In most parts of North America February 2nd is Groundhog Day. Groundhogs are not native to the island of Newfoundland, so people used the weather conditions on Febuary 2nd, which is known as Candlemas Day, to determine future weather conditions. “If Candlemas Day be clear and fine, the rest of winter is left behind; If…

I love when guests ask about the brightly painted homes they see in St. John’s and how we came to choose such a wonderful palette of colours. Years ago we had no historical references to explain our preference for paint, so we used our heads and applied some good old fashioned Newfoundland logic to create…

A post by Linda: Cindy Leder sent me this pic. We’re friends on Facebook. She was on my tour a few years ago.     On another note, Vietnam is a tad bit different. Tipping all guides and servers well as this is a poor country trying desperately to get tourism right. Sometimes I’ll tell…

I landed a job with a film production crew on the very first day I arrived in Vancouver back in 2005. It was a quick, rather impromptu interview so I hadn’t received any details about the position and didn’t know what to expect when I arrived on set. I heard the boys worked in the…

One of the especially interesting characteristics guests will discover on a visit to Newfoundland are the many quaint, and sometimes bizarre place names found throughout the province. From ‘Come by Chance’ to ‘Heart’s Content’, ‘Quidi Vidi‘, ‘Brigus’, ‘Cape Freels’ and ‘Bareneed’ – we’ve had a great bit of fun with the labels we’ve provided throughout…