2-Toronto Sun

The Sunday Sun n MARCH 3, 2013
nn
TRAVEL
59
BITS ABOUT
TRIPS
REUTERS FILES
More Canadians are crossing
the border into the U.S. to
pick up cheaper flights.
Cross-border
flight shopping
DIANE SLAWYCH
Special to the Toronto Sun
LORI KNOWLES PHOTO
MIKE DREW/QMI AGENCY FILES
A surfer rides the waves, above, at Cox Bay near Tofino, B.C. Krissy
Montgomery, left, owner of Surf Sister Surf School, gets set to hit the
waves at Cox Bay. A boardwalk hike through dense forest, above right, leads
to hot springs at Maquinna Marine Provincial Park. The remote park is only
accessible by boat or float plane. Some newly minted surfers, right, pose
with their boards at the Surf Sisters base in Tofino.
PHOTO COURTESY SURF SISTERS
ing spring, position ourselves
toward the sea, and dream of
heaven.
Dinner that night is at To�no’s Spotted Bear, a cozy candlelit bistro with an open
kitchen, two chefs and a
server. We eat braised ribs and
�sh caught that morning.
D ay t w o i s my f av o u rite. We have a lesson booked
with Tofino’s Surf Sister Surf
School, which o�ers all-female
and co-ed sur�ng camps. Our
teacher is Surf Sister’s founder,
Krissy Montgomery, who has a
way of teaching sur�ng to �at-
water Torontonians that seems to Pacific Sands and soothe
really, really simple.
my muscles in the hot tub.
We suit up head to foot in
Would this 40-something
�gure-�attering
mom tr y surf(not!) suits, then
ing again? Absololl around on the
lutely.
sand like sea lions,
Our final day
practising fake
finishes with a
paddling, popping
mystery advenup and hanging 10.
ture courtesy of
Soon Monttorontosun.com/ To�no’s Atleo Air.
gomery sets us
Owner Jason Bertofino
a�oat in the crashtin’s new service
i n g w av e s, a n d ,
o�ers sightseeing
well, let’s just say I
trips to glaciers,
get schooled in sur�ng. After, private islands and remote
I trudge across the beach back coastal locations.
Head’s up, guys: All us girls
agree an Atleo trip would be
a memorable way to propose
marriage!
We’re dropped onto a rocky
Pacific island where Tofino’s
Wildside Grill sets up camp
and cooks us the best B.C.
salmon and spotted prawn
I’ve ever tasted.
The day — and this short
trip — ends with another
sound sleep at the edge of
the Pacific. I do not dream of
work, carpooling and my next
looming deadline.
Instead I dream of waves,
mist and crackling �res.
For this group of yummy
mummies, Tofino has been
the perfect girlfriend getaway.
IFYOU GOTO
B.C.
NEED TO KNOW
n For more, see HelloBC.
com, PacificSands.com and
surfsister.com.
An increasing number of Canadians
travelled to the U.S. for cheaper airline
tickets last year.
According to the 2013 Canadian Travel Intentions Survey, 18% of
respondents said they travelled to the
U.S. for bargain plane tickets in 2012
(up 3% over the previous year’s survey); 32% said they plan to do so in
2013. The highest numbers of crossborder airline ticket shoppers come
from Ontario and British Columbia
(23%, up 4%), and are in the 18-24
year old age category (32%).
High Canadian airfares, says
Anthony Pollard, president of the Hotel
Association of Canada, are “the result
of high airport rents,Air Traveller Security charges, NAV CANADA fees and airport improvement fees and amounts
to millions of Canadian travellers
finding the price of Canadian tickets
more expensive than the cost of driving to the U.S. and flying from airports
like Buffalo, Detroit, Plattsburg, Bellingham, Bangor, Seattle, Syracuse or
Grand Forks.”
HAC says a comprehensive federal
review of Canada’s aviation cost structure is needed for the country to compete on a level playing field.
The survey was conducted by Opinion Search and defines a traveller as
someone who will stay at least one
night in a hotel, motel or resort.
CELEBRITY
GAL PAL
GETAWAYS
Where do celebrity gal pals go
for pampering and R&R? Check
out our gallery of hotels and
resorts with star power — London’s Savoy, New York’s Plaza,
Saint Lucia’s Sugar Beach and
Toronto’s own Ritz-Carleton. See
canoe.ca/celebgirlgetaways.