of gold, a nice nod to the city’s heritage.

The first race was won by Sonny Lindner in 12 days and 5 minutes; the fastest finish was by Allen Moore in 2004 in 8 days, 14 hours, 21 minutes. Aliy Zirkle was the first woman to win the race in 2000. The closest finish was in 2012, when Hugh Neff beat Allen Moore by only 26 seconds.

The Yukon Quest is a smaller and younger race than the Iditarod. The latter is better known and is much more commercialized, bringing bigger sponsors and media attention. There’s also a bigger prize for mushers who win or place high enough. It therefore attracts greater numbers of mushers: the Iditarod had 52 mushers participate this year while the Quest had 30. Some feel that the focus on money in the Iditarod has moved it away from the real stars of the show: the dogs and the mushers themselves.

Best Countries for Quality of Life

2019.04.12 / Robert

Through all phases of life, Canada and Scandinavian countries treat their citizens well, according to US News.

Canada
Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Switzerland
Finland
Australia
Netherlands
New Zealand
Germany
Belgium
United Kingdom
Japan
Luxemburg
Ireland
France
USA
Singapore
Portugal
China
Spain
Italy
South Korea
Poland
Czech Republic

More info at US News

Melanie Vogel is hiking solo across Canada, from sea-to-sea-to-sea [Updated]

2019.02.18 / Robert

On June 2nd, 2017, Melanie Vogel set out to solo thru-hike the longest recreational trail in the world. Melanie’s long-distance hike started in Cape Spear, Newfoundland the most easterly point of Canada, and will lead her trough all ten Canadian provinces and two of the three territories. She originally planed to hike to Victoria on Vancouver Island in two years, but somewhere along the way decided to include the Arctic Ocean in her hike.

When Melanie is finished, she will have solo hiked 18,000 km across Canada from the Atlantic Ocean, to the Arctic Ocean, and then to the Pacific Ocean, on The Great Trail, or as some know it, the Trans Canada Trail.

Her inspirational expedition takes her through maritime terrain, boreal forests, along the Great Lakes, the Canadian prairies, the Rocky Mountains and into the tundra and permafrost as she goes north to the Arctic.

With her choice of walking this huge country, the German born and raised adventurer is embracing Canada, to better connect to the land, its people, nature and herself.

As an ambassador for The Great Trail, Melanie wants to inspire people to get outside and discover trails in their backyard and by doing so find the connection back to nature.

Melanie Vogel is the recipient of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Women’s Expedition Grant for 2019.

You can follow her journey on Between Sunsets and Twitter.

Update 2019.12.10 » Vancouver is Awesome » This woman has been walking across Canada for 2 years and isn’t stopping yet

Update 2020.10.18 » Dan Davidson, of the Whitehorse Daily Star, writes that Melanie might spend the winter in Whitehorse as she is restricted from entering the Northwest Territories and reaching Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean due to the coronavirus pandemic.