Sometimes, an extra-extra-long weekend micro-trip is just the ticket to a macro experience…
By Doug Wallace
Say there’s a long weekend coming up and you may just be able to pad it with an extra day or two. What’s the plan? While travel within Canada is understandably great in the summer, there’s no rule that you have to stick close to home all the time. Consider the now-trending micro-trip: a mini-vacation abroad – under six hours away by plane – where you pack a full holiday into just a few days. Micro-trips let you escape life, decompress, check a bucket list, visit a friend and feel like a jetsetter. You spend travel points and bundle the costs, then save and splurge as you go – fancy dinner one night, pizza the next.
You know those TV commercials where couples throw swimsuits and sunglasses into a duffel bag, then stand in front of the departures board at the airport, close their eyes and point? That could be you. Like they say, life is short – and you can sleep on the plane.
Smack your lips in Anguilla
Just a short ferry ride north of St. Martin, this uncrowded northern Caribbean island offers balmy sub-tropical weather, more than 30 white-sand beaches and an avid dining scene. Expect a full restaurant culture here, from beach-bar basics to fine dining, with crayfish, lobster, snapper and mahi mahi filling the menus. Plan for a hearty barbecued lunch on Gorgeous Scilly Cay, an island in the bay of the village of Island Harbour. Only open a couple of days a week and reachable only by boat (they come and pick you up), it’s a rustic, open-air, family-run beach bar that’s been in operation for almost 40 years.
Anguilla has an easy barefoot elegance that other similar islands have to work hard for. The entertainment scene is also top-notch – live music is a huge part of Anguillan culture. Musicians flock here to both play and listen to world-class music across genres like soca, calypso, reggae and jazz.
An afternoon of sailing from bay to bay on a classic sailboat or power boat are just two cruise options to seek out. Quite a number of new resorts will be popping up over the next year or so at varying price points, so a travel agent may be your best friend. (IVisitAnguilla.com)
Bubble under in Bermuda
Many people don’t realize that Bermuda has a temperate climate rather than a tropical one, so a visit between now and October is perfect timing on your part. Despite being the only country in the world to have repealed same-sex marriage, this island is still a paradise of azure waters, pink sand and pastel-coloured stone houses, with a laid-back vibe in tune with its heritage and history. The kaleidoscopic coral reefs, underwater caves and hundreds of shipwrecks – thanks to said reefs around the whole island – make Bermuda a snorkelling and diving dream. Save time for the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI), which documents the shipwrecks as well as the recovered treasure.
An afternoon spent wandering the shops and cafés of St. George’s on the northeast tip of the island is time well spent. You might join a custom fragrance-making workshop at the historic Lili Bermuda Perfumery there, or a new Bermuda Fish Sandwich tour that reveals the backstory of the island’s legendary lunch. Come five o’clock, have a drink at the Crown & Anchor in the iconic Hamilton Princess Hotel and Beach Club. Mark Twain was once a regular patron, as was James Bond creator Ian Fleming. The Princess is undergoing major upgrades to its Bermudiana Wing, which might make for a nice few nights. (GoToBermuda.com)
Go chic in Reykjavik
Who can resist spending time under the Midnight Sun? Almost perpetual daylight in the summer gives you even more hours to get to know Iceland. Outdoorsy types will revel in the myriad adventures available there, touring lava-strewn landscapes to visit geothermal oddities, as well as rustic thermal spas and super-high waterfalls. Simple day trips out of the city deliver ice caves, glaciers, geysers, Game of Thrones locations and more via super jeep, helicopter or boat. Do your best to get away from the usual tourist traps and explore lesser-known regions to help deflate overtourism and environmental concerns.
Reykjavik’s hipness is the perfect contrast to all the nature-tripping. There are incredible restaurants, ample art galleries, cool bars and live music to check out – including the gorgeous Harpa Concert Hall schedule. Interestingly, the Icelandic Phallological Museum is the world’s only museum dedicated to mammal penises. Icelanders treat a swim at the public pools like a social event, a way to relax and catch up on the local news. Check out the popular Laugardalslaug or the iconic Art Deco Sundhöllin pools. (VisitIceland.com)
Step lively in St. John’s
Wait! Let’s take a step back to the shores of eastern Canada – Newfoundland and Labrador can feel like a whole new world. St. John’s is full of great things to eat – Cowboy Cookies at Rocket Bakery, fish and chips at The Duke of Duckworth, gourmet sandwiches at Chinched…the list goes on. A side-step to the Quidi Vidi neighbourhood in the north end near Signal Hill reveals soothing sights, an artists’ studio, a terrific brewery and the heavenly Mallard Cottage restaurant and its adjacent inn – well worth checking into.
For a bit of fresh air, take a boat tour to Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, an area rich in biodiversity. June and July are peak puffin time – this is North America’s largest puffin colony – while the humpback and minke whales swing by for July. If you’re lucky, you might even catch a late-season iceberg or two floating by. Farther south, Ferryland is a hamlet on the Avalon Peninsula, with a landmark lighthouse and an archaeological site from the 1600s. By the way, you don’t have to kiss the cod at any point during your stay. Just drink the screech, and then keep drinking it. (StJohns.ca)
DOUG WALLACE is an international travel and lifestyle writer, photographer and custom-content authority, principal of Wallace Media and editor-publisher of TravelRight.Today. He can be found beside buffet tables, on massage tables and table-hopping around the world.
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