Articles by Julie Ovenell-Carter.

Travel Notes

Souvenirs say Vancouver—to some

Vijay Dayal sells seashells by the seashore—lots of them, in fact. For more than 20 years, the Horseshoe Bay merchant has made a pretty good living peddling what amounts to beach debris to the tourists who wander into his small souvenir shop, Dayal’s Variety Store (6655 Royal Avenue, West Vancouver), from the nearby B.C. Ferries terminal.
Travel Features

Romania caught in a transitional time warp

High above the medieval town of Sighisoara, in a Transylvanian graveyard, Emma Wagner and I are having a conversation about the virtue of patience. Actually, I am doing most of the talking, given that Emma has been dead for almost a century. But she is, for obvious reasons, a good listener, and it turns out I have a lot to say.
Travel Features

Pushing the limits in Egypt

By the time we arrived at Ali's front door, the clock was running down on our Cinderella liberty.
Travel

Northern lights star in greatest show on Earth

We'd been flying for hours. In the row ahead, two American hunters on their way up to Baker Lake to bag a few musk ox adjusted their large rumps in the turboprop's small seats.
Travel

Vancouver attractions aren't just for visitors

From suspension bridges to a walk through the city's history, some of our top tourist traps are well worth a look
Travel Notes

Road companion simple and rejuvenating

On a recent trip to Europe, the most important piece of paper in my travel wallet turned out not to be my driver's licence, my Visa card, or even my passport, but a laminated sheet of yoga poses torn from the back of Travel Yoga: Stretches for Planes, Trains, Automobiles and More! by Darrin Zeer (Chronicle Books, $12.95). It didn't help me rent a car, secure a hotel room, or cross a border, but it may well have kept me out of prison for the murder of incompetent airline baggage handlers.
Travel Books

Savvy Guides Showcase City That Never Sleeps

A guide to New York City is only ever useful in the way that a guide to pregnancy is useful: it allows the comforting illusion that you might actually be able to control the experience.
Travel

Manitoba's Secret Landscapes Hold Magic

Manitoba, in case you didn't know, struggles with a bit of an image problem. Unless you happen to be a prairie expat--and, granted, every third person you meet in Vancouver seems to have family ties to Winnipeg--you're unlikely to heed the call of canola when it comes to planning your two weeks of annual vacation.