Is the World getting smaller ...

... is what the team at Canada Travel Specialists have been asking themselves this week. We're still working away industriously on the www.canadatravelspecialists.com website and this week it's the city breaks section that's keeping us busy.

As we do this we find ourselves asking just how far is too far for a city break these days. New York, a 7hr 30min flight from London, is a long-time favourite and we see much the same with Toronto, Niagara, Montreal and Quebec; all within easy reach of the UK, and in Toronto's case served by a wide choice of direct flights from regional airports all over Britain.

Increasingly though we're seeing travellers venturing further afield for relatively short trips. Although we're not seeing hordes jetting off to Vancouver and Victoria for a weekend we do get high numbers of travellers heading to the West Coast for a six, seven or eight night break. It's not unusual for travellers to fly out to Vancouver on a Saturday, stay in the city for one night and then board a 7-night Alaska Cruise before returning to Vancouver the following Sunday and flying home that evening. A city break that takes in the Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay and more certainly qualifies the bragging rights on returning home to friends and family and even better/worse the office.

Equally, we've seen a substantial increase in travellers spending a week's annual leave touring through the Canadian Rockies. Again, given the choice we'd be recommending that ideally you take a fortnight or more to get the full flavour of a Canadian holiday but even in a week you can comfortably fit in the sights of Banff, Lake Louise, the Icefields Parkway, Jasper and Vancouver and also include an unforgettable journey on the Rocky Mountaineer.

Given the choice of course, we'd always say 'take as long you can, get over there and enjoy yourself - taking your time to make the most of all that Canada has to offer'. In today's high-paced, hectic World such ideas are nice in theory but most travellers don't always get as long as we would all like to travel at leisure - hence the need to have as remarkable a holiday as possible whenever we do get the chance.

Anyhow, our conclusion is that nowhere is too far for a city break if you have the time and for those of you who haven't yet ventured to Western Canada - why not try it, though we warn you ... go for a week and you'll want to stay for a month.

See you all again soon,

Team CTS.